Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
9/21/2009 La Selva Biological Research Station, Costa Rica
Wow, I'm behind. I think it would be impossible to fully catch up on recording here, so I'll give a brief summary of my bioexperience since last post. I've been to Las Alturas farm and private reserve and Cuerici farm and private reserve, missed seeing a quetzal my 10min (@Cuerici), seen a paramo in all it's splendor (@Cuerici), seen a troop of spider monkeys (@Las Alturas and since multiple times @La Selva), Camped out on the top of the mountain @Cuerici; seeing awesome stars before going to bed and perhaps the most amazing sunrise, save one in Haiti, I have ever seen, and in general enjoyed life. That was all just before getting to La Selva. Here, one of the group has commented that it's biodiversity on crack. I prefer to think of it as I've died and gone to a David Attenburough film. All matter of amazing wildlife fly/run/hop around one just moving through the central compound. Iguanas habitually hang over the central bridge and spider monkeys swing past the window of the computer room while we work on our projects. I've seen an eyelash pitviper twice; once with our guide on our orientation walk and once since after fellow herp enthusiast John willed (and perhaps, though no proof exists, chased) a lizard into the snakes path, leaving him with a large bulge in his stomach. Seen two different sp. of basilisk, got pissed at by a howler monkey (at least this guy missed, unlike the lemur @St. Cat's), caught and bled dart frogs, seen more sp. or birds, frogs, lizards, and arthropods than I would have thought possible, and I've barely been here a week. Life is good.
Paramo
Wow, I'm behind. I think it would be impossible to fully catch up on recording here, so I'll give a brief summary of my bioexperience since last post. I've been to Las Alturas farm and private reserve and Cuerici farm and private reserve, missed seeing a quetzal my 10min (@Cuerici), seen a paramo in all it's splendor (@Cuerici), seen a troop of spider monkeys (@Las Alturas and since multiple times @La Selva), Camped out on the top of the mountain @Cuerici; seeing awesome stars before going to bed and perhaps the most amazing sunrise, save one in Haiti, I have ever seen, and in general enjoyed life. That was all just before getting to La Selva. Here, one of the group has commented that it's biodiversity on crack. I prefer to think of it as I've died and gone to a David Attenburough film. All matter of amazing wildlife fly/run/hop around one just moving through the central compound. Iguanas habitually hang over the central bridge and spider monkeys swing past the window of the computer room while we work on our projects. I've seen an eyelash pitviper twice; once with our guide on our orientation walk and once since after fellow herp enthusiast John willed (and perhaps, though no proof exists, chased) a lizard into the snakes path, leaving him with a large bulge in his stomach. Seen two different sp. of basilisk, got pissed at by a howler monkey (at least this guy missed, unlike the lemur @St. Cat's), caught and bled dart frogs, seen more sp. or birds, frogs, lizards, and arthropods than I would have thought possible, and I've barely been here a week. Life is good.
View from paramo
Paramo
Eyelash palm pitviper
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
9/2/2009 Las Cruces Biological Field Station, Costa Rica
Possibly the freakiest bit of arachnid behavior I've seen. Big guy was already firmley in jaws of little one when I stumbled across them, so I don't know if the little one found the big one dead or killed him. This was a slightly cloudy day, on a pair of concrete stairs going down from dining hall terrace within the central compound of the botanical gardens, right before noon. The smaller spider basically just sat sucking out of the bigger one, did not respond much to human presense.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
9/1/2009 Las Cruce Biological Field Station, Costa Rica
Crud, I've let my journal go for over a week and now have much to catch up on. So: 8/27 was by far the most eventful day, or at least evening. First of all, early in the evening we went herping in the gardens and nearby jungle trail. Not much seen by way of herps, excepting the common rain frog of which a picture was previously posted. On jungle trail, however, an amazing assortment of arachnids was seen, including what might have been a member of Ctenidae and what was definitely a Thelyphonid. At the end of the trail, however, was the coolest sighting, some form of large arboreal mammal of cat-like appearance. It being high in the tree, we cannot currently be sure of the identification. The two most likely IDs are either a kinkajou or a tayra of unusual color. Videos of kinkajous really show different movements, though, and tayra's just don't seem to have as light coloration as what we saw. The final option, extremely unlikely according to experts around here, was a young puma. Problems: extremely rare in this part of Costa Rica, only occasionally arboreal (described as "usually ground dwelling though very comfortable in trees"), and not likely to be as small. Also, one of the group is certain he saw a fluffy tail, ruling out kinkajou and making puma less likely. Finally, both the tayra and puma tend to be diurnal, though some characteristics indicate a possibly diurnal animal hanging out for the night. Observed characteristics: light brown or tan color, maybe lighter around jaw. Squarish snout shape, possibly with normal sized eyes for head (as opposed to over-sized eyes often seen in nocturnal animals). about 1 meter, give or take a quarter. Possibly fluffy tail. Behavior: mostly calmly sat in tree. After first fiveish minutes made a sudden move to nearby branches, otherwise showed no signs of being bothered by our present. Seemed to move with catlike-smoothness at times