Water work

After 10 days in the field I have worked in nearly every project going on here in this area of the Pantanal. Days here start early, usually at 6 A.M. (except the birdwatchers, who start at 5).
The last week we worked in canoes and rafts, in the oxbows of the Rio Negro. These areas are hot and humid pockets, isolated only by forest. The temperature was noticeably 15 degrees higher here than on the Rio Negro.

We conducted tests similar to those we did on salinas and baias (pronounced bye-ee-ahs). In each oxbow Don (the scientist in charge of the wetland study) had placed a large pole with measurements for depth, plus attached a thermometer. We took the data in our notebooks.

The amount of insect life, in the water and in the forest, is much higher in an oxbow. Birds love this and surround the area even in the heat of the day. Many of the oxbows, like the salinas and baias, eventually dry up near the end of the dry season. Some of them completely disappear. Others become shallow pools until the next rainy season when they once again become small lakes.