Tapir! Tapir! Tapir!

This may have been the highlight of the Venezuela trip so I'll start at the beginning. We were in a boat travelling around the wetlands of Hato el Cedral (which is awesome) and with us handily were three nature guides and the sharp-sighted bus/boat driver (of whom more in later posts), one of the guides was the Hato's own Rafael and two of the guides were there to shoot photos for a field guide. Suffice it to say then we had a boatload of keen-eyed naturewise people and we were bagging up with raptors, herons, sunbittern, reptiles, wild muscovy duck, you name it we were seeing it and getting nice photos to boot when suddenly someone started screaming "tapir! tapir! tapir! go! go! go!"

Now for those of you who don't know tapirs are perissodactyls (odd-toed mammals) of which there are only about 17 or so living species. The more famous perissodactyls are the horses and the rhinoceroses and physically tapir fall somewhere between the two. They are also phenomenally difficult to see in the wild (in Venezuela at least). But sure enough amidst the confusion and shouting our driver had spotted the beast crossing the river way in front of us and was speeding towards it, I was at this point on the bow with my finger held down on the shutter of the D300 when.......the beast sounded. Now I wasn't expecting that. It was swimming fairly confidently across the river but I didn't expect it to dive as we came upon it. For a surprisingly long time the mighty beast remained submerged before finally bursting from the water very close to the boat and headed in the opposite direction to before it submerged. Spray went everywhere and we were left in no doubt that this was a big animal. Behold:

I think you can really see the horse/rhino connection in these shots as well as the immense power of the animal. Just a pure explosion of muscle. As the beast splashed to the other side of the river, a bow wave preceding it. I knew we'd been very very lucky.

I didn't realise quite how lucky though. In the last 7 years only 3 tapirs have been seen. One of the guides with us had been guiding the area for 12 years and only seen 3. Everyone was unbelievably jubilant at seeing this weird prehistoric beast. Check out the trunk-like snout too. Unbelievable creature.

I think the coolest aspect of the whole experience came that night though. Gathered in the canteen around a laptop we shared our photos with the locals. Most of them have never seen a tapir and were absolutely amazed. Amazed but at the same time tremendously proud they had these fabulous creatures on their ranch. It was awesome.

The list.....

So here is the new island list. I've been using the excellent Bubo listing website to compile this hence its in taxonomic order rather than sighting order. Links are links to posts about the bird in question.

1. Greylag Goose, Anser anser
   
2. Brent Goose, Branta bernicla
   
3. Common Shelduck, Tadorna tadorna
   
4. Eurasian Wigeon, Anas penelope
   
5. Eurasian Teal, Anas crecca
   
6. Northern Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos
   
7. Northern Shoveler, Anas clypeata
   
8. Little Grebe, Tachybaptus ruficollis
   
9. Great Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo
   
10. Little Egret, Egretta garzetta
    
11. Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea
    
12. Eurasian Marsh Harrier, Circus aeruginosus
    
13. Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus
    
14. Common Buzzard, Buteo buteo
    
15. Common Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus
    
16. Water Rail, Rallus aquaticus
    
17. Common Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus
    
18. Common Coot, Fulica atra
    
19. Eurasian Oystercatcher, Haematopus ostralegus
    
20. Grey Plover, Pluvialis squatarola
    
21. Northern Lapwing, Vanellus vanellus
    
22. Common Snipe, Gallinago gallinago
    
23. Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata
    
24. Common Redshank, Tringa totanus
    
25. Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres
    
26. Black-headed Gull, Chroicocephalus ridibundus
    
27. Herring Gull, Larus argentatus
    
28. Great Black-backed Gull, Larus marinus
    
29. Rock Dove, Columba livia
    
30. Stock Dove, Columba oenas
    
31. Common Wood Pigeon, Columba palumbus
32. Eurasian Collared Dove, Streptopelia decaocto
    
33. Meadow Pipit, Anthus pratensis
    
34. Rock Pipit, Anthus petrosus
    
35. Pied Wagtail, Motacilla alba
    
36. Winter Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes
    
37. European Robin, Erithacus rubecula
    
38. Stonechat, Saxicola torquatus
    
39. Common Blackbird, Turdus merula
    
40. Long-tailed Tit, Aegithalos caudatus
    
41. Great Tit, Parus major
    
42. Black-billed Magpie, Pica pica
    
43. Carrion Crow, Corvus corone
    
44. Common Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
    
45. House Sparrow, Passer domesticus
    
46. European Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis

Birding nonsense

Hmm. So this morning I got up surprisingly early (actually not that early, but considering the week I've had, plenty early) to go look for two lesser scaup that have been reported on island. Now considering that I've now left the caribbean (where scaup were an annual vagrant but one I didn't see which is your first clue to how this part of the story ends) and am back on the British side of the Atlantic this would be a very nice bird to have on my new local list. I didn't see them, or rather I haven't yet - I haven't given up, but it got me thinking about one of the absurdities of patch, regional or year listing. You see I still haven't seen a blue tit here. I have 45 birds on the list but no blue tit.

I've seen hundreds of these in the UK - why can't I find one now I want one??

For american birders this is a bit like going to see some freak european vagrant when you haven't yet bagged a chickadee. Its ridiculous. They are supposedly common here but I just can't turn one up at the moment. Nor have I seen hedge accentor (aka dunnock), another super-common bird. I was pretty laid back about it, listing is for fun after all but I'm getting kind of irritated about my inability to find one now. On the one hand I know sooner or later one will cross my path but on the other hand I want to see one now. Before the scaup. And I can't find one!!! Urgh. My father has 4 species of tit visiting his feeder from time to time something which I hope to emulate once I get some new accommodation sorted. I hope I don't have to wait that long to get my blue tit.

