It’s our last day in Belize 🙁 so today we went and picked up our camera traps we set three days ago. The hike really was not that bad this time and the suspense of discovering what we had on our traps was building.
Sacrificing Scott to the Mayans so we could get a cat on our traps!
We viewed all 14 this evening and while most had nothing, we got a lot of cool species. Some highlights were 2 ocelots (one of which had a great photo), several pacas, a group of peccaries, a crochet deer, and a great currissow. The great currisow is this large funny looking bird with a black full plumage on its crest. Our most annoying camera to place did not get any photos, but overall I am pleased with the results.
On a bird note, I saw several Scarlet Macaws again today, but it’s funny how normalized this occurrence can become. That will be weird not hearing every day now.
AND THE BEST NEWS OF ALLL: ANNA 5- TICKS 0 !!! I also managed to escape the chiggers and I am very proud. Team parasite free!
I saw a Pauraque today and they are the coolest birds. They are most active at night, but we saw them during the day which was cool. When spotted they will try to distract you from their young by flopping up and down, acting as if it is injured. We saw it and went over and found two pauraque chicks and they were adorable. They were fluffy an looked maybe 1-2 days old. I want to take one home.
Two Pauraque Chicks
We also went into the Las Cuevas cave and it was so much larger than expected. We weren’t able to go as far in as usual because archeologists are using the site, which was disappointing, but just going into the first two chambers were so cool. We saw were our water has been coming from, the water at the bottom.
Inside the Las Cuevas Cave
From the cave, we climbed high up to the birding tower. It had the most amazing view! It would have been better in a post card that I did not have to climb up to, I don’t like heights, but it was cool once I got up there.
View from the birding tower. This picture does not do it justice, it was amazing.
I saw a Scarlet Macaw today!!! Actually, I saw seven! At first, I just heard their call which sounds like a distinctive Cawing noise and then I saw a silhouette with a long tail perched. It was in that moment I realized it was a macaw. This happened twice: the first was just two birds and the second time was five birds! They were so pretty and colorful and I wanted to freak out, but we aren’t supposed to acknowledge them because it is dangerous for the macaws to be comfortable around humans since that could lead to poaching.
Scarlet Macaws!
Today was a lot less intense than yesterday. We set up an experiment to determine if Arthropods are more common in the canopy or ground layer and which has more nutrients. It involved our urine which was unexpected… but it will be interesting to see the results.
We also looked at leaf cutter ant colonies and I think I will have dreams about being swarmed with ants now. Hopefully not, but I guess I’ll see.
Well, Anna 3- Ticks 0 still! That’s my real victory.
So today I got the class a wee bit lost in the rainforest after setting our last camera trap off trail. This wouldn’t have been as freaky if it wasn’t sunset already. So now GPS is my favorite thing ever. We walked like at least 10 miles today through various elevations. I think my feet are going to fall off. That’s okay, I could just become a fish. Team Surf.
I am exhausted and have been up since 4:30 am for birding. That was nice because I got to see a bunch of birds with people that could help me identify them. Some highlights: there is a plumbeous kite nest just east of Las Cuevas clearing that can almost guarantee a sighting. There is also a social flycatcher nest in the gutter pitched on the railing of our building that I can look at.
Social Flycatcher nest on gutter
The real highlight was the keel-billed toucan that briefly ran overhead around noon when we came back from our first hike. It was so cool to see a real toucan! Now I just have to find a scarlet macaw.
I am exhausted and my legs look like diseased at this point. There are so many bug bites, injuries, bruises, scrapes, and bumps that I mostly cannot even explain. I am not diseased I swear, I am just a biologist! A TFB to be exact! Well, I am going to pass out now for like as long as I can. Peace out. Anna 2- Ticks 0 !!!
We finally made it to Las Cuevas! It seems like for days I have been saying that I am on my way, but now I am finally here! The road trip was pretty fun. We stopped at this waterfall site, Rio on Pools, to go swimming and it was refreshing and beautiful.
Rio on pools swimming break!The view from Rio on Pools!
Now we are in Chiquibul and the birds are out! I am going to start waking up at 5 AM to bird watch, so that will be tiring, but interesting to see. I have seen a few bird that I was able to identify. I saw an oropendulla several times. It forms these hanging nests and I saw it eat a tree fruit called horse balls.
