Hello All!
The past few days have been packed with all kinds of adventures. Like Dr. B said, it is beginning to show how tired everyone is. I am beginning to realize just how different this field experience is from last year's, for me. Being a part of the bird group last year is completely different from being a field assistant. Running around from group to group, bird point to quadrat, can be tiring yet educational. Props to Dr. B for doing this all the time. I am just trying to learn as much as I can about field work and be helpful where I can. To be quite honest, I am quite impressed with this group of students. I happen to be learning a lot from many of them. In addition, their energy level and perseverance towards the project is impressive.
The invertebrate group has made a lot of progress. Roselyn and Jean have caught a lot of butterflies and have been doing well at their point counts. Sebastian has been very successful with his traps. They are definitely getting a lot of data so their analysis should be very thorough.
Team Habitat has also made a lot of progress and ran into a lot of interesting situations on the way (or so I here a few things about vipers). I have been specifically working with them on some of their soil tests, but also look forward to helping identify some plants with them.
The bird group is, of course, going above and beyond. Christian and Austin need little help from me. Every now and then I get a question about a tree, but overall I am just impressed with their skills and excitement about the project. Lately, I have been doing the bird behavior points with Alli and Turin. We have had a lot of fun working together. In addition, analyzing bird behavior has been a great opportunity to partake in. These girls have been very on top of their data analysis while they are here, so I know they are taking their project serious.
Today, the girls cabin and I kind of took a small break from the field and went horseback riding to a waterfall. I was very lucky to be able to go on this adventure again. As always, I was very impressed with our guides, Enrique and Chito. They are always great to be around and so kind to share their knowledge of the land with us. I know that the girls and I were very tired after our adventure today, but it has not affected our energy towards the field work. I believe we are all just trying to ignore the tiredness until we arrive back into the US. There is no time to be tired in Tico Town.
Well we are are looking forward to our last day of field work and the big free day. We will all let you know how it goes!
