So over the past two days we have experienced a lot here in Costa Rica. My team is in the field everyday around five thirty in the morning. We check the mist nets and usually catch something. Today I got to hold a grassquip and we caught a woodpecker that tried its best to break Austin's fingers. The poor guy we bleeding from his knuckles! Also, we finally solidified our plan and our field work. We will observe 5 bird points for a total of twenty minuets for bird behavior and record everything we see. This way we can obtain a clear idea of what behaviors are associated with what type of forest and exactly how many birds are in each type of forest. Today was unbelievably hot, but we accomplished a lot. At our break we saw a toucan and a very large sloth who was fairly active ( well as active as a sloth can be)! Tomorrow we plan on continuing our same procedure to observe birds. Thankfully we are only out during the early morning and evening because the middle of the day is unbearable with the heat. I feel sorry for the habitat and the invertebrate groups! I understand why birds do not like going out in the middle of the day now!
Turin Hansen: May 2011 Archives
So after our very interesting travel experience yesterday and our very short nights rest we awoke this morning to the surprising loudness of the rainforest. It is absolutely gorgeous here. Today we mapped out all of the bird points and spotted two nests at bird point K and M. We also familiarized ourselves with the more common bird species such as the Blue-gray Tanager and the Clay Colored Robin. We also have a Blue-gray Tanager nest right outside our cabin which is awesome!
After our initial hike we took a well needed nap break and then we traveled to the Arenal volcano. The volcano is much bigger close up and unfortunately, today it was not cooperating and being very docile. However, the hike was still beautiful and it was nice to see rainforest that was original and stratified in its layers.
Dinner tonight is of course homemade by the amazing Costa Rican chef. The food here is really divine. The nicest part is that all of it is fresh and usually locally grown. We stopped to pick up some lunch supplies on our way back from the volcano and it was interesting to practice our spanish and try the local snack food. Tomorrow we plan on really doing our first day of hard work. We will observe all of the bird points throughout the day and begin to track behavior and find more nests. Hopefully it all goes well!
-Turin
