One danger filled day at La Selva
After two full days in La Selva, we have settled into a research routine. This will come as a big surprise, but the bird group woke up bright and early for their second day of birding. The highlight of their morning was spotting a blue tailed hummingbird.
The insect group rose shortly after the birders to set out their second day of insect traps. Everyone else had the pleasure of a leisurely morning with breakfast at 7:00 am. After fueling up for the day, the whole crew headed out to complete the rest of the gentry transects. Jeremy’s team (Alex, Nina, Kianna, Maya, Zach, and Caroline) cruised through their transects with enough time to check out the successional plots for their independent project and eat an early lunch. Prof. Cardelús’s team (Sophie, Adam, Keiona, MT, Porter, and Clay) took a little longer to finish, but still had time to scope out the bromeliads in the arboretum.
While working on transects, Keiona heroically saved Professor Cardelús from a banana spider, who decided to hang out on her head.
On their way back to el comedor for lunch they spotted a family of wild boars (who, for the record, smell like an armpit) (but, who are we to judge, we don’t smell much better). While out in the forest, we also spotted turtles, birds, and howler monkeys!
Early mornings and late nights (10:30 pm is a LATE night for us) have wiped us out, so we take any opportunity to nap we can get. Jeremy caught up on sleep by the lab, while Porter and Alex dozed off during lunch to prepare for an afternoon full of independent projects.
The bird/pollinator group scoped out flowers to observe pollinator visitations while the amphibian group investigated their study locations. The two bromeliad groups determined that the arboretum is the best location for their studies due to the copious bromeliads within reach. They also discovered Professor Cardelús’s dissertation in the La Selva library (a nice introduction into her talk later in the evening). Just before dinner the insect group collected their final traps. Reunited at dinner, we discussed our favorite colors, animals, and waters (interpret it as you may).
After dinner, we had the pleasure of learning about Professor Cardelús’s research at La Selva. We really enjoyed seeing the photos of her early in her career working in the same spots we are today. While walking over the bridge, everyone was very excited to spot a sloth hanging from the wires. Before calling it a night, Nina and MT spotted a baby fer-de-lance blocking their path in the lab clearing. They scampered back to the lab and informed everyone of their spotting. We all got to cross a venomous snake spotting off our tropical bucket list.
To end the day our groups spend some time identifying plants, insects, and bird. The blog group was hard at work blogging as always.
xoxo
~ the bloggers
what is a fer -de-lance??? you guys are 2 cool for school (like literally just don’t go back)