Tag Archives: birds

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Day 8- I Want a Tapir

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Looking back on donkey dung (a type of sea cucumber) and I
Looking back on all our quadrant work

Crying internally because today we left Glovers Reef.  I am going to miss snorkeling and finding random things like a donkey dung, a crustacean, or using my lovely quadrant.

We got to snorkel in mangroves on the way back to Belize City at least and even saw a seahorse and a manatee. I saw one mangrove crab today camouflaged really well, but that was the last crustacean I have seen.

When we arrived at the Tropical Education Center most people went for a hike, but I did not feel great so I slept it off and it was much needed.  When I woke up I felt somewhat better, but I got to see a few birds including a thicket tinamous pitched on a branch about the pond.  Its body shape (and the diagrammed picture of it on the observation tower) were what easily gave it away.

Tapir before we fed him

We went to the zoo at night and I saw a few birds. They were mostly owls including the spectacle and pygmy owl.  The pygmy owl was tiny and adorable and tiny.  This might have been overshadowed by my love of the tapir that we got to feed.  It is just so weird looking and interesting to watch.

I am realizing how buggy the next week is about to be and how little bug spray I have left.  Wish me luck.

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Day 2- CRABS, CRABS, AND MORE CRABS

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ARRIVED AT GLOVERS REEF ATOLL, MIDDLE CAYE!

It’s day two and we arrived at Middle Caye in Glovers Reef Atoll.  Surprisingly for waking up at 5 am, I’m still energetic about everything we are doing. Sadly my camera broke today, so I will be using others’ photos or mooching off their camera.

To get to Glovers Reef we took a bus to Belize City and then a 3 hour boat ride.  On the bus, I saw another Great Heron in a marshy area of the savannah. It was bobbing around and moving in circles, but I wasn’t able to view it for long enough to see what exactly it was trying to do.  Also as soon as we hit water, I noticed dozens of Brown Pelicans pitched on the dock or wading in water looking for fish.

Land hermit crab, found everywhere on the island

Once we got to Glovers I suddenly realized that crustaceans, and specifically crabs, are everywhere and it would not be too difficult to find them.  There is literally a trail called hermit crab trail where land hermit crabs just wonder around.  The largest I encountered was around the size of a softball and the smallest was smaller than a quarter.  My encounters of them have usually consisted of me noticing them and the crabs scurrying into the bushes.  The smallest one I saw was a pale color which confirms what I have heard that juveniles are light while adults are red.

When we went snorkeling on a patch reef I found a Spiny Spotted Lobster.  It was in the middle of a patch reef hidden beneath a covering.  I was able to see it from a hole above and below.  Since they are usually nocturnal it was not really doing anything, only slightly moving with my movements.

The night belonged to the Blue Land Crabs. They are surprisingly large and not too afraid of humans.  The crabs came out of the underbrush.  I made a friend with one and named him crabby (not very original). He started walking towards me and when I walked towards him he jut continued.  It looked as if it wanted to figure out what I was.  After 5 minutes it finally scurried away.  I am currently in the mini library here and I fully expect to see more on my walk back to my room. I am excited to see what other creatures I can find in the next few days!

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HERE!!!

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Wow, we’re finally here! It’s a whole lot warmer and sweaty here than I anticipated, but that’s not stopping my excitement.  Within the first hour of being here, I  had already seen views of the savannah, some goats, and of course some birds.

I saw two white birds with longer necks on the side of the road when we were traveling to the Tropical Education Center.  They looked similar to Great Egrets, but this was in the tropical savannah and usually Egrets are found in marshlands or waterside.  I also saw a glimpse of a parrot and Scott did an impression of its fast wingbeat that is so characteristic of parrots.

I keep hearing bird noises and wanting to find the source of them! I guess to see them well I’d really have to wake up early.  I also saw a bird feather, but cannot identify what it is from.

Other cool highlights so far is that we saw an iguana and two toads, one of which was in my room. The iguana was feeding and I was surprised to see how agile it was on such a small branch.

The trip is only just getting started and I cannot wait to see what else it holds!

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I Can’t Believe I’m Almost in Belize!

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There’s only a few days left before I leave or Belize and it really has not hit me yet.  I am still in Chicago where it was 40 degrees last week and in a few days, I will be in the tropics?! However, I am extremely excited to have this opportunity.

I expect this trip to give me a good look into what field research would be like.  My goal for the summer is to figure out what I want to major in because I am currently stuck between biochemistry (bioc) or ecology and evolutionary biology (ebio).  I hope this trip gives me a good idea of what research in ecology and evolutionary biology would be like.

