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.
DAY 15 – I woke up this morning as the sun was rising in Belize and am now heading to bed in the United States. It was a long day of travel and a difficult goodbye to some really great people who made these last two weeks special!
This morning, I made it to bird watching, around 5:30 am. I drank some instant coffee and listened to the chorus of birds that had become familiar. We had beans and fry jack and plantain for breakfast, a meal I know I will soon miss.
As we said goodbye to Las Cuevas, three beautiful scarlet macaws swooped over the clearing. Extra poetic.
I didn’t see any bees today, but I did say goodbye to the stingless bee colony at Las Cuevas that I’ve been periodically checking these past days. I wish them the best of luck with their pollen-collecting endeavors.
After a delicious, and big, lunch at Cheers near the Belize Zoo, we boarded a plane and waved out the window at beautiful Belize. It was a pretty unbelizable trip.
DAY 14 – We are approaching our final hours in Belize. The past two weeks have gone by really fast. Tomorrow night, we will be in Houston.
Starting this morning, we retraced our steps and collected the camera traps set out on Day 11. While we were hiking through the forest, I saw a few Western Lubber Grasshoppers (pictured below) and a bug that looked like cookies and cream ice cream.
A Western Lubber Grasshopper
I saw an orchid bee today!! Just in time. It was hovering around by the classroom at the research station. I’m convinced that it was attracted to my fragranced filter paper. It didn’t land, or stick around for long, so I wasn’t able to identify it beyond the tribe Euglossini. I also saw a couple of stingless bees (possibly Trigona fulviventris) out on the trail, fliting from flower to flower.
We looked through the memory cards of all 14 camera traps. *drumroll* We got stuff! We got TWO ocelots, a bunch of pacas, some peccaries, a curassow, a deer, and a butterfly. We also got some quality shots of ourselves. It was easily worth the sweaty hiking through dense, off-path forest.
My total tick count is now 18, which is kind of horrifying. I’m looking forward to a full body cleanse when I get home.
DAY 13 – Today we set the bar high for future EBIO 319 classes by having two lectures in the twilight/dark zone of a cave and another at the top of a bird observation tower overlooking the Chiquibul forest.
This morning we collected our pee traps and spent our time until lunch sorting and categorizing by morpho-species the arthropods that had fallen into our pitfall traps. Our data suggests that there is greater nutrient availability on the forest floor and greater arthropod diversity in the canopy.
Type species for our collected ant, beetle, fly, arachnid, wasp, and cricket specimens
In the early afternoon we were able to explore the cave near the station clearing. You could clearly see the modifications the Maya made to the cave, including alter-like structures covered in plaster and constrictions of openings. We saw a cave cricket, and a helmeted iguana at the entrance to the cave. On our way out, we saw a snake slithering up the wall. I’m becoming a big fan of caves.
In terms of bees, today was a pretty empty day. I checked in on the colony on the corner of the research station, which is some sort of stingless bee. Tomorrow, when we retrieve the camera traps, I’m planning on carrying the filter paper for the entire hike. It’s my last chance to see an orchid bee!
To finish off a good day, we hiked up a steep hill to a bird observation tower. The view was incredible. Therese talked to us about her research and her experiences as a graduate student which was really cool, especially because the sun was setting over the mountains behind her.
The view from the bird observation tower just before sunset
To get back to LCRS, we took a short night hike through the forest. We saw some gnarly bugs, like a huge cockroach with a sticky rear end and a longhorn beetle. We also saw a scorpion that was phosphorescent underneath a purple light.
I’m glad we packed a lot into today, time is running short!
DAY 12 – We got a couple of extra hours of sleep last night, which felt really good. I started the day with a little bit of bird watching. We saw a Red-Lored Parrot, with a green body and red markings on its crown. After breakfast, Scott handed each of us two unexplained vials and told us to hydrate. Little did we know, we would be asked to pee in the vials for our next experiment.
In an effort to compare the arthropod diversity and nutrient availability in the canopy of the rainforest and the forest floor, we set out some pitfall traps. Basically, we are trying to see how many arthropods total we count in our canopy traps (both water and urine) and the floor traps (both water and urine) for a comparison of arthropod diversity. We can also infer nutrient availability by the difference between arthropods who go into the urine traps (which have high nutrients, including nitrogen) and the water traps. More arthropods in urine traps indicates lower nutrient availability.
A vial of urine and a vial of water attached to a tree
We had some free time before lunch and presentations before we began our afternoon activity. Scott took us to a young leaf-cutter ant colony (about 1 year old), a slightly older colony (between 3 and 6 years old), and a huge, mature colony (anywhere from 10 to 25 years old). He bravely cut into all three with a shovel and exposed the channels under the soil as well as the fungi that the ants cultivate.
I didn’t see any bees today (except for the nests of stingless bees that are scattered around the research station). I’m going to double down on my efforts to attract a male orchid bee by carrying my fragranced filter paper.
We saw seven Scarlet Macaws total today around the clearing! They are incredibly bright and have kind of a silly squawk. It’s easy to see why they are targets of poaching, given their majestic, colorful plumage.
Tomorrow is our second to last day at Las Cuevas. It’s all happening so fast!
DAY 11 – Today was a full day. I woke up when it was still dark outside, at 4:45 am. I rolled into my field clothes, the ever-stylish zip-off pants tucked into socks, and out onto the deck for bird-watching. We saw a couple of parrots, flying in a pair across the clearing, a Plumose Kite in a tree preening, and a Social Flycatcher on the research station railing. I want to see at least one Scarlet Macaw before we leave here.
After breakfast, Tian-Tian showed me a buzzing group of bees on the corner of the main research station building. They appeared to be stingless bees, in the tribe Meliponini. They might be Trigona fulviventris. I caught one, so if we have a chance I can look at it under a microscope. The bees were all bringing pollen, which you could see attached to their hind tibia, into their nest.
A colony of stingless bees (Tribe Meliponini)
Our task for the day was to design an experiment, using camera traps to answer a question about the Chiquibul forest ecosystem. We chose to look at the presence of large cats and large cat prey in both on-path and off-path locations. We spent the whole day, from 9:45 am to 1:15 pm and again from 2:15 pm to 7:15 pm, hiking around and setting camera traps. As we were placing our last camera trap, the sun was setting so we hurried back, hiking the last 30 minutes in the dark. We will collect the camera traps and analyze the results on the last day here at Las Cuevas.
Isaac and Sarah setting an off-path camera trap
Some other highlights from today: eating a termite (it tasted like a root vegetable), seeing a Tommygoff when we were walking back to the station in the dark (the tommygoff is the most venomous snake in Belize), and taking a cold shower after soaking my shirt in sweat.
My tummy is full and my legs are tired, and I’m so ready to sleep.
