As always it has been busy three weeks here at Esperanza Verde. We had a visit from Kayla’s classmates who were given a tour by Douwe, the 107 parakeets were divided into flyers and non-flyers and we unfortunately had to say goodbye to Dali, one of our festive amazons who was found dead by a volunteer.

But volunteers also have had a great time going to the bigger waterfall Regalia and celebrating Halloween jungle style!

Monkeys

Panchita (female capuchin monkey)

Panchita still hasn’t been seen. We have a tiny hope that she found a wild capuchin group she was able to join and that she is doing fine in the jungle. We never give up hope, as animals can always surprise you!

Saddleback tamarins (wild group)

We are happy to announce that there has been a new addition to the wild group of tamarins that hang around Esperanza Verde, one of the females has a new baby which seems to be doing well and is seen regularly as they feed from the monkey-food tables.

Other Mammals

Baby collared peccary (male Timo)

Some people from a nearby village came over one day with a week old peccary. He got the name Timo and now lives with Olivia, Douwe and the kids. Timo needs looking after all day around as he needs to be fed milk regularly since he drinks every three hours, even at night!

Coatis (Male Vasari & females Nola and Chuni)

The coati group is still together. Vasari, Nola & Chuni are doing fine with the other coatis. They have been out exploring the jungle here and have been seen up at the Mirador together. All of them are growing up and establishing their place in the group.

Kinkajous (male Kiko & female Kila)

After releasing the both kinkajous for the second time Kiko was sadly enough once again in a fight with a wild adult kinkajou male. Olivia and Douwe rescued him from the river and Kiko & Kila are now back in Tiliku cage again. He has a small wound on the side of his left eye but nothing too serious. Until the eye is fully healed they will be back in their cage still with the hopes that they will be successfully released in the future.

Paca (male Takiri)

Takiri, who came to us in the beginning of the year after being confiscated by the ministry, has now been moved to the Momo-cage (the enclosure surrounding the cabin). He spent his first few nights in the cage under the cabin (old office now used to house long term volunteers) but is now free roaming around the enclosure at night time. Before the big move he was also weighed and chipped which went unexpectedly well for both Douwe and Takiri.

Birds

Parakeets (100 white-winged parakeets, 5 cobalt-winged parakeets, 1 tui parakeet, 3 white-eyed parakeets (aratingas) & 1 blue headed parrot)

With boxes and gloves Olivia and 3 volunteers managed to get a look at all the parakeets very up-close! All of them and the blue headed parrot Dario in the enclosure were caught by hand and given medication against parasites. The birds were checked to make sure that nothing was wrong and that their feathers were good before being sorted into flyers and non flyers.

The flying group is now residing in Igor cage where they are waiting to be released and the non-flyers are in Araña cage.

Baby cobalt-winged parakeets (Luke, Jack, Everell, William & Joe also called Luke and the Daltons)

The Daltons grew up and got moved to Pepe cage together with the other parakeets. They were also caught and given medicine and even though they are all good flyers we put them with the non flyers since they are yet too tame after being hand-fed by us. We are hoping that living together with the other parakeets will teach them to become afraid of us humans so they also in the future can be released. This day they had their first lesson, as they did not enjoy being caught!

Rosalinda, (swallow-wing), Picor & Ocor, Kojac, Cloa & Tony (White-winged parakeets)

These six birds are living together in Casa cage. Rosalinda, the swallow wing, must be fed by hand. Volunteers daily catch crickets for her up at the plantation and a few times a day we feed her a mix of egg, bread and cat food. A nice task to do! The other parakeets that are in the cage with her are either to tame to ever be released again or are having medical problems which disables them from being released (e.g. Picor with a broken beak). In future we will be needing a permanent enclosure for these kind of birds.

Dali (festive-amazon)

Dali was found dead one morning after a very unlucky accident. A few of the macaws were playing around on a big branch, which unfortunately came down from the ceiling. The branch fell down on Dali who was one of the tamer birds in the aviary. Kipa, another festive amazon and partner of Dali, is now alone but coping and has been seen eating from the tables. But both Kipa and the volunteers miss Dali who frequently used to go on the volunteers hands and play around while working in the cage.

Reptiles

Marie-Antoinette (Yellow-footed tortoise)

After being in the clinic for some time for treatment of parasites, she was healthy enough to be released. Two volunteers took her out into the forest and she is now out in the wild enjoying her freedom again!

Yellow footed tortoises in reptile cage

Esperanza Verde got help from the classmates of Kayla to find almost all of the eighteen tortoises in reptile cage for their monthly check up. One was found with a fungus problem and got moved to the clinic for the treatment. One tortoise was not found but we are still keeping an eye out for him and waiting patiently.

Construction

Zambo Cage

The construction of the new Zambo cage is going well. The iron structure of the cage is now done. Next up is the cement flooring. The cement and sand needed to build this new floor was carried up from the port by a few brave volunteers, after a lot of sweat the materials needed to complete the flooring were finally ready to be mixed, poured and set.

Volunteers

The volunteers went on a trip to the Regalia waterfall. Most of them getting very sun burnt but a great day out none the less.

And how creative people can become in the jungle!

We celebrated Halloween with candy and a bonfire and of course we were all dressed up. At the side of the bonfire we had a Shrek with celery as ears, a Jane with earrings from leaves, a Tarzan with a skirt from palm leaves and a batman with wings made out of a garbage bag. The volunteers also got visited by captain hook and his companion (a.k.a. Douwe and Marlon) plus the lovely nobility Kayla.

We all had a great time and are now looking forward to Sint Nicholas!

Diverse

We also got visited by Kaylas classmates and their teacher who went over here on a field trip. Douwe took them all around Esperanza Verde to explain about the animals and we even got a hand in the finding our tortoises! Olivia gave them a tour in our clinic and let them look at poo samples with the microscope. We hope that the visit helps the children to understand more about the wildlife in this part of Peru.