I also heard a bird call that sounds very similar to a Scarlet Macaw, which have been known to be around Las Cuevas despite their few numbers. I am hoping to see one while we are here!
So far I have escaped the bugs, but I might be jinxing this right now. oops…
The theme of the final day here at Las Cuevas was exactly like the first: hiking and more hiking. Today was surprisingly less exhausting, though, except for the part where I got vine thorns in my head, finger, and knee then felt lightheaded. I drank the rest of my Gatorade and ate a really delicious energy gummy which perked me up soon so I didn’t miss out on much at all.
Goofing off before hitting the trails
While hiking, I didn’t see all that much but I did sight an Acacia tree with ants (Pseudomyrmex sp.). During lunch, I also saw a praying mantis which slightly unnerved me when it tried to attack Ellie’s camera but with some patience I got it to model for me without attacking me too.
Acacia tree housing ants in its thornsPraying mantis, part 1Praying mantis, part 2
The seven hours of hiking place to place to collect the camera traps was not in vain, though. We got an amazing shot of an ocelot as well as some peccaries, a brocket deer, and a Great Curassow bird among others.
Ocelot caught on camera trap
It’s sad that tomorrow we are leaving Belize, but tonight I’m going to spend as much time as I can with everyone. I’ll definitely miss this.
The first order of business this morning after breakfast was recovering the vials we placed out yesterday on the trails, and man was it a day for ants… or maybe not so much since they were dead. Anyhow, I sorted through 151 specimens of ants and found 11 different species!
It was rough on my neck to look at so many ants through the microscope, but it was also fascinating to see all the detail distinguishing the various species. Some of the notable specimens were a queen trap jaw ant (Odontomachus sp.) and an ant (Cephalotes sp.) that is known to direct its flight through the air to its home tree when it falls from the rainforest canopy.
Queen trap jaw ant Cephalotes ant under microscope
The rest of the afternoon was packed with fun activities and lectures in the oddest locations. We went to the cave right by Las Cuevas but because of the ongoing archaeological study, we could only go as far as the first chamber. That didn’t stop us from taking full advantage, and we decided to do a couple taxon lectures in the cave.
Group picture in hard harts at the mouth of the caveInterior chamber of the caveFirst EBIO 319 cave lecture on amphibians
After that, we hiked to the Bird Tower to watch the sunset and had yet another lecture way above ground with the forest canopy all around.
Lecture in bird tower near Las Cuevas
By the time we wrapped up and hiked back to station, it was nightfall. Slowly walking through the sounds of the rainforest with the stars above was incredibly relaxing. Some fascinating creatures also came out that we didn’t see in the daytime.
Dusk falling over the Chiquibul rainforestFluorescent scorpion on log
I’m having such an amazing time being out here in nature with a group of people I’ve become surprisingly close with. It’s hard to accept that tomorrow is our last full day here in Belize.
You know you’re going to have a good day when you’re handed two vials at breakfast and told to give a personal donation (aka urine) without revealing the reasoning. We were to find out after lectures that the pee was for our next study about arthropod diversity and nutrient availability in the rainforest. While setting out the vials along a trail leading to the bird tower, I saw plenty of ants – most notably a queen ant of the yet to be identified species of ant.
Ant queen about to take flight
After lunch, I used my free time to check out a specimen of one of the unidentified ants under the microscope. Turns out the species was actually one of the species I had on my taxon ID card which made me super happy. I’ve been seeing these types of ants everywhere and now I can positively say they are Dolichoderus bispinosus!
The rest of the afternoon (besides the time spent catching up on cancelled lectures from yesterday) was dominated by ants. Yay! Never did I think I’d get excited about ants but I’ve been converted. We went out to three different leaf cutter ant (A. cephalotes) colonies and dug around them to see their structure. It’s unbelievable how complex the nests can get, and seeing the fungus gardens and watching the workers cutting leaves was fascinating. I even serendipitously saw a species of Pheidole in the leaf litter by the first nest.