and jerky, rapid movements at others, plus I could have sworn I saw in cleaning itself (could have been head jerking movements of a tayra, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbWm3aD59vk&NR=1). Would sit close to tree, like in a crouch. As mentioned, mostly unresponsive to us, but the clicking noise of moving headlamp position invariable provoked response; it would immediately jerk its head toward us upon hearing. That's allot of writing about one animal, but not knowing what it was I want to get down all that we observed so it won't be forgotten. What made the night even more memorable, however, was what happened immediately afterward. A little after we returned to the field station, another pair of students (Tony and Dusty) ran back in telling us they saw what must have been a jaguar near the dining hall area. They were very convincing, and having just seen ourselves what we at the time took to be a large cat we got excited and followed them back out to get a better look. I should mention that they had fled immediately upon hear growl and seeing eyes. Assuming we would have strength in numbers, Tony, Dusty, Eyes, Jono, John, and myself went back to where they saw this creature. I don't think I can accurately describe the seen of us approaching the site; six grown men, in an outward facing huddle, flashlights sweeping the garden around us. John was carrying a 1m piece of rebar I found sticking in the ground, and Tony ended up picking up a huge woody branch, while I have tactical flashlight in defense position- a firm reverse grip held by my head. At one point Jono slipped and went down and the rest of us suffered an instant of terror as we hear him fall and yell and turn to see him slipping into a bush as if something had his feet. Finally we approach the spot where the beast was sighted, and in a bundle huddled down and looked around. Then- a pair of eyes; terror, exhilaration, then the realization that they were inside a fenced-in yard and finally a good look at the German shepherd, and everybody broke down laughing. I need to get to other things, but I do need to quickly mention the birding trip I took 8/31 in which we saw/heard 77 sp. of birds. Leighton Reid, a Sewanee alumn and co-founder of the great and noble Sewanee Natural History Society (of which I was patricial last year) led this epic expedition, and I can tell you he is an awesome birder. His knowledge of bird songs and ability to ID many sp. at a glance saved us great deals of time, as did his intimate knowledge of bird habitat in the area and where to try to call in certain birds. The most awesome birds seen had to have been the Great Tinamo, a flightless bird which resembles a cross between a turkey and a pigeon, and the white whiskered puff bird. Eventually I'll get around to posting the entire list of sp. seen to date, but don't have time now. Also seen but not of avian relation was a huge pack of coatis, which was absalutely awesome although Leighton says there almost a pest in abundance. These were my second identified non-US mammal, however, so I was exited.
Crud, I've let my journal go for over a week and now have much to catch up on. So: 8/27 was by far the most eventful day, or at least evening. First of all, early in the evening we went herping in the gardens and nearby jungle trail. Not much seen by way of herps, excepting the common rain frog of which a picture was previously posted. On jungle trail, however, an amazing assortment of arachnids was seen, including what might have been a member of Ctenidae and what was definitely a Thelyphonid. At the end of the trail, however, was the coolest sighting, some form of large arboreal mammal of cat-like appearance. It being high in the tree, we cannot currently be sure of the identification. The two most likely IDs are either a kinkajou or a tayra of unusual color. Videos of kinkajous really show different movements, though, and tayra's just don't seem to have as light coloration as what we saw. The final option, extremely unlikely according to experts around here, was a young puma. Problems: extremely rare in this part of Costa Rica, only occasionally arboreal (described as "usually ground dwelling though very comfortable in trees"), and not likely to be as small. Also, one of the group is certain he saw a fluffy tail, ruling out kinkajou and making puma less likely. Finally, both the tayra and puma tend to be diurnal, though some characteristics indicate a possibly diurnal animal hanging out for the night. Observed characteristics: light brown or tan color, maybe lighter around jaw. Squarish snout shape, possibly with normal sized eyes for head (as opposed to over-sized eyes often seen in nocturnal animals). about 1 meter, give or take a quarter. Possibly fluffy tail. Behavior: mostly calmly sat in tree. After first fiveish minutes made a sudden move to nearby branches, otherwise showed no signs of being bothered by our present. Seemed to move with catlike-smoothness at times and jerky, rapid movements at others, plus I could have sworn I saw in cleaning itself (could have been head jerking movements of a tayra, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbWm3aD59vk&NR=1). Would sit close to tree, like in a crouch. As mentioned, mostly unresponsive to us, but the clicking noise of moving headlamp position invariable provoked response; it would immediately jerk its head toward us upon hearing. That's allot of writing about one animal, but not knowing what it was I want to get down all that we observed so it won't be forgotten. What made the night even more memorable, however, was what happened immediately afterward. A little after we returned to the field station, another pair of students (Tony and Dusty) ran back in telling us they saw what must have been a jaguar near the dining hall area. They were very convincing, and having just seen ourselves what we at the time took to be a large cat we got