Watch the GLTs on the web camIssue 14
September 18: A Shed Holly Start
The monkeys began their day a bit differently from usual. Instead of heading straight for the bench holly the family made the shed holly the first stop today with a crossover at 7:03 a.m. via the low black walnut. The family actually spent most of its time down in this area in the pines and magnolias. Around 8 a.m. three deer came running through Holly Hill and as usual this riled the family up and Eduardo went chasing after them with the whole family vocalizing very excitedly. By 8:45 a.m. the family had made its way down to the bench holly where the monkeys relaxed for a little while before crossing back for breakfast at 9:21 via the low black walnut. As usual though it was just a quick trip back for food before the family crossed back to Holly Hill where they spent the next hour lounging in the bench holly before making a second trip down toward Olmsted Walk a little after 11 a.m.
The GLTs went straight for the Olmsted holly, where they spent a considerable amount of time foraging... about an hour. Apparently they did not find a lot of food while foraging as they crossed back to Holly Hill at 12:28 p.m. on their way back from the Olmsted holly for another quick bite to eat before traveling back to Holly Hill for the third time today. The family spent the next three hours in the bench holly mostly relaxing high up in the tree in a big monkey ball, though there were occasional bouts of play and some foraging. By 3:30 p.m. the family was ready to head home for the day where the twins briefly scampered on the ground before spending the rest of the afternoon and evening around tree zero and the rope from tree zero to tree four. At 6 p.m. it was time to come inside for the night and shortly after at 6:30 p.m. it was bed time.
September 19: Explore! Explore as Much as You Can!
Today was a very busy day as the family was all over the place foraging and exploring as many areas as they could. The morning began as usual with a cross at 7:03 a.m. via the low black walnut to the bench holly before embarking on a voyage down to the shed holly. After almost an hour relaxing in the shed holly it was time to return to the bench holly for about another hour. Finally a little before 10 a.m. it was time to grab some breakfast back in Beaver Valley using the low black walnut and the fence as their mode for travel. Eduardo, as he often does, left the family behind while they were still eating and went for the bench holly via tree 5. Apparently he still enjoys this route occasionally. Once the girls finally decided to join Eduardo on Holly Hill, crossing via the low Black Walnut, the whole family headed for the shed holly again, where they briefly rested before venturing into the Olmsted Holly (grid Bx). They spent about ½ an hour there and then slowly made their way back to the bench holly spending almost an hour exploring and foraging in many of the magnolias and other trees on the route back.
At 1:14 p.m. the family crossed back to Beaver Valley along the low black walnut and grabbed a bite to eat before they began another adventure. So far the day has been non stop exploration and a massive foraging fest. At 1:48 p.m. Eduardo and the twins cross into the Red Light District (RLD) where they begin foraging on the dogwood berries that are in bloom in grids V14 and W14. Poor Laranja got left behind as she often does and was briefly distressed as she tried to figure out how to get to the rest of her family. After only about 8 minutes she finally figured out how to get to the family, crossing herself into the RLD. The family spent that majority of their time foraging on the succulent berries in this area. Eduardo crossed back to Beaver Valley once, but quickly returned to the RLD before the whole family finally crossed back to Beaver Valley around 2:20 p.m. The family crossed on the way over from the hemlock to the Tupelo and then from the tupelo to the hemlock on the way back.
After crossing back from the RLD we suspected that they may hang around Beaver Valley for the rest of the day. Of course, this was not the case! After briefly relaxing among the hemlocks Eduardo was off to Holly Hill via tree 5 with the rest of the family following shortly behind, crossing via the low black walnut. The family entered the bench holly where the twins played and mom and dad lounged around for approximately two hours. While peacefully relaxing in the holly a hawk flew overhead and landed in a tree in Beaver Valley near tree 13. The hawk sat perched on a branch for a few minutes before flying away, passing over the “Bench Holly.” The tamarins did not appear to notice the hawk as we heard no vocalizations and they did not run away or engage in any alarmed behavior. The hawk also appeared to have no idea that there were any tamarins in a tree nearby, which thankfully averted a potentially unpleasant encounter. Shortly after 5:15 p.m. the family made their way back to Beaver Valley where they ate some dinner and then retired to the nest box, briefly coming out for some fresh air around 6:15 p.m. Other than that small bit of action the family spent the evening inside the nest box falling asleep for the evening around 6:30 p.m. It was a very busy day that seemed to tire our family out.
