Monkeys for Myla

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRSOd5a9ugA

Sunday morning at Sirena

I wrote the following blog after a wonderful first day at Sirena 12 days ago.

Day 1 at this Corcovado biological station began at 4am. Yep, 4am. We didn’t dream of such an early wake up but the forest had different plans. The howls began slowly and seemingly in the distance. They grew to a crescendo right above our buildings and most of us were shaken out of a tropical slumber. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXiFgANry30). Two and a half hours later we really started our day with a breakfast of rice, beans, eggs, and toast.

Station rules were the first order of business. Breakfast will be from 6:30 to 7 and the dining room closes at 7:30. The groups will split up with half painting the station building and the other half conducting their project research. Lunch is roughly 11:30 to 12:30 followed by more service and research. 2pm marks the end of our work day and the beginning of time for exploration. Shoes are the topic of rule number two. No field shoes on the stations deck. Our living area is a series of elevated sleeping wings, a dining hall, and a two story building with a beautiful veranda and upstairs for research work. Closed toed shoes are the rule for off the deck and trail-hiking. Boots are required for the research work off the trail. Rule number three covers swimming. Visitors can only swim in one spot along the Rio Claro. No one can swim on the beach or at the mouth of either the Rio Claro or Rio Sirena.

Well, you could swim at the mouth of either river but you might encounter a crocodile! They like brackish or salt water and both rivers funnel nutrients into the ocean that attracts a lot of other fish that the crocs feed on. This rule really came into focus when we nearly stepped on a baby crocodile tanning on the beach TWO DIFFERENT TIMES ON THE SAME DAY! Sharks also patrol these waters! Bull sharks a common sight between the two rivers while also feeding at the mouth of the rivers at high tide.

Finally, trail rules. No one hikes alone and one must always be vigilant. No running on the trails and no casual strolls off-trail. Its crucial to maintain respect for the forest. Then, your safe and you’re more likely to benefit from all this ecosystem can offer.

For instance, this is a quick re-cap of yesterday’s first full day at Sirena. Again, it started at 4am with the howler monkeys. As we began our morning hike, we were greeted by a blue-morpho and its puppet like flight. This butterfly flaps its large blue wings at a pace that gives one an impression that there is some hidden puppeteer in the sky. We then cruised down the beach and startled what we first thought was a lizard. But it scurried into the ocean and it became obvious that we just saw a baby croc. We then formed a human chain into the beach surf (this is allowed) to unload our paint (pintura) donation, new roofing tiles, and some of our food. A pelican floated next to us in the surf attracting quite the affection from Devon. He’s one of Devon’s friends now. She also reminded me about the “crap-ton” of hermit crabs also on the beach.

We then began our “interpretive hike” with Alberto and walked north on the beach. I asked Alberto to stop half way down towards the next river to talk about the tapirs at Corcovado. They’re the largest mammal in Central America, in the horse family, nocturnal, and herbivores. Typically, they are gentle creatures that you can be close too but mothers with their babies can be dangerous. They have a very hard skull to hit you with but incredibly poor eyesight. We finished our first chat and proceeded around the beach point to the Rio Sirena mouth and as I asked Alberto to stop and prepare for his next interpretation and right on cue, a tapir lumbered awake just twenty yards away. We enjoyed its antics for a bit and then wandered back to the station for lunch. We saw more in one morning than most visitors see in their day jaunts on a boat from Drake Bay.

But our epic day continued. After lunch, an anteater appeared in a banana tree on the Westside of our front porch and ambled to the ground, underneath our platform, into our courtyard and then disappeared under the kitchen building. We then took a siesta and started hiking to the swimming hole. 2 km later, we found the spot and two other visitors who promptly informed us they spotted a small crocodile. Now I’m a policy guy, but I remembered that Alberto said crocs are only in salt or brackish water, not clear river water. So I thought this must be a small caiman and not much of a threat to us. So we waded in, threw rocks in the swimming hole and then splash, the caimen moved against the other bank of the river. It was about 1 meter long and keeping its distance from us. So I dove in, crossed through a short, but deeper channel until I could again stand on the river bottom up to my knees on the same bank as the caimen. Then it hit me. I’m swimming in the same waters with a caimen! We approached, and it darted downstream. We approached again, and it darted downstream. I then gave the ok for the rest of the group to swim.

