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Dear Parents, 

 Today was another well productive day. Dr. Brown, Richard, Chris and I volunteered at Proyecto Asis a conservation organization where wild animals are kept that have been confiscated from people.  We worked in construction for few hours building a concrete ramp on one of the cages that is going to be used for a falcon.  We also got to use machetes to clear a space that is going to be used for caimans.  While there we fed some monkeys, birds, raccoons a  beautiful kinkajoo. We also spent few hours at La Fortuna town where we ate a delicious dinner.  After many wonderful experiences in Costa Rica, we are leaving to go back to Dallas tomorrow.

Hello Hello from Tico Town!

     As Richard reported (much better than I will), we had a small earthquake here this morning.  The cabins wobbled a bit, but otherwise, anyone who even noticed probably asked, "Did anyone else feel that or was it just me?"  I think this little event characterizes the last day of our field season.
     Hector, Dr. Brown and I had many odd tasks to finish for the plant and habitat projects--so many that they took until 3:00ish to finish.  HOBOs and marking tape needed to be collected along with soil samples.
     Tomorrow, we will have the opportunity to volunteer with Proyecto Asis, a small organization dedicated to conservation and Costa Rican culture and community.  I am looking forward to a new experience with a different type of conservation group.

Today we wrapped up with my project.  Chris and I finished our last plots for plant sampling.  We collected more insects for his project and picked up all the HOBOs from the trees that we used to hang them.  We also collected all the plastic tape used to mark all the plots for this field ecology study; Chris was very serious about it! Tomorrow will be another exciting day because we get to see more monkeys.

This is a pictured taken this morning milking the cow that Chris and I have been helping with for the last couple days.

 

Hola!

Today was a very busy day, but filled with lots of excitement. If you have already read Dr. B's blog than you would know that we got to release a sloth into the wild. One of the workers on the property, Enrique, found a sloth in his yard and brought it by Leaves and Lizards to release it to its proper place. We were surprised and over-joyed when he offered the task to us. Of course our answer was YES. Kelly got to carry her and I got to hold her as the sloth grabbed a vine and slowly worked his way up to her new home.

We just feel like this whole trip has been one excitement and priveledge after another. Never did we think we would be witnessing volcanic eruptions or release sloths back into the wild. What a lucky couple of chicas are we?

After releasing the sloth, we headed out to Orlando's forest, which is a property of private primary forest-basically minimal deforestation and tourist activity. Again another priveledge we got to partake it by hiking in it.  With the hopes of seeing a Mot Mot, we entered the forest despite Kelly's outrageous fear of snakes (which this particular forest is full of). Our guide Oscar had promised to help find us a Mot Mot, as a bribe to convince Kelly to join us for the 3-4 mile hike. About half way through the hike, the much desired bird sound was heard- goes something like "hoop hoop or woo woo" . But this Mot Mot was just teasing us, for we hiked miles and miles to find him and ended up disapointed and Mot Mot-less. But we haven't given up yet. Kelly and I will not leave Tico Town until we see one.

Despite not having a Mot Mot in our data collection, all of our observations have been going great. We have seen a few new species at various points including the Lineated Woodpecker-great bird and really exciting to see on the property. This specific woodpecker is related to the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Another interesting site we got to see today involved a dual between a Rufous Tailed Hummingbird and a Green Brested Mango Hummingbird. The fight went one for quite some time and seemed to be over a nesting spot. From what we could tell the Green Brested Mango was winning, probably due to a slightly bigger body than the Rufous Tailed.

After so much excitement and activity in one day, these chicas are ready to get some good sleep to be ready for our last day of data collection tomorrow!

 

PURA VIDA

 

Hello again from Kelly and Elise!!

After few days of sampling plants, we decided to take a very close look at Arenal, the volcano eight miles south of us. We witnessed, close up, the most action we could have seen in a volcano--pyroclastic flows.  It was incredible to watch these for almost an hour. We came back to finish our work after few hours of our trip to the volcano but we helped treating the horses in Leaves and Lizards for garrapatas, a very nasty parasite that lives outside the body mainly in the ear of the horses. We all learned how to administer the medicine, including Dr. Brown who herself inspired our love for nature.

Hello everyone,
Today was the most rainy day of all since our first day in the country, but that didn't stop us from working today. The rain stopped for few hours in the morning, and we were able to deploy some HOBO's (automatic temperature readers).  We also did some more plant sampling.  Our day ended with a warm dinner and a nice view of the volcano, Arenal.