We were able to obtain weights on the whole family today. The weights are as follows:
| Laranja | Eduardo | Gisela | Samba |
| 693g | 795g | 396g | 427g |
September 20: That Sun Feels Good
It was a pretty uneventful day today. The entire day on Holly Hill was spent in the bench holly mostly lounging around and trying to stay warm by sunning themselves. While the family made several attempts throughout the early morning to move down toward Olmsted Walk they never made it even to the shed holly as their were people mowing the lawn in the garden all morning. This activity seemed to scare the family, particularly Eduardo so they turned around each time and went back into the bench holly after reaching only grid Bm. The family crossed to Holly Hill at 7:05 a.m. and returned to Beaver Valley briefly for breakfast at 10:48 a.m. On their cross back very one used the low black walnut, but today, instead of taking the fence back everyone used the ropes! By 11 a.m. everyone was back in the bench holly grooming, foraging and playing. They remained on Holly Hill until 1:27 p.m. when Laranja and Eduardo crossed back via the low black walnut to the ropes. Gisela and Samba followed close behind; however, they used the fence to get back to the food tray.
After eating for a while the rest of the day was spent relaxing and foraging around their main exhibit. It was quite chilly today, all day which seemed to affect the family’s activity levels and exploration. By 4:30 p.m. the whole family was inside the nest box grooming and playing a bit. An hour later everyone was asleep for the night! We have not seen the family go to bed this early since the first week they were out free ranging. It must have just been too cold to stay outside and not huddled together.
September 21: Chinaberries Are in Bloom!
Today is the day when the week really started to pick up and get interesting! The day began as all other do with a cross to Holly Hill at 7:45 a.m. via the low black walnut. A later cross than we are used to seeing, presumably due to the colder temperatures lately and the later sunrise. The day appeared so far as if it might be a rather typical day with possibly little adventure and excitement. This most definitely did not turnout to be the case! Around 9:15 a.m. the family began moving down toward Olmsted Walk, passing straight by the shed holly and went to the tupelo trees, where they spent about 45 minutes foraging. At this point the day began to get interesting. Gisela may have seen that there were some beautiful china berries in bloom on a tree across the way in Beaver Valley and this caused her to cross from Holly Hill to Beaver Valley over Tamarin Run. Whatever it was, she did cross at 10:32 a.m. from Holly Hill Beaver Valley and immediately began foraging on the chinaberries. Samba and Eduardo followed Gisela crossing over a few minutes later, though Eduardo crossed a little higher than Samba, but from the same grid. Now poor Laranja was left behind and this was not good, as she became distressed! There was lots of long calling and she just did not seem to want to make the cross or could not figure out how to make the cross. After almost 20 minutes of trying to get to her family, who were all casually foraging on the chinaberries, she eventually became desperate and crossed on the ground to the fence in front of tree 18. Once she got to the fence there was not a tree close enough for her to jump into, so she ended up running down the fence in the opposite direction of the family. She ran down to tree 15, which she jumped to and then began making her way back among the trees to the family who were all foraging near tree 18.
Now that she had finally reached them, she began foraging and exploring the area with the rest of the family. She explored the area more than the others, though Eduardo joined her quite a bit. The twins, however, especially Gisela, were enthralled with the berries and they gorged themselves on this new treat! Gisela just couldn’t get enough of the berries! She spent almost the entire hour they spent over there in the same tree in the same general area chowing down. Around 12 p.m. Eduardo crossed back to Holly Hill the same way he and the girls had crossed over, from Beaver Valley to Holly Hill. The twins soon followed him, again leaving Laranja behind. Laranja did not appear quite as stressed as she was earlier this morning, though she was very nervous and hesitant to make the cross. She knew the path the rest of the family had taken to cross and she kept attempting to make the cross, coming out on the correct branch and almost jumping, but never actually taking the plunge. The jump wasn’t even a high or particularly large jump. The branches of the trees on each side almost overlapped. It appeared that Laranja may have been more hesitant because the branches she would jump to were rather flimsy and not very sturdy, so she may have been afraid they would not support her weight. A popular belief among many of our volunteers is that she did not want to make the jump because she is pregnant. She may indeed be pregnant, but I am not sure if this is what made her choose the ground as her travel path instead of the trees or not.
