We had our first full day in the Chiquibul today, and it was action packed! I started off the day birdwatching at 5 am. I saw a group of 3 wild ocellated turkeys, a pair of plumbious kites (predatory birds), many black vultures, and several toucans! The morning chorus is nearly deafening and occasionally accented by the black howler monkeys.

We spent the rest of the day laying out camera traps to try and see some mammals, and got to hike many of the surrounding trails in the process. On one of the trails, we ran into a large termite colony. After advice from Scott, several of use ate a few termites, which shockingly taste just like carrots!

This afternoon, I got some practice catching butterflies and was able to successfully capture 3! The most common butterflies around were sulfur butterflies, but I also found some other more rare and interesting ones! At the bird watching tower nearby the station, I caught a moth/butterfly that had a black body with iridescent blue spots, and wings that had orange borders and clear centers! Maybe related to the glasswing butterfly (due to the shared clear wings), although this is very vague speculation on my part!

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At the end of our day, we visited a seasonal frog pond (fills up with water through the rainy season) that was currently muddy but not yet pond-like. Hanging from a branch above the center of the ‘pond’ was several clusters of red-eyed tree frog eggs! These eggs slowly develop, and when the pond is full of water they will hatch and the tadpoles will drop into the pond.

– Ava