At 4pm, we decided to hike to Rio Sirena for high tide and along the way, we saw squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys, and then walked right into a large herd of collared peccaries. We got back to the beach and continued hiking north when we again ran across a baby croc. It ran into the incoming surf and we tried to get a second glimpse but it was gone in a flash. As the sun began to set, we saw one bull shark in the mouth of the Sirena river and it was time to call it a day.

Rainforest Immersion comes to an end...

Today brings the end to RICA 2009. Everyone is in good health (maybe a few with tummy aches) and some will return today while a big group will stay on to explore more of Costa Rica or Nicaragua. I too will stay on for two weeks of much needed R&R and return on Aug. 11. We saw and learned a lot in these 31 days and I have a few more posts to share today and during my own travels in the coming days.

Danta Corcovado Lodge

We are officially staying in the most amazing lodge...but only for a grand total of 14 hours (we leave at 4am for our 18 mile trek to Sirena station). Walking into the lodge you feel like you are still in the forest as the whole building and almost everything inside of it is handmade from reforested wood. Some of the more fascinating things I've encountered so far include the stick that you turn to procure water from the sink, the polished log rings that serve as beautiful yet somewhat ungainly toilet seats, and garbage receptacles carved like little houses complete with swinging shingled roofs. The bungalows where most of the group are staying are a short walk through the forest and over a creek where a caiman is said to live. The bungalows, consisting of wooden platforms, a sectioned off bathroom, and green netting for roof/walls, almost appear to be part of the surrounding forest. My description of the lodge and bungalows may sound somewhat rustic, but this is not the case. Immaculate detail and planning has gone into every aspect of the construction of the structures and overall atmosphere with intricate wood working everywhere you turn (including a few carved snakes around corners). You can read more about the lodge at their website: http://www.dantacorcovado.net/index.html

Wish us luck on our venture tomorrow! <3 sarah catudio

University for Peace

Hola! Policy Sara here once again....
Since this is our last chance to blog before disappearing deep in to the jungle, I have been given the assignment to inform you all about our University of Peace experience this past week. We were given a unique opportunity to attend 4 guest lectures at U Peace on a variety of topics on environmental and social justice issues. Robert Fletcher, a freshman professor at U Peace provided an interesting and critical look at ecotourism and its effects on local communities, culture, and economies. He introduced the idea of a nature/culture dichotomy that is present in the consciousness of most westerners-the idea that there are human spaces and natural spaces- and ecotourism gives a chance to "cross over". He argued that ecotourism is a the extention of our colonial legacy, as the heros of American narratives ventured into the unknown. Jan Breitling gave a lecture on environmental values, valutation, and services of forests where he talked about the economic use and non use values of environmental services. Our second day at U Peace we received lectures from Rolain Borel and Victoria Fontan. The first examined environmental stress as a cause of both intrastate and international conflicts. He described different forms of land degredation such as top soil erosion, nutrient mining, deforestaiton, etc., and how they contribute directly to conflicts over land and resources, often leading to political struggles within and between countries. The final lecture was on peace studies with a focus on post-saddam Iraq. Professor Fontan starting her second doctorate, researching how quantam theory-- very simply put, the holistic interconnectedness of everything--is key to peace studies. She emphasized the complexity, uncertainty, and creativity that is and will be necessary to achieve peace in post-Saddam Iraq.

And here I was, worried that I wouldnt be getting any Political Science curriculum out of this...

Anyway, I am off to surf. Be jealous Chris...haha! Love and miss you all.

Sara Hall

Come on a surfin safari with me...

This is the second morning we've gotten to wake up and be able to jump in the ocean and it still amazes me everytime how warm the water is here!!! Dominical is a mix of locals and people from all over the world just living the life in a small beach town. The beach front hotel is so perfect to go with the beach bum feel and I could not asked for anything more, there is even a hamock right outside every room, just in case you want to relax for a few in the shade after being in the sun. But make no mistake a quick shade jolt is all you need, and all you will agree to give up, before jumping back into the sunshine, waves and sand. Yesterday was surfing day, and the bulk of the day was spent with that...which is a positive for me!!! This is heaven if you ask me, and one of the most perfect beach spots with the best atmosphere I have ever been to. This blog is going to be cut since we have exactly 2 hrs and 54 min (by my watch right now) until we have to leave Dominical, which means its surfing time before heading out. Miss you and pura vida from paradise!