Gisela did come back for mom at one point, but soon crossed back to Holly Hill, as Laranja was not following her. Laranja began to get a little more distressed and started long calling quite often. Eventually though she resorted to crossing on the ground again. She had traveled all the way down to tree 14 and crossed from the fence here on the ground over to a magnolia. The rest of the family had not quite made it down this far as they were all still back in the magnolias and pines. From the magnolia Laranja was in she made her way into the shed holly and eventually over to the rest of the family. Soon they all went into the shed holly where they stayed for about 15 minutes before heading back toward the bench holly. They never actually reached the bench holly though, as they all crossed back to Beaver Valley via the low black walnut at 1:05 p.m. They stayed around their main exhibit for about an hour eating and foraging before Eduardo and Samba crossed back to Holly Hill at 1:50 via tree five to the high black walnut. Laranja and Gisela soon followed, though they crossed along the low Black walnut. The family remained in the bench holly mostly in a big monkey ball until 4 p.m. when they all crossed back to Beaver Valley for the day.
After all this excitement and adventure for the day the family must have tired themselves out as it was an early retirement to the nest box again. At 4:45 p.m. the whole family was inside the nest box grooming and relaxing. Around 5 p.m. everyone came out for some food briefly before retreating back inside the box again for the evening. By 6:30 p.m. everyone was asleep for the evening, recuperating from their busy, but exciting day.
September 22: How’s the Vacation Home?
Today was nowhere near as eventful as yesterday, as the family was probably recovering from their gallivanting frenzy yesterday. The family crossed a little later than usual at 7:23 a.m., entering the bench holly where they remained foraging and relaxing for a couple hours before crossing back for some food at 9:41 a.m. After grabbing a quick bite to eat the family stopped off in tree nine (the vacation home) for a minute and then crossed back to Holly Hill. This time instead of heading for the bench holly the family went to visit the shed holly and the magnolias and pines. They even entered the garden briefly around 11:30 a.m.; though just before traveling over there the twins scampered on the ground. We saw them use the ground again shortly after 12 p.m. underneath the shed holly. These girls really have no fear of the ground! The family spent a little more than an hour in the shed holly after their trip to the garden before venturing back to the bench holly where they lounged until 2:30 p.m. when the family crossed back to Beaver Valley for the afternoon via the low black walnut. As usual after crossing the family ate from their food tray and then foraged for a while on their own around tree four. Shortly after 4 p.m. the family went and visited the vacation home again, venturing inside the tree hole to check on things. Apparently everything appeared to be in good shape as everyone soon returned to tree zero and all were soon in the nest box for the evening at 5 p.m. By 6 p.m. everyone was out for the night.
We obtained weights on the family again today. The weights for today are as follows:
| Laranja | Eduardo | Gisela | Samba |
| 698g | 790-804g | 394g | 404-430g |
September 23: Warmer Days and Dogwood Berries!
Today was much warmer than it has been the past several weeks and while the tamarins did not go on any crazy adventures today, they did take advantage of the warmer temperatures staying outside later than they have been. Their schedule today was pretty typical with time spent in the bench holly before traveling down to the shed holly and the pines and magnolias and the garden. The family spends most of their time in these areas closer to Olmsted foraging and the twins often play with each other and alone a lot. During the 9 o’clock hour Gisela fell twice, though one was only a true fall where she hit the ground, falling about seven yards. On her first fall she was able to catch herself on a branch. She has fallen quite a bit lately, usually when she is playing and running all around. She most likely loses sense of her balance and she does not calculate jumps very well at these times when she is in a hurry to do everything!