     Having returned to Leaves and Lizards two years after last visiting, I was happy to see that the reforestation project had grown up from scrub that looked very like some areas in South Dallas to a true tropical forest.  Really some good work is being done here.

     Hector and I were able to start off running from the gate today, sampling 3/4 the number of quadrats we had sampled in 2008 in just one day.  Our work will be cut out for us still, though, because we are now able to really begin sampling the property.  Same goes for my own little project about biodiversity; after practicing twice today, I am feeling very capable of being able to establish a good baseline upon which further projects can build.  More on this later, as the project really begins.

     For now, it's bedtime for this old man before a long day again tomorrow.

Cheers!
Christopher

Hello ecology fans!
After all the hassle yesterday, we are finally doing some real work in the field today.  We were joking  this morning during breakfast about having a tree that produce pancakes and a chicken that makes omelettes. Guess what?  The tree really exists, la fruta pan,  we found that in our first segment we sampled this morning, but we still looking for the chicken.
Tomorrow we'll do more exciting stuff starting by looking at more birds and then going back to sample more plants. 

Sorry we didn't keep yall in the loop yesterday..so here's an update:

Today, the Plantish group outlined our four days of field work:

BIRDS!

We had our last classroom lecture today before we leave, which is TOMORROW!

Today we wrote our protocol describing our plans for our trip.  Now that we have a good understanding of what we are going to do at our area of study, we can't wait to get started!

Dr. B just gave us some of our equipment today that we will be working with at our area of study. And now we just have to pack it all up along with our things excluding our straighteners and blow dryers...those won't be going to Tico Town with us. We both have to start the packing today when we go home.  Hopefully our fully packed backpacks won't weigh more than us! 

Wish us luck and pray that we stay safe and away from scorpions!

 

PURA VIDA!!

     My name is Christopher Gurguis and I am not unfamiliar with Costa Rica and Leaves and Lizards.  Two years ago, I was part of the plant group with Lorea Ormazabal and Mary Boyum.  That Mayterm was to be my last course at the University of Dallas, although I had developed strong connections and friends with whom I kept contact.  Hector Quijada I met first semester of my freshman year in college, for example.

     I have spent the last year-and-a-half at Loyola University Chicago.  There I earned a B.S. in biology (emphasis in ecology) and picked up a minor in anthropology.  But it was the course in 2008 that enkindled my love of field work, and directed my course choices while I was at Loyola.  This process culminated with an acceptance to Columbia University's MA program in Conservation Biology.

     This year, I hope to gain some valuable experience in a teaching element as well as lend my prior experience to this year's plant project.  The biogeography and microhabitat study should prove a good learning experience.  I look forward to getting back to the tropics and the place where I learned to love field biology.

Hello from Kelly and Elise!

Just got done with our first day of class and couldn't more excited about the trip.

We received our assignment today- BIRDS. We aren't quite sure what we are going to be doing yet, but we are definitely ready to learn. Two more days of classes and then it is off to Tico Town! We will keep ya'll posted.

 

Pura Vida!

My name is Hector, I'm a senior biology major, interested in medicine. I was attracted to the course because I want to have a broader understanding of biology.
I'll be working on the plant project this year.  Our primary mission is to monitor plants for continuing conservation of the property.

Debbie & Steve have put together a video slide show of the past four years of Leaves and Lizards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha2WFzVH1uA

Watch closely and you might spot some Univ.Dallas students!

The student reports have now been published as PDF documents:

http://www.ecomapcostarica.com/reports/index.shtml

The last day had a productive final round of sampling even with the frequent rain. Many new butterfly species were recorded including many individuals of a rather uncommon species typically only found in intact forest. Upon reviewing the notes and data for the butterflies the highest areas of diversity were, as expected, in the disturbed forest patches that did not have tree monocultures. The tree plantations especially the teak stands were very low in butterfly diversity. The butterflies of the teak areas were the most common species that were present to nectar on the lantana. The tiger pattern mimetic complex of Heliconians, Ithomiines, and a single Charaxinae was very well represented in the two main disturbed forest patches. For the ants diversity was greatest in the forest patch bordering bird points a-n. There were several dominant species of ground dwelling ants. Their dominance should lessen as the restoration process continues and the leaf litter becomes thicker. This gives less dominant species more available niches and microhabitats to live and forage in, and it makes it more difficult for dominant species, like the fire ant Solenopsis geminatta, to establish colonies.