Tag Archives: Scarlet Macaws

First Day of Hiking!

Hey y’all! It’s Michiel again : )

I woke up today at 5:45 for my first full day at Las Cuevas. I was planning to wake up at 6:30, but the birds were so loud that I couldn’t stay asleep. Also, last night there was a black howler monkey (Aloutta pigra) right next to the station that was yelling at another black howler monkey elsewhere in the forest. It definitely kept me awake longer than I wanted to be. Anyway, I joined my fellow TFBs on the patio around 6 and we birdwatched together. I saw three beautiful turkeys, and a couple vultures. Later, we had breakfast, then we were tasked to come up with a research question that involved using camera traps. We came up with “Where are different functional groups (large/small predators and large/small prey) most abundant (forest, trail road)?” To answer this question, we decided to set up camera traps throughout forested areas, on trails, and on roads.

We left the station around 10 to begin setting our traps. For the first two hours, we were all so amazed by the surrounding fauna and flora that we only managed to set six traps – one on a trail and five on a road. While we were in the forest, we actually saw Scarlet Macaws! I’ve included a picture of them here.

After setting these traps, we made our way back to the research station for lunch at 12:15. Lunch was kept pretty short because we needed to go back out there and set more traps. When we went back out there around 1, we traversed through a trail with much more hills (it was actually almost completely uphill then completely downhill) than we had experienced on the other trail. We stayed on this trail until about 6:15 and managed to set 4 traps on the trail, 5 traps within the forest, and 1 trap near Frog Pond. While we were hiking this trail, we saw some beautiful bugs that Caio kept picking up, a cave with ancient Mayan pottery in it, and a lot of leaf cutter ants. We also came across a termite nest, and Scott told us to take termites from it and eat them, which, of course, we did. They tasted really fresh – like carrots. We also went up the bird tower, which had some amazing views.

Unfortunately, I did not get to see any mammals. However, we did hear a black howler monkey yelling while we were placing road traps in the morning. I’m expecting that any sightings of mammals will be really rare throughout the next couple of days, but hopefully the camera traps will take a lot of good pictures of them.

The rest of our day went pretty smoothly. We had dinner, had a break to recuperate from the exhaustion we were experiencing, then had some lectures. I’m hopeful that tomorrow I’ll get to see some mammals!

Smile! You’re passing a camera trap :)

Day 1 in the rainforest was fantastic! It started bright and early for some morning birdwatching, and I saw and heard so many of my taxa! I saw a lot of black vultures, which are large black birds that can be seen perched in groups in sparse trees. I saw a plumbeous kite, some oscillated turkeys, and some type of parrot. There are so many types of parrots that can be extremely difficult to tell apart, but I knew they were parrots because of their frantic style of flying. I also saw keel-billed toucans and collared aracaris! These are both large-billed birds that can be spotted gliding into tall trees. The most spectacular sighting of all was seeing scarlet macaws! There were two pairs of them in tall trees. I could tell that they were the Northern sub-species because they had a blue coloration on their wings, as well as yellow and the dominant red. These birds were breathtaking, and I am so happy to have gotten a picture!

We spent the rest of the day hiking to set up camera traps for an experiment pertaining to mammal functional groups and their abundance in certain areas of the forest (trails, roads, dense cover). We each had a camera trap to place, and it took the whole day to set them all up. During the setup for this experiment, I experienced so many things!

I held a butterfly net in my jungle outfit and felt like an Animal Crossing character!

I climbed up the bird observation tower! I didn’t see any birds clearly, but the view was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

I briefly went into a cave and saw Mayan pottery fragments and cave spiders!

I also ate termites (they tasted like carrots), saw a huge leaf cutter ant nest, and found red-eyed treefrog eggs!

Today was a long day, but it was packed with so many unbeatable moments and sights. I am excited to see what our cameras capture!