Speaking of feeders (neat segue there), after the scaup failure I headed to the local garden centre where I was confronted with the most amazing array of bird feeders. There were 3 [little] aisles of the things. Astonishing - it led me to the following observations:

1. 39 pounds sterling for one particular bird feeder (= US$64.38)! Did I just imagine a massive global recession?
2. On an island with no squirrels, isn't offering a squirrel feeder for sale slightly disingenuous (or at best stupid)?
3. I'm delighted feeding the birds interests the public enough to justify such a remarkable range of birds and such economic outlay by manufacturers but....
4. ...I do worry that bird feeding is becoming an industry at the expense of the public a little bit (see 1 and 2 above). Do our wild birds really need specially formulated pellets and mixes in packs manufactured species by species? Wouldn't Joe Sixpack be better off planting a native tree instead of his multifeeder poll and being done with it?
   

Feel free to offer your own opinions on 4 above. I'm intrigued as to the rest of the nature blogosphere's opinion.

Ooops. Erm. Here's a sales pitch.

So there was supposed to be a very cool critter post today but I goofed so that is coming monday. Its big, its very rare and photos of it don't turn up anywhere very often. Be there.

In the meantime here's an opportunity to show off your nature-obsessive and find out what day of the week your birthday falls on next year:

I have just finished putting together a cycad calendar for next year featuring my favourite photos of 12 different species of cycad. The following species were selected to show as wide a range of colours, structures and shapes as possible; Macrozamia moorei, Microcycas calocoma, Zamia standleyi and amblyphyllidia, Encephalartos woodii, pterogonus, princeps and horridus, Dioon rzedowskii, Ceratozamia mexicana and kuesteriana and finally Cycas micronesica.

Each calendar is printed on demand by redbubble and so is a little more expensive than some other calendars but:

1. I will donate all the money I receive from redbubble for sales of the calendar to the Cycad Society (about $3 a calendar); and
2. the calendars are (if to the same standard as last year's) very good quality.
   

The calendar is available to buy now here. I hope a few of you may find it a worthy stockingfiller for that botany-geek you never know what to buy for with the xmas period approaching.

Lost Guadalupe

So you may recall a while back we visited Guadalupe Island off the coast of Mexico - this is as close as we got to it, checking out Elephant Seals from just off the coast.

You must understand its not that we didn't want to visit its just that we were rather busy with these girls.....

Which in a way is a shame because Guadalupe offers some interesting birdwatching opportunities. Unfortunately its not as interesting as it once was. You see in addition to the seals and sealions some other mammals made Guadalupe their home over the course of the last century - the kind of mammals you don't wanna see on any unique island: feral goats and feral cats. B

Above is a mount of the Guadelupe Storm Petrel (Oceanodroma macrodactyla) . Its extinct (probably - its hard to prove the negative that is extinction with birds that spend so long at sea). These guys used to nest on Guadelupe in burrows but the cats made that a pretty ineffective way to pass your genes on until they just dwindled and died out.

Above is a mount of the Guadalupe flicker (Colaptes cafer rufipileus), another lost species. This one fell victim to goat decimation of its habitat. Since the extermination of the goats some (though not all species) of the plants have returned and the island has been recolonised by the mainland subspecies, Colaptes cafe cafer.

These are just two of Guadalupe's lost birds. Also lost were the Guadalupe Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii brevicauda) and the Guadalupe Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus consobrinus). The Guadalupe Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula obscurus) is currently MIA, a search in 2000 failed to find one so it may be lost already.

Perhaps the saddest tale of all Guadalupe's lost birds though is that of the Guadalupe Caracara (Polyborus lutosus). The Caracara was intentionally made extinct by man in around 1901 in the belief that it preyed on young goats (ironically the same goats who's offspring would do for the Towhee, wren, flicker and probably the kinglet). What a mess we make.

Yet another extinct cycad

Well wow; what a spectacular cycad this was; huge leaves held relatively laxly with those big leaflets in an interesting shade I'd probably describe as sea-green in real life. This is Encephalartos pterogonus.

Why an "extinct cycad" when this is clearly a living plant? Well its not in the wild and nor are any other plants of this species. Originally from Mt Muruwe, Mozambique, it was discovered in 1949, described in 1969, and was extinct in its habitat by 1975, due to poachers....for shame. Its discoverer was a cycad collector called Raymond Munch and it was in Munch's garden as opposed to the wild that the material for the species' scientific description was collected in '69 by Robert Allen Dyer. If you're wondering about the name; pterogonus derives from pteron (wing - as in pterosaur) and gonas (seed) and refers to the distinctive wing-like and toothed appendages below the terminal facet of the microsporophylls." I can tell you that because of this awesome document, an absolute gem for the true botany nerd.

A close up of the crown reveals a pair of beautiful young male cones beginning to emerge. Nice. This illustrates one of the reasons I'm relatively upbeat about this species' future. We know the identity of a number of the original plants and can produce unquestionably "true" E. pterogonus seedlings in captivity. We also know the type locality of the original colony so if the issue of poaching can be controlled I see no reason why some time in the future the species can't be restored. Perhaps by the time I'm an old man we'll be ready.