Ubatuba Birdwatching Centre

Tamar staf talking about the turtles.

Last week was ‘Dia das crianças‘ (Children’s day) here in Brazil. Odette and the children of the ‘Brincando com aves’ group celebrated with a cake , some games and a lot of fun. During the festivities it was agreed that they would all go and visit the TAMAR project in town. This marvellous project was set up primarily to rescue and preserve turtles along the coast of Brazil. It is a great education resource for conservationists and the message about the pollution of the seas is one of their main themes.

So, it was then that the group with Odette and Julia went to the Tamar centre last Friday.

Recuperating Turtles.

The day started with a tour of the turtle pens where these animals are recuperating in order to be released back into the wild. They are animals that mostly have been caught up in fishing nets. Sadly some of them will not be able to be released as they have been so badly injured, but they will remain as exhibits in the project centre.

Og explaining the paper process to the group.

Later the children met Og and were shown around a small enterprise that he helps to run, that works with youngsters from the local community making paper goods from wholly recycled paper materials, things such as carrier bags, gift boxes and business cards. We bought some of these bags to use at the Avistar event last year to put our presentation pack in, they were a great success. There was some discussion about there being some sort of exchange between our two groups of children, we would take their children out to look at birds and the forest from time to time, and ours would come and join in the production of the recycled goods.

The group got to have a go themselves.

At the end the children were treated to a puppet show with a turtle, a shark and an octopus as the main characters, and of course a human being who was polluting the seas. The show explained what effect the constant and increasing pollution of the seas is having on the wild life. The message was well received and understood by our group. Afterwards some time playing in the recreation area was enjoyed to the full!

The group at Tamar.

Relaxing in the play area after all that learning!

All in all a successful outing that was enjoyed by all, we hope this will be the first of many.

Thanks Odette for all your hard work and dedication to the group.

All photos on this page © Odette Goncalves de Araújo.

Pectoral Sandpiper - Elis Simpson.

The first record for Ubatuba of Pectoral Sandpiper Calidris melanotos occurred today. This discovery was made by the children of the “Brincando com aves” project, a group  that meets with Odette every Saturday morning at the Ranário by the Palmito na Brasa restaurant.

On this occasion Rick and Elis Simpson were supervising the group when a bird flew in and landed in front of the group as they were on a bird walk. None of the group had ever seen the like before and this long-distance migrant captured their attention. It was a super opportunity to engage these children with the concept of migration. They were awestruck to think that this small bird had flown, unaided, (with no maps or GPS!) from the arctic to Brazil on its way to the southern cone of South America.

A couple of the children enjoying close-up views of the Pectoral Sandpiper. (The little grey blob near the puddle!) - Rick Simpson.

After the excitement of the discovery it was hard to turn minds back to the more mundane side of birding, like writing the log, so an art session developed the result of which you can see was of high quality, even though no-one opted to draw the sandpiper! Photos on this post © Rick and Elis Simpson.

Part of the day's output! - Elis Simpson.

The young ornithologists proudly displaying their handiwork - Rick Simpson.

The ‘Brincando com aves‘ group received their newly embroidered birding waistcoats this week thanks to Arcacell, UK. They also started their field notebooks and each received a drawing book to record their sightings.

Two of the children proudly wearing their newly embroidered waistcoats.

The 'Brincando com aves' group with Odette.

Odette continues to teach them small snippets of ornithology in easy chewable lumps. One or two of the group are showing real promise, not only are they very keen, but they remember all the little facts and figures that Odette gives to them. One in particular, Thiago, spent a lot of time and effort during the week doing some fine drawings of birds. We think he’ll go far.

Thiago with one of his drawings.

We are also pleased to announce that Julia Costa has agreed to be our junior spokesperson. She is a most accomplished 13 year old who speaks good English and who will be writing and speaking on behalf of the young birdwatchers of the Ubatuba Birdwatching Centre / Dacnis.

Julia (closest) with the 'Brincando com aves' group earlier this year.

All photos on this page © Elis Simpson.