In the meantime, I can’t wait to go on more jungle adventures. However, I can’t say that I’m excited to put my rubber boots back on. Though my feet are in a state of achy torment, my thirst for exploration gives me plenty of inspiration to tough through the more difficult parts. What I do for science!

– McKenna

Goodbye Atoll, Hello Savanna

Just before 9:00 am this morning, the TFBs departed Glovers Reef. I had such an amazing time as a marine field biologist in training, and I already miss GRMS! I got a picture with Ruth before I left. I am so thankful for everyone at Glovers and for our amazing water safety officers! I will miss Clivus too (the composter toilet system <3).

While on the boat, I sat on the stairs so that I had a perfect view of the ocean. The view was beautiful, and I felt so at peace. I sat there serenely for an hour, and the only reason I moved was to avoid getting sunburned.

We ate lunch at Calypso, and I got fresh watermelon juice and basically a mountain of pasta bolognese with garlic bread! So delicious 🙂

We all hopped into a van and went to a supermarket called Brodies. I bought bug spray (FINALLY!!!) and a few hiking-friendly snacks. Then, we drove to the Tropical Education Center (TEC)!

We got a quick tour and then went to a guest lecture given by Dr. Boris Arevalo. He lectured on nesting ecology and habitat selection of scarlet macaws in Belize and his research and work on the subject. I really enjoyed his lecture! He opened my eyes to the struggles of conservation work and how to weigh the importance of its impacts. This lecture also taught me a lot about research of my taxa and of scarlet macaws, as birds are my rainforest taxa.

After dinner, I rode in the bed of a truck to the Belize Zoo, where we had a night tour! Carlos the zookeeper led my group’s tour. We saw jaguars, pumas, and ocelots being fed, and we also saw a tapir (Belize’s national animal)! I also got to see some of my taxa, including the spectacled owl, barn owl, and mottled owl! I’m not sure how likely we are to see owls while we’re at LCRS, so I was excited to have the opportunity at the zoo! It was incredible to see the animals active at night.

It was a late night tonight, and it’s going to be an early morning tomorrow, so I’m excited to get some sleep in these cute and cozy cabana lodgings! I’m rooming with Maggy!

My Belize ecosystem count is now at 2, and tomorrow’s travels will take it to 3!

– McKenna

Day 5: “You’re in” good hands

Today’s general agenda: project P —> presenting project P —> lectures 

Right before we were about to head out to collect our vials in the forest, we had an unforeseen circumstance. This situation was probably one of the most unique situations I have been in- we were stopped by two Scarlet Macaws that were roaming around the research station. We looked at them through the scope once again, and this time I was able to capture their interaction on camera! It’s hard to imagine having your plans delayed because of Scarlet Macaws but that is essentially what happened. 

Morning interruption: Scarlet Macaws!

I was the first to collect my samples and boy was I surprised. My urine sample actually had two beetles in them! We took all our vials back, and, as part of our methodology, I was tasked to examine and group ants that shared similar body structures. Through a microscope, I was actually able to look super closely at the facial and body structure of the ants that we collected. Keegan’s vials contained a Strumigenys ludia, which is this really small ant, roughly 2.5mm, with a yellow coloration. In total, I sorted the ants into 16 different groups or morphospecies. We unfortunately were not able to draw any definitive conclusions for our research because we need more data points to support our question. 

my “powerful” and nitrogen-rich urine sample PC: Dr. Solomon

Prior to this trip, most of us were not too familiar with each other, but I was so impressed how we were able to put together a presentation. I think having to pee in vials definitely brought our whole group closer together as well. Tonight was also the night that I gave my presentation on ants to the class. After learning so much about ants in such a short period of time, I was able to draw connections to my presentation. I am very lucky to have very supportive classmates, and hearing their presentations have been so much fun. Moving forward, I look forward to presenting my other two presentations on sponges and coral reef formation. 

Brendan Wong

Las Cuevas, Belize

5/18/2019

Day 14: Spotlight (5/29/2017)

Three days after setting them up, it was time to retrieve our camera traps. Our morning hike was significantly shorter than Friday’s corresponding hike, taking half as long. A combination of a faster walking pace, increased endurance, and fewer stops to study wildlife accounted for this.