Surf Camp

Buenos dias friends and family. We are finishing surf camp this morning and the students have enjoyed their break. We are at full strength again and the group is ready for our Osa portion of the trip. We leave Dominical at 11am and should arrive around 4am. We'll get a good rest in a nice eco-lodge and then start at 4am tommorrow for the tractor ride followed by an 18 kim hike. We should arrive at the Sirena biological station after a full day of trekking and begin our 8 day immersion into Corcovado National Park. We'll be off the grid so our last blogs for 10 days will appear today.

abelt67 sent you a video: "local nature global commitment"

	help center | e-mail options | report spam
abelt67 has shared a video with you on YouTube: One theme that we discussed early in the trip is about the political challenge of reconciling local perspectives with global pressures. For instance, ecotourists deman certain services and may inadvertantly marginalize local traditions. On cue, this phrase appeared as we exited the plane. local nature global commitment
© 2009 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

abelt67 sent you a video: "Service work improving Carara trails"

	help center | e-mail options | report spam
abelt67 has shared a video with you on YouTube: Video of trail service work. Service work improving Carara trails Our service work encompasses both maintenance and environmental monitoring. Here, we paint one of the main bridges in the trails of Carara National Park.
© 2009 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

Hola from Costa Rica!  Today we had a guide at Monte Verde (Cloud Forest).  We saw a eyelash viper, glasswing butterfly, an array of hummingbirds, some white faced capuchin monkeys and many other creatures.  It was indescribably beautiful there.  Our tour guide was enthusiastic and seemed to know everything about the flora and fauna of the area.  Yesterday we took a hike through the trails of Monte Verde and went over a suspension bridge overlooking the canopy of the forest.  It was very high up and the bridge wobbled quite a bit when walking over it.  We hiked to the continental divide and there was an observation deck that overlooked the jungle.  It was extremely windy but so much fun.  We took our rain jackets and made a sail- everyone almost blew away from the wind.  After our tour guide  we had lunch and packed up our luggage into our backpack and made our way back to San Jose.  It was about a four hour drive and mostly everyone slept on the bus.  It was nice to get some sleep but it started raining and I had a leak over my head and woke up towards the end of the trip.  Tomorrow we are going to the University of Peace for some classes and then we are headed to the beach for surf lessons.

Hello friends and family!  Pura Vida!

Bonnie

Hello from Costa Rica

It has been 2 weeks since I left Bellingham. We celebrated the 4th of July at Moteverde. Today, we went for a hike with an experienced guide. The most significant moment was at the continental divide. I felt a cold wind from the Atlantic ocean side, and at the same time, I felt a warm wind from the Pacific ocean side. Tomorrow, we will have a lecture at UPeace for Peace studies. I am very much looking forward to it. Japan (which is my home country) and Costa Rica both have peace constitutions, but while Japan has been compromising its constitutional ideal for the past 50 years, Costa Rica has got so close to its ideal. We can see it through permanent dissolution of the armed forces. There are lots of things we can learn from this country. well, it is time to go to bed... Masa

Hola! from Bird Megan

Well a lot has happened since we all arrived in Costa Rica.  It was sad to leave Carara National Park yesterday but i am ready to see more of Costa Rica and see what Sirena has in store for us. It was exciting to see all of the animals of Carara up close and personal.  On Friday a Group of white faced Capuchin monkeys came to eat the mangos out of our tree.  They seem more concerned about getting the mangos then the crowd of people taking pictures of them.  

The bird team finished all three recordings, after changing many variables, at Carara as well.  We also got to go bird watching with an expert bird guide.  Now we can identify some of the birds we recorded, although it's going to take so more practice for me.  It will be nice not to wake up at 5 in the morning for a change... at least until we are in Sirena.  

Yesterday we spent the fourth of July at the Monteverde Cloud Forest. We enjoyed pizza for dinner and hot showers. Today while hiking with a guide my group got pooped on by a Guan, a Costa Rican flying turkey. Jason got the most, his shirt must be very unlucky. 

We are now back in San Jose and will be attending the University of Peace for the next too days.  Until next blog, Hi to everyone back home. Its been an adventure and i am looking forward to the next ones that are sure to come.

-Megan Watson 

Thank you for coming!

This is Giovanny Soto, the Public Use Coordinator at Carara National Park. I had the chance to work with many local and international universities but when my friend Dr. Troy Abel comes with WWU, its really a different experience because we appreciate his students and staff and welcome all the group. For me its just a great experience to work, organize and share with students about the importance of nature, national parks (especially Carara which is very biodiverse). The best thing is to let the students know about the support from them and how it makes the difference here at the park. Its seems to be a very unique experience because not all the rangers in the whole sytem of conservation areas have this kind of relationship and it allows me to show my country as it is. Perhaps the only way to have people in touch with this protected area is to live inside the biological station and to understand the needs we have and share your time to collaborate with our main purposes and keep going with protection and activities. You have been more than tourists, but collaborators and friends.

