Greetings from Costa Rica! The volcano just came into view and is here visible as I type, even with some remaining cloud at the top. This has been a busy morning after a busy travel day yesterday. The students did very well in spite of all of our hardships in travel yesterday--finding out our first flight was canceled and being moved over to the American flight in the evening, having to hang around the airport all day and then being delayed on departure by 3 hours. We finally arrived in San Jose at 10PM but still had a 3-hour drive ahead of us. In spite of having very little sleep they were all out for our orientation hike this morning at 7. Partway through our orientation they enjoyed a nice big breakfast and continued orientation until 10:30, and they are now working on their project protocols with a bit more context now that they've actually seen the site.
I'm very impressed with this group of students, since collectively they are seeing everything they possibly can--from Sebastian scouting the ground for ants, Roselyn snapping pictures of butterflies, and John spotting some amazing fungi in the forest. Our habitat group has been focused on the plants, with Omar finding an interest in Heliconia this morning, Joe checking out the trees and Forrest noting everything in his notebook while we walk. Christian got an early start spotting birds from his cabin porch, and Austin saw a Mot Mot pair that all of us had good looks at on the trail. And Turin is picking up her bird skills by spotting a Smoky Brown Woodpecker nest, while Alli has focused a lot on the hummingbirds and is eager to use her background in psychology to study behavior. All of them are being helped by our field assistant Elise, who is helping hold everyone together with her logistical support. Richard and I feel very pleased to be working with such a great group.
We hike the volcano in a couple of hours, and they'll get a chance to see the surrounding area on the drive. I hope everyone gets a better rest tonight (with homemade tacos and tres leches on tonight's menu they will eat well!), and be ready for tomorrow's earlier wake-up call at 5:30 AM. With the enthusiasm they've had so far I think they'll be great!
I'm very impressed with this group of students, since collectively they are seeing everything they possibly can--from Sebastian scouting the ground for ants, Roselyn snapping pictures of butterflies, and John spotting some amazing fungi in the forest. Our habitat group has been focused on the plants, with Omar finding an interest in Heliconia this morning, Joe checking out the trees and Forrest noting everything in his notebook while we walk. Christian got an early start spotting birds from his cabin porch, and Austin saw a Mot Mot pair that all of us had good looks at on the trail. And Turin is picking up her bird skills by spotting a Smoky Brown Woodpecker nest, while Alli has focused a lot on the hummingbirds and is eager to use her background in psychology to study behavior. All of them are being helped by our field assistant Elise, who is helping hold everyone together with her logistical support. Richard and I feel very pleased to be working with such a great group.
We hike the volcano in a couple of hours, and they'll get a chance to see the surrounding area on the drive. I hope everyone gets a better rest tonight (with homemade tacos and tres leches on tonight's menu they will eat well!), and be ready for tomorrow's earlier wake-up call at 5:30 AM. With the enthusiasm they've had so far I think they'll be great!
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