Our afternoon hike was not as seamless, as it took approximately the same amount of time as its earlier counterpart. GPS in hand, I was responsible for leading my class to retrieve one of our camera traps. I faced extreme difficulty in leading, spiraling around the site of the trap, unable to pinpoint its location on the device. My frustration was escalated with the knowledge that twelve other people were watching me and following me through the lignified labyrinth.

After dinner, my class and I analyzed the images from the camera traps. Sometimes our subjects, like the ocelots and the great curassow, bolted from the flash of the camera. Other times, our subjects, like the pacas and peccaries, lingered, unfazed by the flash.

Being the subject of viewership can emote a spectrum of feelings and behaviors. It can drive one to linger to flee or to the edge of insanity.

One set of organisms uninhibited by the spotlight is the scarlet macaws. The macaws made regular appearances around the research site. Today, three of them perched on a Spanish cedar (Cedrela odorata) directly in my class’ line of vision and later moved to a nearby avocado tree (Persea americana). Both of these trees were in an open clearing. The Spanish cedar was large with a pale gray trunk and was primarily leafless. Very little animal activity occurred on this tree, apart from the macaws’ brief visit. The avocado tree had branches that extended laterally and were dense with medium-sized broad leaves.

Deeply saturated with vibrant red, yellow, and blue, the macaws hardly camouflaged with their surroundings. They also call out in cacophonous caws, attracting attention to themselves. These characteristics render scarlet macaws as easy targets of poachers, who sell these majestic creatures into the pet trade.

Two scarlet macaws socializing

It’s heartbreaking that not only the scarlet macaws but also the ocelots, pacas, and many other animals are subject to poaching – One animal, man, exploiting the beauty or resources of other animals for economic gain. No matter how advanced society becomes, avarice triumphs, for both local poachers and wealthy foreign collectors.

In an undisturbed ecosystem, there is balance. There is predation, parasitism, and competition, but there is balance.

Despite how advanced humans are, there is something we could learn from nature.

Day 12: Social Interactions (5/27/2017)

I wake up in the middle of the night and step outside to something I have never felt before. It is the rainforest night. The air is rich with animal sounds. The sky is pitch black but adorned with countless stars, creating the illusion of a deep indigo-gray. Heartbeats of lighting illuminate the sky, but there is no rain. An unmatched sense of awe comes over me, something I could only feel being alone before nature’s grandeur.

Many hours later, my class and I are in the forest. Tall kapok trees (Ceiba pentandra) along the path form islets of intense shade, and yellow prickly trees (Zanthozylum spp.) sporadically flank the path with yellow-brown adornments. Some of the yellow prickly plants were speckled with tiny crawling ants. These leaf-cutter ants chisel and delivery circular sheets of leafs to their colonies, advanced eusocial communities that mature over time.

We say three ant colonies: one year old, four years old, and ten years old. Similar to an individual organism, the colonies aged, growing larger and more advanced with time. Leaf-cutter ants sustain by cultivating fungus on leaf pieces concealed in underground chambers, and thus colonies must have increasing number of chambers to grow enough food to feed their growing numbers. With time, colonies supported more types of workers and had longer, deeper, and wider tunnels.

A leafcutter ant hard at work

Late in the afternoon, I saw five scarlet macaws (Ara macao) fly across the sky in unison. Although macaws lack a complex social structure like leaf-cutter ants, they still cluster for social interaction and increased protection from predators.

It is interesting how human social interactions relate to those of other organisms. Some people have clearly defined senses of duty, like worker ants chiseling leaves for their colonies. Some exhibit altruism, like a scarlet macaw rearing her chicks. Even if there is no evolutionary relationship between the social interactions of humans and other animals, it is interesting to see the common elements.

However, sometimes it’s preferred to forgo my social role and be alone. The sky is much more powerful that way.