Maybe in the future we could have more equipment, supplies and more technology to provide not only for students internationally, but for local student volunteerss who can understand your effort, support and your ideas to help Carara make improvements. I hope you keep your Carara experience in your memories and share these with your families and friends in Bellingham and around the USA.

I certainly like to thank all of you who gave us a hand and to understand our purposes and say “ An empty mind produces nothing, a full mind and warrior heart can get us what we need” Gracias amigos to give us the opportunity to help you and to be your hosts, here in my country, friendly by nature. Thank you for coming.

Also, my best for mi amigo Troy, without your help, we could not have had this marvelous experience at Carara National Park.

Sincerely, Bach. Giovanny Soto.

Costa Rica Highlights

We are living and hanging out at the Biological station. This is full of nice sized bugs. We went on our first hike and saw so many different creatures. The rain forest is so wonderful and beautiful. There are so many creatures I don´t know where to begin. Today we went croc hunting. They are such weird animals I don't know how to explain. They are so rustic set in the new world. We saw this huge one that look like it eats very well. :) We also have been able to partake in some "ecotourism" and went zip lining. That was a blast but a little to touristy. I really enjoyed the Macaw counting we did the other day. My group saw 147 Macaws. They are taking an average over the month for the park. Those birds are so graceful and pretty. When we went on the lagoon hike we saw a flock of like 30 birds feasting. That was so amazing!!

I am so over whelmed by the fact that there is such a first world influence in a truly 3rd world country. You see billboards and high class hotels right next to the run down shack. So interesting I would love to investigate more about the culture. It is just so cool.

 On Monday my education group went to one of the local schools Esquela Capulin,  to do some teaching. We played with the kids and taught them about the trees and how they help the environment. It was so cool. Then after all of our teaching we went to plant trees with the kids!  I made a friend who told me all about his biking battle wounds. It was great!! It was so exciting and so much fun to extend our work down here to the community. The really cool thing was that neither the students nor the teacher knew much English and so we had to work through the language barrier together to understand each other. We taught in broken Spanish and used lots of gestures to get our points across. We had one of the rangers who knew Spanish and English to help translate. I have been using some of my Spanish but it seams that it is a little rusty. Saturday we will be leaving Carara headed to Monteverde, then to U Peace and finally to Corcovado. Though I really enjoy it here I can't wait until our next part of the trip.

Until  then,

Katie

blog

Hola from Costa Rica, So its been over a week and a half and so much has gone on. First of all i learned a valuble lesson that all should heed when coming to Costa Rica. When you buy a new shirt always shake it out before you try it on. I learned this lesson the hard way when i bought a shirt and got stung by a scorpion that was living inside. Real painful sting that made me feel pretty brut but all and all I was ok and was able to do the zipline with the whole class (which was awesome). So yesterday we had a soccer game between Troys team the advacados and Adríans(park ranger) team the Macaws. It was an intense battle which went down to the wire. Skyler scored an early goal for the advacados which was answered by a goal by the Macaws. Sarah from the advacados hit one just by the diving goalkeeper josh. Then i scored one sliding the ball off the fingertips of Troy. Time was running short when baby sarah of the macaws hit one in from midfield which ended the match 3-2. The night ended with a great dinner of vegetarian lasanga made by the famous wilma of carrara national park.
The following day we went to the mangrove forest and saw some wild crocidiles in there natural habitat. Our time at Carrara is running short but it is for sure a time to remember.
Pura vida,
Jason

Sun, crocs, and rain...a typical day in Costa Rica

Hey everyone, Sarah Degenhart (from the bird team) here!  The ´09 rica team had an excellent day today.  The bird team and a visitor from the Ed team, Katie, went out in the field at 5:30 am.  We hiked along the Quebrata Bonita trail to our medium density canopy plot to record the birds we heard.  The team completed 4, very difficult, point counts somewhat successfully while Katie got the headphones to hear what was being recorded.  The recording worked great so we decided to take the long way home to try to see some creatures.  Walking through the rainforest when the sun is rising is an amazing thing.  ¡Que bonita!  We tried to find some snakes but no luck, sorry Em!  I will get some pictures for you soon.  The hike back was great, no new sightings but still worth it. 