So far I have been preparing by reading up on Belize and my assigned organisms.  I now know more about crustaceans and birds than I ever thought I would especially since I grew up in downtown Chicago where all I would ever see was maybe a pigeon.

My mother is very nervous about the snakes or random risks associated with the trip, but I am not.  I feel like all the animal planet and discovery channel television shows I watched when I was younger about venomous snakes or deadly trips people took in forests should make me think twice about my safety; however, I am more excited than nervous.  My only concern is about my dietary restrictions.  I am gluten and dairy free and a little nervous about not getting enough food or accidentally eating something contaminated and getting sick.

I am most excited for snorkeling and the caves.  I absolutely love being in the ocean and watching all the marine species.  Sharks are my favorite animal and I am really hoping to see one.  I also think caves are so interesting because they are a hidden form of beauty and shelter.  I went in a crystal cave in Bermuda when I was a lot younger, but I have not been since.

My don’t have much experience in the tropics.  I have been to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos which are tropical, but I think they feel different knowing you are on an island.  In the Bahamas, I stayed at a resort and did not really explore much of the ecosystems.  I went scuba diving in Turks and Caicos and that was amazing.  I saw two sharks!! I have never been in a tropical forest which will be super interesting.  Overall, I am super excited to go to Belize and learn all about the ecosystems and field research.

2016

Wrap-up

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The rainforest and the coral reef ecosystems are so different yet so similar. For example both ecosystems are actually relatively low nutrient environments, yet both foster mind boggling biodiversity. All the primary producers are geared to maximize the limited amount of nutrients they have access to. The cecropia trees in the forest grow thin and tall to get through the canopy. The corals in deeper waters grow flat and wide to get as much of what little sun reaches through the abyss.

One of the differences I noticed is that in the forest the primary produces are very abundant and in your face, it takes a little more effort and attention to detail to notice all the things it supports. Whereas in the water the primary produces are less apparent. It takes some careful spotting to sea the macro-algae growing on the sea floor, and you can’t even see the micro-algae that contributes so much to bringing nutrients into the system. But it’s very easy to spot the extremely wide variety of animals supported by these microscopic plankton. This is actually quite different to what I was expecting. I thought I would have see more animal life in the forest, but I felt like I saw more animals in the water. Mainly because sea creatures seem a lot less shy and let you get a lot closer before they skitter away.

My favourite part of the course on land was the the bird watching. It’s a little surreal to wake up before the birds and sun. I feel like birds are the fish of the air. They can go anywhere they want. They seem so free, I’m jealous. The best part of the reef portion was the snorkel at the fore reef. I finally got better at diving, it’s so fun to go down and look at the coral and try to chase the fish around. That spotted eagle ray was insane as well. My least favourite part of the course it that everything else I do in life will seem bland and pale in comparison to these past two weeks. Thanks Scott and Adrienne for ruining the rest of life for me (totally kidding). I honestly loved everything about this. Even the tick and sea flies, it wouldn’t be real without them.

I think the biggest take away for me is that these ecosystems are fragile and needs us protect them from ourselves. And it not just help from biologist or conservationists. Everyone can and should play a part. You don’t have to biologist to be more careful with your trash. You can be a geologist and still help run research stations. You can be an engineer and improve the infrastructure and equipment to aid biologist. I hope I can remember this lesson for the rest of my life and keep playing my part.

-Randy

2016

Day 8: A sad day

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We left Las Cuevas today. I wasn’t ready to this place. I spent the morning talking to Lauren the grad student and Bill the professor from the University of Florida, asking them about the equipment that they use and brainstorming ideas to improve the technology. I’ve decided that I’m going to ask my academic advisor if I can work with them as for a senior design project. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to see this place again. Our transportation was really, really late. So that gave us an extra couple of hours at the station.

We spent most of the day on the road in the bus. Today was probably one of the least exciting days. Because the bus driver was so late we didn’t get to visit the ATM caves. I’m slightly disappointed, everyone seems to think it’s an awesome visit.

In the afternoon, we arrived at the Belize Zoo lodge and had dinner. After dark we got a special night tour of the zoo. We saw all of their nocturnal animals including: a Black Jaguar, a Spotted Jaguar, an Ocelot, a Margay, some owls and crocs, and a Tapir. The zoo tour was a lot more exciting than I was expecting. I can’t remember the last time I went the a zoo to see animals.

