Wildlife of S. E. Asia and S. America. A Photo Journal by Francis Burlingham.: Extended Dry Season in The Colombian Amazon

Introduction

Over the last few years I have been lucky enough to live in Thailand, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Colombia and now Brunei. In my spare time I have had the opportunity to travel fairly widely, camera in hand, in search of wildlife. In these posts I aim to share some of these experiences and show you some of the extraordinary wildlife that can be found in these regions. All of the photographs you see within the posts and pages here are my own unless otherwise stated. Copyright © Francis Burlingham 2015

Friday, 23 December 2022

Extended Dry Season in The Colombian Amazon

A couple of weeks ago I spent some time working in the Colombian Amazon near Leticia. The Amazon region suffered from flooding earlier in the year and is now struggling with drought. These highly irregular weather patterns are likely due to the effects of climate change. The Amazon has been continuing to suffer from a lack of rain and as a result, river levels were well below what would be expected for the time of year. The lack of rain was also clearly affecting the amount of invertebrate life. The Amazon has been suffering from an increasing number of droughts in recent years and is struggling to recover.

Despite the unseasonably dry conditions, I did manage to get a few wildlife photographs as I passed through. The most noticeably abundant animals that I came across seemed to be tarantulas. I came across at least two species. The largest were pink-footed tarantulas. These were present in the trees at night near my accommodation as well as in the roof of my cabin!

Avicularia juruensis (Yellow banded pink toed tarantula) Amazon near Leticia Colombia

Near the cabin were also about seven holes close together at the base of a large grassy plant. These contained a ground dwelling fast moving and shy small species of tarantula that I have not yet been able to identify.

Tarantula species Amazon near Leticia Colombia

I came across a number of nice butterflies but nowhere near the number that I would have expected. There were however the usual ubiquitous large shiny blue Morphos that flew past occasionally without settling and a few nice Heleconia butterflies. Here is a small selection:

Anartia amathea(Red Peacock) Amazon near Leticia Colombia

Junonia evarete (Tropical Buckeye) Amazon near Leticia Colombia

Lasaia agesilas Amazon near Leticia Colombia

Eurytides callias Valencia Community Amazon Colombia

Philaethria dido (Dido Long Wing) Amazon near Leticia Colombia

I was also surprised by how few reptiles I came across. One Anole, an Iguana high in a tree and a few Ameivas were all I managed to see.

Ameiva ameiva Valencia Community Amazon Colombia

Iguana iguana Valencia Community Amazon Colombia

It was so dry that I only saw one amphibian.

Rhinella margaritifera (Leaf Litter Toad) Amazon near Leticia Colombia

Bird life was also pretty limited. The highlight for me was seeing a small flock of Scarlet Macaws. They were unfortunately too quick for me to get any photos.