 

After a much needed breakfast and coffee break, some of us headed to the Tarcoles River for the first crocodile tour.  The drive was long, bumpy, and most people slept but once we got out we were fine.  The eight of us put our life-vests on and piled into the small tour boat with our two guides.  At first the ride was fun, no crocs or anything, just a nice ride on the brown, murky river.  We finally got to a bend in the river where you could see the ocean and crocodiles!  There were at least five of them sunning themselves on the beach directly in front of us.  It was so cool!  But dont worry, these werent "killer crocs" or anything.  We sat there for a while, watching them enter the water and slowly swim away.  On our way to the dock Erica spotted a huge one across the way so our guide drove us right up to it.  This guy was pretty massive!  After sitting there for a minute the guide started splashing the water and hitting the boat to get the crocs attention.  It walked itself right into the water and disappeared!  It freaked out a few of the people so we drove back to the dock.  They were so cool to see up close.  Amazing. 

 

When we got back to the station, Handy-Boy Troy showed us the sloth in our front yard.  He had the scope set up so we could see the sloths little face and everything.  Super cute.  A little after lunch, Troy spotted another animal in the tree next to the sloth.  An anteater decided to drop in to visit.  One of the park rangers said this is a rare sighting and he believes this species will be extinct within the next ten years.  Yea, we have crazy jungle animals hang out in our front yard all the time.  (Buggy you would have loved it!  I have pictures to show you when I get home)  The sun was out and a few of us decided to try and get a tan.  After sitting in a boat for an hour and then falling asleep in a chair in the sun my arm got pretty burnt.  Sorry Mom and Dad!  I wont forget sunscreen the rest of the time I am here.    

 

Well thats all the time I have now.  Hopefully I will get to write again soon.  Hello to everyone back home! Love you and miss you all, wish you were here!

hi friends! a note from sarah catudio

The education team got to visit and teach a lesson at Escuela Capulin, a small elementary school in Costa Rica on Monday. There was one teacher for 20 students in grades K-6. After spending the morning at the school we went with the students and Adrian, a park ranger from Carara, to plant trees near the community water source to help filter sediment and remove unwanted nutrients from the ground water. I teach at an elementary school in Bellingham and am very excited to hopefully set up some global connections between the students at Escuela Capulin and Wade King Elementary in the fall.

Coming from a non-environmental studies/sciences background I´ve been very interested in both the novel coursework as well as the fieldwork that other teams are completing. I took a tour of the botony plot yesterday and was very impressed with how well Khai, Megan, Sara and Masa were able to explain thier research and answer all of my questions.

Hola from Costa Rica!

Carara has been a wonderful, if not sometimes challenging experience so far.  We have seen so many different animals in their natural environments. We get to fall asleep, and wake up, to the screams of Howler monkeys.  I am getting used to ice cold showers, an endless supply of beans and rice, and having at least 5 swollen, itchy bug bites at any given point.  It is very humid here, but it is really nice when it rains. And boy, does it rain. We went on a Crocodile River Tour today, and got to see them pretty up close. They are pretty lazy and just lay there with their mouths open. I wanted to see one eat a bird or something, just to see them move fast, but no luck.

As a member of the Policy team, I have been able to go into town and see some of the local culture. Most people are very friendly, and it is a unique experience to be able to see people living in little villages and fishing towns.  All of the park rangers in Carara are friendly, and it has made me not as intimidated to try speaking Spanish.  I enjoy trying to read all of the signs, and understand what is going on.

Yesterday morning, a group of us went to a lookout to count Macaws as they flew off to their daily routines. These counts are part of the Macaw Conservation efforts, and it was awesome to be part of it.  Macaws always fly in pairs, and occasionally in families. Some of them flew right over us, and others were really far away. Their bright red stood out against the green of the trees though, and it was beautiful to watch even from a distance.

We only have two more nights in Carara, and then we get a little break from our rainforest living. I think everyone is looking forward to getting laundry done. It is hard to keep things smelling even half-way decent when it takes a couple days for them to dry. I am looking forward to our big hike into Corcavado National Park.  It is supposed to be similiar to the lagoon hike we did last week- calf deep muddy puddles.  During that hike, i tried pretty hard at first not to get super muddy, and my shoes held up very well. Once i looked ahead on the trail to see solid puddles, however, i knew it would just be easier to give in and embrace it.  

Hello to all my family and friends, I miss you lots, and hope you are all having wonderful summers!