-Randy

2016

Day 7: Oh my gosh a cat

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The people from the other school caught two birds in the morning. One was a Slaty Antwren and the other was possibly a Red Throated Ant-Tanager. Both were very pretty birds.

After breakfast we went out and collected our camera traps. We did the whole 13 mile hike again, and like Scott and Adrienne promised, the second time around was much easier. After lectures, we opened up our camera traps and looked at the images they captured. In the beginning, everyone was super hopeful. There was a small bird that appeared on two close locations. And a Great Curassow on another. Other than that we just caught a lot of pictures of the other group that is here. People. Some more people. We were becoming less and less optimistic. But alas, on one of the last few traps we managed to get a picture of Tapir, which is extremely rare and endangered. Scott seemed really happy. On the last trap, which was mine, there were pictures of an Agouti and an Ocelot. That was really awesome. Scott confessed that he didn’t think the spot I picked was going to yield any good pictures. So i was pretty happy to prove him wrong.

Almost forgot. On the way to collect the traps we actually caught a glimpse of a Great Curassow on the Monkey Tail Trail. it was a lot bigger than I was expecting. All in all, pretty awesome day. Saw some cool birds, got an elusive cat picture. And of course, we got a picture of an endangered animal. How great is that?!

–Randy

2016

Day 6: Birds getting it on

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There were Plumbeous Kites mating on the tree in front of the main building this morning. It was kind of interesting to watch the ordeal. The male performed a mating dance where it would stand face to face with the female bird and spread its wings. When the started mating the female would actually hang upside down on the branch.

After breakfast we went out to collect our urine traps and counted the number of types of insects there were in the vials. We created some posters and presented our finding.

In the evening we had a guest lecture from Lauren the grad student that’s been here for 9 months. It was very interesting to hear about her research and perspective on being here. I was especially interested in the technology that she used to conduct her research. I tried to come with a couple of different ideas in my head that would potentially help her with her research, specially the data collection and or implementing machine learning in her data processing process. I thought about potentially using her camera trap stations themselves as a communication network and relay the images between stations and eventually onto her computer. I thought about maybe applying image recognition algorithms to help her sort false triggers from images that actually have animals in them. Maybe this could turn into a senior design project. We’ll just have to see.

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After the talk we went on a night hike and saw some pretty amazing stuff. We found an interesting species of cockroach that can hiss and spray a sticky substance. There were a bunch of really larger spiders. But the thing that was the most exciting for me was at the end of the hike we found a mother Pauraque nesting on 2 eggs. That really made my night.

-Randy

2016

Day 5: Look, a hole in the ground. Let’s go inside it.

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Today we hung vials of our urine on trees and went to the Las Cuevas Cave. It was so sublime. Get it? Sub-lime… stone. Sub limestone. Like going under the limestone, you know? Into a cave and stuff. Doing cave stuff like crawling through mud and bat poop.

I discovered an interesting biological phenomenon. There is a very blatant negative correlation between my fatigue level and my mental capacity. I sincerely apologise for the poor English and abysmal humour I’m subjecting you to. Although who am I kidding. Is anyone even reading this? Hi Scott and Adrienne, thanks for reading.

-Randy

2016

Day 4: Ants on ants on ants on ants…

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Today’s bird watching session was really awesome. I saw almost all the birds I saw yesterday again. The vultures seem to have multiplied… maybe they know something we don’t. The Plumbeous Kite was hanging out in its tree again. In addition to those guys, there were a pair of Toucans, which were extremely pretty, and an Montezuma Oropendola, which added its distinctive cry to the morning symphony.

In the morning we did a study on the Cecropia tree and the Azteca ants. Usually these ants will defend adult cecropias but we wanted to find out what types of defenses against herbivores the juvenile cecropias have before they get colonized by ants. My group wanted to look at the potential difference between juvenile and adult leaves, maybe a change in characteristics can mitigate herbivore damage before the ants arrive. We took size and toughness measurements of leaves from 5 adult trees and 2 juvenile trees. We’ll do more data analysis tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes.

In the afternoon we went and dug out some leaf cutters ant nests. We started with a young nest, then moved up to a slightly older nest and finally a mega nest. We dug until we hit their fungi chambers where they keep their fungi gardens (their food) and their babies. The mega nest was pretty dangerous, a couple of people, including myself, bitten whilst trying to find the chambers. Their bites are pretty gnarly but at least they don’t sting.

I didn’t die from ants, so it was a good day.

-Randy