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Tag Search Results For 'santarém' (290)

Lake Maria continues

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | 15 hours ago by luccaa77

The summer season is well underway and most dirt roads are drying out fast. Some are already getting dusty! I'm sad to report that access to Bosque Santa Lucia and villages beyond continues to be a problem because of our beloved Lake Maria, an enor read more

It's a long way

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | 19 hours ago by luccaa77

On BR-163, alias Santarém-Cuiabá Highway, there's an official road sign showing distances from the army base all the way to Porto Alegre, more than 5,000 kilometers away. It's not an easy place to stop, so I decided to do one of my own in the peac read more

Bosque walkways, continued

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 7th 2008 by luccaa77

Another view of the walkway on the eastern side of the reception center. Eventually, I'd like to build another one from where the cruise ship buses park to this one. During the height of the rainy season, the trail gets to be a soupy mess after 40 read more

Bosque walkways

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 7th 2008 by luccaa77

To elaborate further on the attributes of my caretaker at Bosque Santa Lucia, Cleuson has also proven to be worth his "salt" in working with cement. Over the last few months he has built these block-like walkways around the reception center. It's read more

Bosque signs

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 7th 2008 by luccaa77

I lucked out when I hired Cleuson, the caretaker at Bosque Santa Lucia. To my surprise he has a good hand at making signs and he takes the initiative to experiment with different ways of labeling trees and plants. To boot, he's creative in making u read more

Home remedies

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 6th 2008 by luccaa77

There's a medicine for whatever ails you and most of it from the forest. read more

Cacao for sale

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 6th 2008 by luccaa77

The vendor at this marketplace stall has a good eye for attracting attention. read more

Passion fruit

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 5th 2008 by luccaa77

The passion fruit is a a vine and, as such, needs support. This one found it in the form of a fence. People who raise the fruit commercially, build a support system that provides for greater space for spreading out. The larger fruit in this image read more

Pineapples, continued

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 4th 2008 by luccaa77

One of the best places to buy pineapple in Santarém is at the Mercadão 2000 market place. Starting this time of the year, there are truck loads of the fruit available for buyers. Cold sliced pineapples and pineapple juice are favorites for Santar read more

Pineapple

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 4th 2008 by luccaa77

A young pineapple fruit is making its way into the world. I didn't exactly plant this one. Maybe two years ago I threw the top of a pineapple out as organic trash. It liked the environment and now it's producing. Anyone that has passed through Sa read more

Colors of ingá, continued

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 4th 2008 by luccaa77

Ingá leaves trick predators by showing up on stage in colors other than the normal green. They also pay body guards to help them out in the process of becoming mature ... and tough. Payment is made in the form of food for the ants. Click on the i read more

Green and yellow in the flag

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 3rd 2008 by luccaa77

With some graphical rearrangements, this leaf could be the Brazilian flag. Maybe that's the reason the tree is called Bandeirinha (little flag). It's a croton and originally from Asia, but I don't talk much about this fact because Brazilians are ob read more

Flower that brightens day

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 3rd 2008 by luccaa77

There's nothing like a big yellow flower to brighten the day. Yellow is one of the Brazilian's favorite colors. Yellow and green on the Brazilian flag. Yellow in the gold. Yellow in trees; yellow and green uniforms for the national soccer team; read more

A feast for vultures, continued

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 3rd 2008 by luccaa77

A turkey vulture looks down on the dried up creek, remembering the delicious fish it eat over the last day or so. read more

A feast for vultures

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 3rd 2008 by luccaa77

There's been an unusual amount of vulture activity around the footbridge for the last three days. A combination of both black vultures and turkey vultures gathered to feast on dead fish left by the dramatic drying up of the water in the baixada, whi read more

Tropical Savanna, continued

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 3rd 2008 by luccaa77

Yes, anacondas still exist in the waters of the Tapajós and Amazon Rivers. Does the cobra grande exist? Well, I suspect that there are still some big ones around, but the most beautiful one I've ever seen was at the Escola Floresta, the environmen read more

Tropical Savanna, continued

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 2nd 2008 by luccaa77

One of the thatched buildings at Escola Floresta has this spectacular view of Lago Verde, alias Green Lake. Off in the distance you can see Serra Alter do Chão, better known as Serra Piroca, which has a vulgar connotation, if you come from other pa read more

Colors of savanna

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 2nd 2008 by luccaa77

This past weekend I took friends to Alter do Chão, where we visited the Escola Floresta, a school of environmental education operated by the Municipality of Santarém. This center was inaugurated just a few days ago and I was anxious to see the pla read more

Wild fig trees, continued

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 1st 2008 by luccaa77

A closer look at the new root system produced by this wild fig tree. read more

Wild figs, continued

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 1st 2008 by luccaa77

On another trail I discovered that this wild fig tree has put on some new clothes. That's quite a set of new roots it's produced and they are quite flashy in their red color. read more

Wild figs

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | July 1st 2008 by luccaa77

Some premature figs are beginning to fall from this huge fig tree located on the other side of the footbridge. When mature, the figs will be a larger than these shown in the image, but never the size of the domesticated figs we are used to eating. read more

Horned spider

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | June 30th 2008 by luccaa77

One of the most commonly seen spiders at Bosque Santa Lucia is the horned-spider. Maybe it's seen more because it loves to spread its web across the open trails of the Bosque. I confronted this one this morning as I walked around the woods near the read more

Catfish

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | June 30th 2008 by luccaa77

Santarém is famous for its fish. Hardly anyones leaves the city for Belém or Manaus without taking an ice-chest full of fish to family and friends. One of the favorite fish is catfish, the ones seen in the image. These two beauties ended up at o read more

Old fence post

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | June 29th 2008 by luccaa77

If only an old fence post could talk, think of the history it could tell. The fence that includes this old soldier is relatively new, put up by my neighbor at Bosque Santa Lucia to keep his cows and goats at home. But we can be sure that the post, read more

Spider on stage

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | June 28th 2008 by luccaa77

This spider is normally quite cryptic, almost invisible on the trunk of trees. At this photographic session it was highlighted because of the blotch of fungus in the background. read more

Orchid, back to the tree

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | June 28th 2008 by luccaa77

I showed this orchid in bloom some days ago, after which I discovered from Cláudio Serique that it would develop better if put on the side of a tree, rather than in a vase. Come to think of it, I never saw one of these rat-tailed orchids in a vase. read more

Tails of leaves, continued

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | June 28th 2008 by luccaa77

I discovered this little tree loaded with new leaves only meters from the one shown on the previous post. It has the look of having been broken off at the top. read more

Tails of leaves

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | June 28th 2008 by luccaa77

I've heard that trees will produce new leaves in different colors to fake off leaf cutting insects, thus giving the leaves a chance to get tough and mature. These must be rather appetizing because they're getting eaten up anyway. Maybe the green is read more

Tento, continued

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | June 28th 2008 by luccaa77

If I hadn't been looking up into the tento tree when we were removing leaf samples, I wouldn't have seen that it was in bloom. The flowers were almost up in the crown of the tree, so I got the best zoom shot I could with a simple digital camera. Th read more

Tento

Tropical Biodiversity - The Amazon | June 28th 2008 by luccaa77

On placing this image, I need to make it clear that I'm not a forester. And no, I'm not a botanist. I'm only interested in these things and there are times when I get into pissing contests with others who are likewise not professionally qualified t read more

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