Monthly Archives: May 2019

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Day 2: “Cheese Belize!”

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5/15/19: Well, today was our first full day in Belize and it was quite an experience. I have never before experienced anything like this.

It was a jammed pack day full of swimming, hiking, and exploring. We went to Rio on Pools site to swim which was super refreshing after being in the hot sun. I think I am going to keep reminiscing on those moments in the cool river while out here at Las Cuevas hiking in the humidity.

A picture of me enjoying the small waterfall at the Rio on Pools site.

I have to say my favorite part of the day had to be exploring the Mayan Caracol ruins. It was crazy to me to think that I was climbing structures that were built thousands of years ago. It also astounded me that Belize struggles to find funds to excavate all of the sites. We were only able to see the 1% of Caracol that has been excavated. There were so many other sites that have yet to be uncovered. If I had all the money in the world, I feel like I would want to donate some to help fund the archeological projects in Belize. I was in awe of its magnitude and beauty, so I can only imagine what it would be like to see all of the ruins uncovered.

I am atop one of the plaza structures at Caracol ruins site in Belize

I have seen 2 arachnids today, but I was too slow to grab my camera before they scurried away. One was a small common wolf spider and the other I think could have been a huntsman/banana spider (Heteropoda venatoria). It was on the smaller side, but it had the characteristic long legs seen in most banana spiders. I hope as we venture into Chiquibul tomorrow I will see many more! Hopefully, my first wild tarantula sighting will happen soon.

On a quick final note, in honor of our driver Leo, I am excited to keep saying “Cheese Belize!” in many more photo ops on this trip.

Wish me Luck!

-Bella

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Day 1: Ant Man? Not quite!

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Today’s general agenda: airport —> lunch at Cheers —> grocery shopping at New Flags —> Crystal Paradise Ecolodge 

We have only been in Belize for less than 24 hours, but it definitely feels like we have experienced so much of it already. What may have been long car rides between destinations actually turned into interesting observations and discussions. 

For instance, we spotted the Taiwan ICDF and Taiwan flags! After getting more stable internet, I quickly searched up Taiwan ICDF, and, turns out, they work towards boosting socio-economic status and providing human resources for developing partner communities. I think I was definitely surprised to see Taiwan conducting such outreach work in Belize, and I am definitely glad that they have such capacity to do so. 

Taiwan ICDF in Belize

In terms of taxonomic identification (again, I am the ant-person or ant-man), I was pleased to find many different ants already! The most common ants that we spotted were leaf cutter ants, specifically Atta cephalotes. These leaf cutter ants have mandibles, which are pincer-like jaws, that cut leaves and flowers and brings them back to their nest. However, other ants identification proved to be more difficult. I spotted two ants that were roughly 1.5cm, but I could not seem to correctly identify them (see image below). My guesses are that they are some leafcutter ant species but it definitely is hard to be sure without any type of microscope. 

Unidentified ant. Possibly belonging to the Ponerinae family

Overall, today proved to be a very eventful day! From jumping into the river to observing horses, tapirs, and more, we really have only grazed the surface of Belize. Tomorrow, we will slowly disconnect from civilization (internet is really not the best in the forest as you can imagine) and head into the deep rainforest. Until then, hopefully I’ll get better at identifying ants and I can’t wait to hear what other students have prepared for the trip. 

 

 

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No Beetles In Sight

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May 14, 2019

We have reached the end of our first day in Belize, and I have yet to spot any beetles (order: Coleoptera). This is likely because we haven’t spent much time outdoors yet. Much of our day was spent on a plane or in a van, so I didn’t have much time for beetle-watching.

However, as I was walking around Crystal Paradise Ecolodge this evening, I found a nest of what I believe to be wasps (as opposed to bees). Though these aren’t members of my assigned taxon, I’ll insert a photo, as we don’t have a bee and wasp expert on our trip, and I think these insects deserve some attention, too.

This nest is a pretty incredible work of architecture, and I was surprised to find it in a bush, rather than in a tree or on a building. I had originally been scanning the bushes in hopes of finding a beetle resting on a leaf, but this was a pretty cool find, too.

2019

14/05/19 We Have Anchored Down in Belize

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[6:00am] We were up before the sun, gathered at Rice University’s Valhalla eager to depart. In a series of unfortunate circumstances, we had tardy departures twice (from Rice University to IAH, then from IAH to Belize), but remained on schedule! Finally at around 12:30pm (Belize time—an hour behind Houston’s), we anchored down in Belize.

The remainder of the day was full of travels. We encountered several wildfires—a sure indicator of the dry season! At one particular point, the van was enveloped by a thick cloud of smoke from a roadside wildfire. For lunch, I had soursop juice, stewed pork with rice and beans (not beans and rice—they’re different!) At the next stop, grocery store, I stocked up on plantain chips. (Enjoying the local cuisine!)