excited and followed them back out to get a better look. I should mention that they had fled immediately upon hear growl and seeing eyes. Assuming we would have strength in numbers, Tony, Dusty, Eyes, Jono, John, and myself went back to where they saw this creature. I don't think I can accurately describe the seen of us approaching the site; six grown men, in an outward facing huddle, flashlights sweeping the garden around us. John was carrying a 1m piece of rebar I found sticking in the ground, and Tony ended up picking up a huge woody branch, while I have tactical flashlight in defense position- a firm reverse grip held by my head. At one point Jono slipped and went down and the rest of us suffered an instant of terror as we hear him fall and yell and turn to see him slipping into a bush as if something had his feet. Finally we approach the spot where the beast was sighted, and in a bundle huddled down and looked around. Then- a pair of eyes; terror, exhilaration, then the realization that they were inside a fenced-in yard and finally a good look at the German shepherd, and everybody broke down laughing. I need to get to other things, but I do need to quickly mention the birding trip I took 8/31 in which we saw/heard 77 sp. of birds. Leighton Reid, a Sewanee alumn and co-founder of the great and noble Sewanee Natural History Society (of which I was patricial last year) led this epic expedition, and I can tell you he is an awesome birder. His knowledge of bird songs and ability to ID many sp. at a glance saved us great deals of time, as did his intimate knowledge of bird habitat in the area and where to try to call in certain birds. The most awesome birds seen had to have been the Great Tinamo, a flightless bird which resembles a cross between a turkey and a pigeon, and the white whiskered puff bird. Eventually I'll get around to posting the entire list of sp. seen to date, but don't have time now. Also seen but not of avian relation was a huge pack of coatis, which was absalutely awesome although Leighton says there almost a pest in abundance. These were my second identified non-US mammal, however, so I was exited.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
8/26/2009 Las Cruces Biological Station
Just hopped down here from San Jose, took my first walk through the rainforest so far. Not much fauna seen, thought there was a couple of cool spiders. Lots of plants, though, including my first view of a strangler fern, which I of course climbed up inside. The actual buildings part of Las Cruces is in the middle of the Wilson Botanical Gardens, a really sweet place. While walking the gardens before the rainforest walk I saw my first central American mammal, what I'm almost certain was an agouti. Not particularly afraid of humans, these guys, though maybe it was just these particular individuals. Had my first lecture this evening, this may be difficult for me. Outside of guest lecturers, I'm not used to being lectured at for over an hour as class. While he did ask for questions at the end, it was certainly not the discussion format I'm used to. Even in the hated lecture courses at Sewanee there's a lot more interaction during class between students/teachers, hell even in my 50 person chem and bio intros that was the case. Still, it has been the hands on parts of this program I've been looking forward to, which we start out with tomorrow morning. Writing now from the Wilson house where we're staying at the field station, a rather nice set of accommodation in my opinion. This should be a fun couple of weeks here, I'm looking forward to it.
Just hopped down here from San Jose, took my first walk through the rainforest so far. Not much fauna seen, thought there was a couple of cool spiders. Lots of plants, though, including my first view of a strangler fern, which I of course climbed up inside. The actual buildings part of Las Cruces is in the middle of the Wilson Botanical Gardens, a really sweet place. While walking the gardens before the rainforest walk I saw my first central American mammal, what I'm almost certain was an agouti. Not particularly afraid of humans, these guys, though maybe it was just these particular individuals. Had my first lecture this evening, this may be difficult for me. Outside of guest lecturers, I'm not used to being lectured at for over an hour as class. While he did ask for questions at the end, it was certainly not the discussion format I'm used to. Even in the hated lecture courses at Sewanee there's a lot more interaction during class between students/teachers, hell even in my 50 person chem and bio intros that was the case. Still, it has been the hands on parts of this program I've been looking forward to, which we start out with tomorrow morning. Writing now from the Wilson house where we're staying at the field station, a rather nice set of accommodation in my opinion. This should be a fun couple of weeks here, I'm looking forward to it.
Monday, August 24, 2009
8/24/2009 Charlotte, NC on way to Costa Rica
Yeah, kind of let the end of Saint Cat's slip, needless to say it was awesome and lemur behavior and social organization is awesome, though there is currently a raccoon that I will go to my grave hating for letting itself get trapped (24 hours constant tracking, need I say more?). Currently in Charlotte, NC airport preparing to fly to San Jose, Costa Rica for a semester of tropical biological awesomeness, will try to post with fair regularity. This will be my first time seeing a rain forest; I was in the tropics before but the country was Haiti, not the place to go for forests of any sort. I will be visiting five research stations while down there, in order according to the itinerary Las Cruces, Cuerici, La Selva, Monteverde, and Paloverde. While I'm currently beyond exhausted due to early morning connecting flights, I'm incredibly excited and ready to fly.
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