Carara Character

It is june 30th and its our first day entirely dedicated to field work and research. Mustering up the energy to be in the field for hours at a time is difficult, more difficult for some than others. I myself am on the botany team in which we focus on forest composition differences between Carara and Corcovado NP. It is definitely exhausting crawling over leonas and constantly being attentive to what is on the ground in front and around you. The understory is thick and houses a ridiculous amount of spider webs and insects. I have never had so much difficulty trying to identify a tree since the leaves of the tree are hidden and intertwined with five other species of trees and numerous epiphytic species. A new technique to me for obtaining leaves is to throw sticks and hope to knock off a branch containing the leaves of interest. It is interesting however, to see the huge diversity of tree species within such close proximity to one another. Yesterday we got to experience the mangroves first hand with a boat tour into the mangrove estuary. As it was my first crocodile experience i couldn't get enough of it, they were everywhere, babies to 16 footers! The variety of birds was also amazing, macaws to vultures to pink spoon-billed sifters. At the start of trip the insects were obnoxious, scary, and occupied a majority of our attention, nowadays they are an everyday occurrence which we deal with and dont worry about, even the tarantulas are becoming less noticeable and the giant creepy crawly crickets and maysids have gone from creepy to cool. The most exciting thing everyone is looking forward to now is laundry day, a washing machine and a drier! It turns out that high humidity doesnt add pleasant smells to boxers and socks! But since nobody smells good anymore we have turned into one big happy smelly family! The wildlife is extravagant! Just an hr ago before i came to blog i was walking back from my plot site and ran into a family of white faced capuchin monkeys. There was about four little ones and one parent figure no more than five feet above me in all directions. I decided to take a seat right there in the trail to observe their behavior, i saw them eating and playing among the swinging leona vines and various trees. It was my favorite and best wildlife experience of the trip so far, once they realized i was not a threat they went along with their mid day activities every so often checking back in with me to make sure i was still there observing and admiring. Walking around Carara you would never think that the scarlet macaw population was under 500 worldwide. Just this morning a group went out around 5 am and saw over 120 in just over an hr making their daily journey from the mangroves to the rainforest. Sitting in this ranger station room in front of a computer and air-conditioner i am reminded of home and civilization, and i do indeed miss it. But then i remember that i am surrounded by a rainforest, i am immersed in the most biologically diverse ecosystem on the entire planet and it makes all the negative feelings disappear.

Anthony Sutter
June 30th 2010 from Carara N.P. Costa Rica