The family crossed rather late today for breakfast, not crossing until 12:01 p.m. on their way back from the shed holly. As usual, it was a short trip back home before crossing back to Holly Hill at 12:16 p.m. led by Eduardo along the low black walnut. The family then stayed in the bench holly until a little after 3 p.m. when they crossed back and spent time foraging all over their main exhibit area. We saw them in trees three, four, five, and zero, as well as the hemlocks. We saw them enter a new area around 4:15 p.m. that we suspected they would enjoy quite a bit once the berries came in bloom. There are some dogwood bushes near the stream in their main exhibit and this bush produces berries around this time of year. The berries have finally come into bloom, and today the family discovered this and spent about 45 minutes foraging and feasting on them. This was a favorite spot of Laranja’s and Eduardo’s last year when the berries were in bloom! It seems to have become a favorite of Gisela’s and Samba’s as well as the girls were so excited by this bounty of treats that they were frantically making food chirps at the same time they were shoveling handfuls of berries into their mouths. After the feasting was over they all stayed outside lounging in the hemlocks and grooming each other from about 5 to 6 p.m. when they all finally retreated into the nest box. At 6:30 p.m. everyone was down below for the rest of the last watch, presumably asleep. Most likely the warmer temperatures today extended the families time outside the nest box.
September 24: Chinaberry Bonanza
It was back to foraging, foraging, foraging today! After a two day break from the chinaberries near Olmsted Walk it was back to the feasting today. At 7:10 a.m. the family crossed to Holly Hill via the low black walnut and briefly entered the bench holly before taking a journey down to the magnolias and pines near Olmsted. By 8:45 a.m. the family had entered the Olmsted Holly and foraged until a little after 9 a.m. when Gisela led the family over to Beaver Valley again. She went straight for the chinaberries where she immediately began foraging. Soon the rest of the family followed her over, Samba and Eduardo crossing in the trees and Laranja using the ground again to cross. This time she only made a few long calls and was not as stressed as she was on Thursday when she got left behind. After a few minutes of trying to cross in the trees, as the rest of the family had done, she hopped to the stone wall on Holly Hill and sat there for a minute before jumping to the ground and running across Tamarin Run to the fence in front of tree 18. Just as on Thursday, she ran down the fence to tree 15, where she jumped into the exhibit and made her way back to the family. The family spent one and a half hours foraging and playing in the tree with the chinaberries. Gisela and Samba also played quite a bit while in this area and even came to the ground chasing each other and playing as they often do on Holly Hill. They must have felt comfortable and safe in this area to spend so much time on the ground where in the wild they would be very vulnerable. It amazes me how safe they feel on the ground, especially in this area which is much closer to the public than the area they play in on Holly Hill.
At 10:45 a.m. Eduardo crossed back to Holly Hill where he sat in the tupelo tree in grid Bx for a long time waiting for the family to follow him, but no one ever did. He foraged himself in some of the surrounding trees and explored a while, but eventually after an hour on Holly Hill, alone, he crossed back to Beaver Valley where the family was still foraging. While Eduardo was on Holly Hill, however, the twins did leave the chinaberry tree and entered tree 19 where they played for a while. Gisela had a minor fall from about three meters up while in this tree, but she quickly climbed back up and continued playing and foraging. They soon made their way back to the chinaberry tree. Once Eduardo had crossed back to Beaver Valley the twins and he continued to forage for another hour while Laranja went off on her own exploring. She started making her way down toward the nest box, presumably trying to figure out how to get back for food, as the family had not eaten breakfast yet. Around 12:45 p.m. everyone finally began moving with Laranja, trying to get back to the nest box and food tray. It took them about 20 minutes to work their way over to tree 13, where they then used the ropes to get over to the food tray. Everyone ate quickly and then crossed over to Holly Hill via the low black walnut a little after 1 p.m.
The rest of the day was pretty low key. After crossing the family entered the bench holly where they remained for almost two hours lounging in a big monkey ball. They crossed back to beaver Valley shortly after 3 p.m. via the low black walnut where they ate before relaxing and playing among the hemlocks, tree four and tree zero. By 5:15 p.m. everyone was inside the nest box for the night with all asleep by 6:15 p.m. Though it was a nice night out, and was much warmer than it has been the adventures from this morning must have tired the family out. You just never know what excitement you will get with these girls around!
It has been quite a week! Gisela has really come a long way from her shy, timid days. She now leads the family on new adventures, while also taking giant leaps and bounds we never thought we’d see from her. Hopefully the family will continue to spend some time in new areas, as I’m sure all the volunteers are getting tired of the holly trees with little visibility of the monkeys. While it can be challenging to keep up with the four of these monkeys it is also exciting when they take off into new territories. One thing is for sure with these guys: every day is a new adventure!