After a long trip, we arrived at Crystal Paradise Ecolodge, where there is an abundance of friendly stray dogs and fun. A few classmates and I plus Scott and Amanda walked down to the river to swim and swing for about an hour before dinner until the light started to fade. We encountered no alligators, thankfully, but identified leaf-cutter ants, ants from the genus Ectatomma, and an agouti (no Lepidoptera today!)

2019

Swinging into the Jungle!- Day 1

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The Belize International Airport

Well, we made it! We’re officially in Belize! Today was mostly traveling, but we made it to the Ecolodge where we’ll spend the night. We’ve only been here for a couple of hours, yet we have already spotted some interesting species. These include the agouti, the leafcutter ant, and (drum roll please) a blue-crowned motmot! Scott pointed out the motmot to me soon after we arrived at the Ecolodge.

Blue-Crowned Motmot

In addition to the motmot,  we also spotted numerous vultures hanging out by a local prison while on our drive and I saw some kind of hawk soon after we departed from the airport. We also spotted two tinamous while we were cooling off in a river near the ecolodge (P.S. they’re not chickens). Also, it seems that Dr. Shore is an expert in all things water seeing as she schooled all of us when it came to using the rope swing next to the river.

Tomorrow we leave for Las Cuevas, the research station where we will spend the majority of our time in the jungle. I’m excited to finally visit the Chiquibul Forest, the place we’ve been hearing and learning so much about. Hopefully, we’ll all get to see some pretty interesting species (maybe even a Scarlet Macaw… or a Jaguar).

Tonight is the last night we’ll get to enjoy anything reminiscent of civilization for quite some time. This time tomorrow we will be deep within the rainforest, and I can’t wait. We have an early morning and a long day, but i’m sure we’ll see and learn a lot.

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Day 1: Arriving in Belize

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We arrived in Belize today by a direct flight from Houston to Belize City. It was an early morning to get to the airport in time for our flight, so I had a tiring and exciting day. Travel days are always weird because I start at home in a familiar place and hours later I am in a completely new environment. I have already seen many different plants and animals while eating lunch, riding in the van, and spending the evening at the Crystal Paradise Ecolodge.

The view from the dining area in the Crystal Paradise Ecolodge.

I did not see any Orthoptera today because most of the day was spent traveling and settling into the ecolodge. I did hear chirping and long trilling sounds in the evening which I think were crickets. Crickets and katydids can be heard at night, but I wasn’t able to identify a katydid call.

 

I saw an ant outside my room that Brendan is currently trying to identify.

There is a trail from the ecolodge to a river where I saw Leafcutter ants carrying purple flowers, and an Agouti, a large rodent. I might have been able to find some Orthoptera if I spent more time looking on the trail, but I was walking quickly to get to the river.

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Day 1: I’ve seen so much already

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Hello friends today was the big day! had an early start to the day, but a good kind of start since it’s the big day. Met everyone at 6 in the morning and we had a last minute check of our gear before heading to the airport.

Security at the airport was extremely fast. I don’t think I’ve ever gone through customs and security as fast as I did today. Had some potatoes for breakfast and a nice bottle of water. We sat in the plane for about an hour before we actually took off, but as soon as the plane left Houston, I was out.

We arrived in Belize at 11:58 and we quickly got out on to the road. As soon as we were on the road, I could see lots of epiphytes. As we made our way to lunch, I saw more epiphytes, and lots of observations were made in the car ride to lunch. I saw lots of pollution in the sides of the road, saw an Asian restaurant, and we all saw a wildfire firsthand. As we were eating at the restaurant, Scott also pointed out a termite mound that was above ground, on a tree branch! First taste of Belize was so good, and the soup sop juice i could drink for days!

Picture 1: You can see the roots of these epiphytes and how they stretch to the ground, characteristics of Hemi-epiphytes.

Picture 2: Ferns that were spotted at lunch.

Later in the day at the lodge, we went for a swim in the river. Along the trail to the river, we saw lots of ants, “mammals”, and plants that we all looked at prior to the trip! Being in Belize for only a few hours and seeing the diversity of epiphytes has made all the reading worth it. That’s a wrap for this blog! See you for day 2!