Leaf cutter ant foraging on trailFungus garden from a young leaf cutter ant colonyLeaf cutter ant soldier from a mature colony
When the ant fun was over, we headed back to the station for dinner then lectures. A group of us decided to walk around looking for tarantulas once we were dismissed for the night. We saw plenty of red rump tarantulas, which I found slightly creepy but funny enough not as scary as the guys found the moths. Before heading to bed, I decided to talk to the group of archeologists (one of which is Cuban!) heading an expedition into the Chiquibul cave system. They showed me some of the pictures they’d taken and talked to me about their adventures, which included rappelling down steep rocks and jaguars roaming their campsite. It was a great way to end the day and I’m hoping that I’ll get a chance to talk to them more before heading home.
Today marked the first full day here at Las Cuevas and an interesting one at that. The day started bright and early with birdwatching. Although I heard many bird calls, I only saw vultures and a Plumbeous kite (a lot like a rainforest pigeon) which prompted my tired self to go back to sleep before breakfast.
After breakfast, we were given our task for the day: to go out and set camera traps in the area surrounding the research station. We planned for an hour or so and then set out to the 50 hectare path to set out six of our fourteen cameras before lunch.
Hiking on the 50 Hectare trail
On the way, I saw so many ants! I saw leaf cutter ants (A. cephalotes), army ants (E. burcellii), and ants that Scott and I have yet to identify. There were also Acacia ants (Pseudomyrmex spp.) on a small tree with Beltian bodies (nutrient-filled swellings on new leaves).
Young colony of leaf cutter antsBeltian bodies on Acacia tree sprout
Besides ants, I also saw a blue morpho butterfly, a longhorn beetle, a millipede, a scorpion-eater snake, and a Mexican porcupine. I also saw some beautiful orchids.
MillipedeOrchids
We arrived back at the station late for lunch, ate, then headed right back out onto a different trail – the Monkey Trail – to set out the rest of our camera traps. We decided to set them out a kilometer apart, which kept us out there in the rainforest past sunset for a total of five hours during which I saw more leaf cutter ants (A. cephalotes), noticed scat (poop) and scratches likely from a jaguar, and came face to face with the most dangerous snake in the Chiquibul rainforest – the Fer de Lance .
While setting out our last camera, we got slightly lost trying to find our way back to the trail. Thankfully, we had a GPS and a machete to help us but it was still pretty intense; the staff at the station told us they were about to send rescue in after us. Walking back in the dark was neat, despite the fact that I tripped over a branch and pulled a ligament in my left foot after trying to jump over a fallen tree trunk blocking the way.
The long trek left not only my feet sore but also my stomach grumbling, so I had two full plates of food at dinner. It seems that I’m not the only exhausted one, because evening lectures were cancelled. Now I’m icing my foot which I hope will be better by tomorrow so that I don’t miss out on any other activities. Although today has been tiring and crazy, it definitely makes for a great story to tell once I get back home.
This morning was the last opportunity to have any sort of connection to the outside world before heading to the rainforest. Although I’m going to miss talking to my family and friends, it’ll be nice to disconnect for a few days.
On our way to Las Cuevas from Crystal Paradise, we stopped at the Rio-On Pools which were really incredible. I got to climb around on rock formations, stand underneath a small waterfall, and ride a “slide” into a pool of water. The scenery was beautiful and I loved photographing it all. Despite hurting my butt on a rock going down the slide, I had a great time. I even got to see what Scott called the “Golden Butt Ant” (C. siriceventris).
Waterfall at Rio-On PoolsMe sliding down and bruising my tailbone, ouchScott holding a “Golden Butt Ant”
Once we made it to Las Cuevas, we settled in and had lunch before hitting the trails. Going along with the Maya theme of the Belizean forest, we climbed a Mayan pyramid structure and saw a ball court. During the hike, I saw the clear-cut foraging trails of leafcutter ants (A. cephalotes) and a pretty large nest of them, too. Scott stomped on the nest to provoke the soldier ants, and it was really cool to see them all pour out of the nest even though a few made their way into my boots. I also got to hold a green anole.
Me holding a leafcutter ant soldierMe holding a green anole
The day ended with lectures, which were really difficult to stay awake through even though I gave one myself. Definitely ready to go to sleep.