Pura vida!

-Mallory 

Living la Pura Vida!

by Skylar Hinkley (Policy Team)

Life in the rainforest is never dull. Yesterday I woke up at 4:30am to sounds of howler monkeys, birds chirping and insects buzzing (the rainforest never sleeps). We had to be up before 5 to go monitor scarlet macaws at a nearby lookout. Everyday they fly from their homes in mangrove forests across the Tarcoles River to a feeding area to feast on fruits. We counted 147 of these beautiful birds fly by us and overhead. It is truly an amazing sight to see. I never thought I could smile so much, so early in the morning. Then the rest of the day consisted of the usual rainforest treks with all sorts of creatures crawling, and flying around. Although I have grown accustomed to it over the past week, waking up to the rainforest right at our porch never gets old.

Today there was an ant-eater in a tree right over our station (a rare sight)...so I snapped a quick pic:

Not only is the rainforest exciting and beautiful, but so are the local towns. The policy team gets to interact with the community through interviews. The other day we went to a nearby school and interviewed the principle about environmental education programs with Carara Park. The students were excited to see us and have there pictures taken…to say the least.

Over the weekend we had a little play time to relax from our week of field work. We went to a popular ecotourism attraction in Costa Rica where you get to zip line over the canopy of the rainforest. It was as cool as it sounds. It was another hot day in paradise, so John decided to wear his usual short-shorts uniform (crocs and all), even on the zip line. The employees got a good laugh out of his unique gringo style. It's so hot though that it is hard to blame him.

Today we got to go on a boat ride through the mangrove forest on the Tarcoles River. We got to see crocodiles bathing in the sun. They looked more lazy than vicious.




Just another day in Costa Rica.

erica´s blog

Hola from the jungle!

I have had some amazing experiences here so far.

One of my favorites is when my group (the environmental education group) got to visit an elementary school here. It was a little tricky communicating with the children because of the language barrier, but we managed pretty well. It was also interesting to see how the schools here differ from ours in the U.S., they only have one class for all the grades and the ages in the class range from 6-14 or so. We got to do a presentation and science experiement about tree planting. Afterwards we got to then plant trees with the children, since their school in loctaed in a flood basin. The trees will help slow floods, and the roots will help clean their drinking water since they get it from the groundwater. It was such a great experience!  When it was time for us to leave the school, a little girl ran up to me and gave me her bracelett to remember her by and it made my day! I can´t wait to further my environmental education experiences.

Another great time I had was the macaw monitoring. Although we had to wake up at 4:30 am, it was definitely worth it! We counted around 147 individual macaws. The sunrise was gorgeous as well. It was awesome to see so many macaws fly overhead!

Today we got to go on a boat through the mangroves and the first thing we saw was three white-faced monkeys which are my favorite! We also saw a few crocodiles!

I am really excited for the "Carara Olympics" tomorrow that Sarah D., Bonnie, Mitch and I have been planning. Go Environmental Ed. Team!
- Erica Roeglin

Tengo un excellente tiempo

Tengo un excellente tiempo!

Today I woke up about 5am and prepared for field work. I am on the team studying birds in Carara National Park and we will continue our work at Parque Nacional de Corcovado (Corcovado National Park). For breakfast I had something that resembled Cocoa Pebbles as well as some coffee.

For field work we had a site selected about 20 minutes from our biological station about 10 meters off of the trail. We have to where our rubber boots for protection since we are off the trail so as not to be bitten by the Fer De Lance which is a poisonous snake. Our site was selected because we wanted to monitor birds in a canopy layer with medium density. We had already done a low density and will do a high density tomorrow. The team monitors number of individual birds as well as number of different species. To do this we use a microphone that rests on a tripod, a recorder, headphones, a densiometer to measure canopy density, and our notebook to do a point count of the number of birds we here for a 10 minute period. In the evening we have students in other study groups listen to our recording and have them note how many birds and how many species they can hear. Half the students will listen at Carara and the other half will listen at Corcovado.

In other news, we went on a boat tour in the morning and observed some crocodiles as well as some fascinating birds. Upon returning to the station we saw a sloth right by our biological station and soon after we saw an anteater! He was pretty awesome. I also spent some time reading Trouble in Paradise about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. For lunch I had a ham and cheese sandwich with some chips and salsa.

Nothing but good times here in Costa Rica. Right now we are at an Internet café in the town of Quebrada Genado. I will blog later. Pura Vida!

Mitch Olson