Da Co

October 21, 2008

Once we came back to the forest, Jonathan and I got to work on re-establishing the last transect. It has taken about 3 days for each of the other transects, so we were expecting 3 days of work for the one in Da Co. We were pleasantly surprised to find most of the tree tags still in tact in Da Co. We spent about 3 hours working and got to tree #46! There are 108 trees in this 500-meter line of the forest so we were almost halfway done! As we hiked back out along the road to the motorbike, we heard some crashing in the trees. Doucs! A group of 6-7, with an adult male and an infant! The male climbed up into a tall tree near the road, stopped, and looked straight down at me! He was at least 50 meters away but our eyes met! I think he was probably telling me to go away. Shortly after that, the group moved off and we didn't see them again.

The next day we rode the motorbike back out to DaCo to finish the transect, or at least get as far as we could. We got out in the trees and were about to start working when a small group (2-3 individuals) started moving around in the trees. I didn't get to see them, but Jonathan said they stayed there, with us under them, for a few minutes. That is a good thing for the research! In order for us to watch what they are eating, we have to be able to sit under them and NOT have them scamper away. Wow, this might take a long time!

As we walked back to the motorbike along the road we saw a male gibbon! He was WAY up in the tallest trees swinging from branch to branch. That is how gibbons move, and it is called brachiating. He moved so quickly and quietly we ended up losing him. We DID get to see 2 groups of Doucs along the road, though! Both groups had about 6 individuals. Jonathan found the first one and I found the second one! It was amazing because i just saw the trees moving out of the corner of my eye, and then saw the douc. One group was in the forest about 25 meters off the road, but we could use our binoculars and see them clearly. They didn't threaten us by staring at us, and didn't run away! We watched a female eat for about 1 minute before she continued on into the forest. At this point it is really hard to get any photos. It's hard enough just to FIND them! I hope to have some photos of them soon, though. We will just have to be patient and persistent. 

Oh, we did end up finishing the transect in 2 days!