2019, Uncategorized

May 14th – Traveling to Belize

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This morning, the entirety of EBIO 319 boarded a plane and headed to Belize City, and luckily TSA did not take away a single one of the 6 animal trapping cameras I had in my carry on. Once we we had all passed through customs, complete with a vague recollection of where we were going to the customs officer who made the mistake of asking where exactly Las Cuevas Research Station was “in the jungle,” we all boarded a 15 passenger van and headed down the road to our first destination: lunch. As we drove, the smoke from several wildfires lighting up the grassland clouded the sky. May is towards the end of the dry season, so wildfires are a common occurrence during this time, however unlike in the US there were no firefighters trying to put out the flames.
Though haggard from our 5:30am wake-ups, a delicious meal complete with a variety of fresh fruit juices woke us up, plus the venue- a roadside open-patio style restaurant was adorable. While we were there, Scott pointed out a huge termite nest in a nearby tree and the tunnel the termites built down to the ground to protect themselves from the elements. After lunch, we rode about an hour to a roadside grocery store where we picked up some last minute snacks and the elusive cold drink. As we drove through Belize, it was interesting to see the flat savanna land turn into scrubland, and finally into more densely forested areas.  Also, I kept seeing these super beautiful orange flowering trees along the side of the road, which turned out to be acacias (tree ID cred to our resident tree expert Amy).

When we finally made it to our destination for the night- an eco lodge part of the way to Las Cuevas, we were all very glad to be out of the van and to check into our rooms. After we saw another group at the lodge head down the hill, we decided to follow them in search of the promised river. It was an idyllic tropical river, though the people on the rope swim killed the nature vibe for me. While the others hiked back up the hill to get their swim suits and join the other group, I elected to chill out in the hammock outside and listen to all the birds as the sun set. Because of all the time we spent traveling today, I didn’t have much time to look for my assigned taxon (amphibians), however one girl in the group found a toad that based on her size description sounds like it was a gulf coast toad. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for amphibian hunting…

2019

Day 1: We are already seeing so much

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Today we flew to Belize! I slept through my alarm and barely woke up in enough time to avoid being left behind. After a rocky start and a delayed flight (we still waited over an hour at the airport, and more after boarding the plane, we finally arrived.

On landing, after dealing with bags and logistics, I immediately started to try identifying trees… and immediately realized that I was in over my head in terms of identifying them from a distance. I focused mostly on leaf shape, bark texture, and other details when I was researching them, but did not take note of the overall appearance of the tree (beyond size).

I did notice what I thought might be Quamwood trees as we came in. Quamwood (Schizolobium parahyba) trees bloom yellow and can stand a bit above or even with the canopy, so they stick out like sore thumbs when in bloom. Scott pointed out a trumpet tree (Cecropia obtusifolia) at a restaurant called Cheers, which we stopped at on the way to the Crystal Paradise Ecolodge, where we are staying just for tonight. There are many here as well (I will attach a picture here as soon as I upload it).

Trumpet tree at Crystal Paradise Ecoolodge
Trumpet tree at Crystal Paradise Ecoolodge

I think I also noticed an Acacia species, based in part on similarity to Texas species, but there are multiple of these in Belize and I did not know the specific species. It was blooming red.

We can also see a Horse’s Balls tree (Stemmadenia donnell-smithii) right out the upstairs window of our shared cabin. It is easily identified by the shape of the seed.

After today, we will have one ethernet cable and be limited to any devices that can connect to it (and that is only available when the generator is on), so this might be my last post for a while.

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Day 1: I can’t Belize we made it!

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5/14/19: We are finally here! Despite some early morning bumps in the road and a late takeoff for our flight, we made it! It feels so surreal to be here.

The majority of our day was spent traveling on bus rides and a plane ride. We have come approximately 1,679 miles. Upon arrival to Belize, let me be the first to say, the humidity hit me like a ton of bricks. But, I soon recovered, and we began our journey to Las Cuevas Research Station in a van. We stopped tonight at Crystal Paradise Lodge before we keep driving tomorrow.

While driving, I could not help be mesmerized by the difference in vegetation compared to Texas highways. Driving in Texas, we are constantly surrounded by cattle pasture or farms, so to be immersed on either side of the car in forest-like  ecosystems, it was quite an experience.

I think I have been the most surprised today about how different it has been here compared to the U.S. I mean I always knew it would be different based on our readings and preparations, however, I had no idea it would be this different. The restaurant, Cheers, we ate at was also immersed in the vegatation.  It makes me excited for the days to come.

This is the view from the outdoor restaurant Cheers on Belize’s main highway!

I was able to see only 1 arachnid today. I believe it was a wolf spider, but since it was dark outside, it was difficult to tell before it scurried away.

Wolf spider spotted outside Crystal Paradise Lodge

We were not able to do too much exploring today. However with all of the travel done today, we still encountered hummingbirds, termite nests, an Agouti, and leaf-cutter ants, so I have a feeling in the next few days we will definitely be able to see some more arachnids. I hope we will go walking out at night with our headlamps near tree bases or in foliage to have the best chances of catching a glimpse.

Wish me luck!

– Bella