African Drums

 

Cowhides staked-out along the side of the road to Kampala in Uganda. The skins are used for covering small drums made for the tourist trade.

The demand for these drums is apparently very high, and all six of the preferred wood species for drum carving are overexploited and rapidly disappearing from local forests. My friend Tony Cunningham, who studies the drum trade in central Africa, recommends that buyers look for drums made from cultivated trees rather than wild species.  

All Dressed Up

Weeping flowering crabapple, Malus (Rosaceae)

Japanese cherry (Soto-Zakura group), Prunus (Rosaceae)

Chosu-hizakura cherry, Prunus (Rosaceae)

Flowering dogwood, Cornus (Cornaceae)

Spring is a special time for trees.  They get to dress up for the pollinators, floral biologists, and amateur photographers.  The first three shots are ornamental cultivars planted on the grounds of The New York Botanical Garden.  The last shot is flowering dogwood, a common component of northern hardwood forests in the Eastern U.S. All are spectacular in their finery. 

My Office

Nothing more than a slow spin in my office chair with a video camera. Look for the Burmese mala, the Sonic Youth photo, my orange NYBG cap, and the postcard of the Tibetan flag. Sorry about the mess. [NOTE: Music is by Amiina].

Spider Flower

There are a number of strange and wonderful trees in the Peruvian Amazon, but this one, Herrania nitida, would always make me stop and stare (and usually take a picture) whenever I found it with flowers.  Known locally as cacahuillo (little cacao) or flor de araña (spider flower), the species produces small, edible fruits and a profusion of red, cauliflorous flowers that maybe look a little bit like spiders - if you squint. [NOTE: Herrania is in the family Sterculiaceae together with Theobroma cacao and T. grandiflorum     

Roads

I usually have mixed feelings about building roads in tropical forests.  On one hand, they can allow local forest dwellers to get their products to market and provide a much-needed source of income.  On the other hand, they can allow a lot of new folks from outside to move into the area with decidedly negative effects on the local plants and animals.  Largely in response to the rich palette of soil colors, my first impression of this road in the Sanggau Regency of West Kalimantan was entirely positive.

Managed Landscapes

There's a lot going on in this image. At first glance, it's just a shot of a Dayak rice field in West Kalimantan.  But then there's the home garden with the bananas and fruit trees in the center of the shot, and the hill dipterocarp forests in the background that are loaded with tembawang (I know because I hiked up there). Every plant community is being managed in some way.  Agriculture, horticulture, forest management.  Truly a diverse portfolio. [NOTE: This is an old slide and it didn't scan so well.  Sorry].

Fieldwork in Uganda

 

These guys went to the field with me a lot in Uganda, especially during my time at Mgahinga Gorilla National Park on the border with Rwanda.  Pleasant company, actually.  The constant presence of the guns, however, was really disconcerting.    

Landscape Fishing

Fishermen in West Kalimantan, Indonesia build enormous fish traps out in the shallows of the South China Sea.  Using slender poles stuck into the mud, they construct large v-shaped traps that funnel all the fish that swim by into a net (located under the house shown in the picture). A kerosene lamp is usually suspended above the net to attract insects and lure the fish. The traps, which may extend out for several hundred meters, are visible from space. On satellite photos they look like landscape sculptures designed by Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

Orchids, Orchids, and More Orchids

I waited until the last day to see the orchid show, Brazilian Modern, at The New York Botanical Garden. The blossoms had been on display since February 28, but they were still breathtaking. I snuck in before the Conservatory officially opened to the public and had the whole place to myself. I can't imagine evolution ever producing a floral structure more sublime than that exhibited by this group of plants. [NOTE: Music by Bebel Gilberto].

Uxpanapa

The Uxpanapa region of southwestern Veracruz originally contained one of the largest expanses of tropical forest in Mexico. Between the years of 1974 and 1976, over 85,000 hectares of forest were cleared as part of a plan to resettle Chinanteco communities that had been displaced by the construction of the Cerro de Oro dam in Oaxaca.  Unfortunately, the deforested areas proved unsuitable for mechanized agriculture and the land was subsequently abandoned. A lot of lessons here. [NOTE: I was visiting a student's research site in Uxpanapa when I happened on these guys. They had just stopped cutting to have their lunch].