We ran it back–we went up the Bird Tower Shortcut again at 5 am! Not as early as we would’ve thought though–the sun was already starting to get up (we just wanted to give it a headstart, no other reason). Steve, the ranger at LCRS took me, Elise, Ian, Lily, Sam, and Sohee through the hike. Not going to lie, it felt a bit worse just because we were continuously going up instead of stopping intermittently. However, we were definitely up there much quicker as a result. And it was so worth it. We literally stayed on deck for an hour and it was one of the most peaceful moments on the trip by far.
Unfortunately, it was time to head back by 6:15, and as we descended the tower, I realized how much I wanted to still explore. The rainforest teems with life, and where else can you find such a vibrant place to stay? Yet, it was time to leave this pristine part of the jungle, and resume our daily activities. With a delicious spread by Ms. Angie, I gained back any calories (if not more) I had lost on the hike. It was then time to collect our camera traps from earlier in the week. Collecting our traps, I noticed my count at 32, which I thought could be very promising!
After that, we had a series of taxon and topic lectures, including mine on fungi (obviously saving the best of the rainforest taxon for last). Elise also presented her topic lecture on parasites, diseases, and natural medicine in the tropics, featuring a quiz at the end. Based on my track record on it, I don’t know how well I’m surviving the forest next time…
After some packing and a lot of clothes washing, it was time for dinner. Post-dinner, we reviewed our footage from earlier in the morning. We saw not one, not two, but three instances of pumas! Shout-out Serenity, Adam, and Emily for their crazy finds. There were a lot of really pretty curassows and iridescent turkeys as well. And some really cute pacas. Overall, a beautiful find. As for my camera trap, it was definitely iconic because instead of pictures I accidentally captured video. It was like a little B-roll at the end, if you think about it. Also, the only wildlife I captured was myself unfortunately, but whatever.
Finally, we celebrated with a bonfire. Talking for hours and hours around the warm, smoky blaze Steve had set up, it was a beautiful wrap-up of our time in the forest. At some point, I would love to go back to LCRS. The people, the warmth, the wifi-detox, the seasonality, all cumulated to make a greater experience than I could’ve imagined. It’s going to be hard to beat this, but more to come!
Fungi Update!
I did see some really fun shelf fungi, including some turkey tail and tree oysters. There were also a couple with interesting pileus shapes, either due to ingestion of the fungi or their natural shape. Regardless, it was very interesting to see various fungal species, across genera and classes, coexisting in the same space. Really makes you wonder what each one’s niche is. So mysterious…