Tag Archives: campfire

Uncategorized

Belize Day 7: Peace Found

Leave a comment

We were on top of the world (a hilltop in the Maya Mountains). We lay in peace and gratitude on the wooden platform at the top of the bird tower, enjoying the breeze, watching the sun rays overcome the clouds, and listening to the chorus of bird calls. Out of the blue, we heard the buzzing of a bee growing louder and chuckled – even at the highest point we could reach, without a flower in sight, the bees get fomo and want to get in on the drama (or create it).

(On Top of the World – 06/23/25)

Today was our jungle wrap-up day ;,<. After a morning watching the sunrise at the top of bird tower, we trudged around collecting our motion sensor cameras and pointing out different species we spotted, appreciating the beauty we’d learned to see in the last week. 

During our descent up the steep steep hill in the morning, we stopped to catch our breath and a few termites to munch on (they taste like carrots!). A little while down the path, we spotted a shriveled frog in the middle of the trail. Because these guys breathe through their skin and need water to stay moist, they’re especially vulnerable to drought and don’t fare well during Belize’s dry season (December-May). We also saw a rare red brocket deer, I guess early birds get to see the most organisms. And later on in the day, 2 pairs of scarlet macaws flew overhead and an agouti popped its head out in the distance to wish us goodbye as we dangled our feet off the wooden deck and blogged. Just as we’re getting to know the forest, it’s getting to know us. 

To wrap up our week, we had a class watch party to sort through all of the pictures collected by the motion sensor camera. Though my camera took more pictures moving around inside my backpack on the way back than of organisms, our class’s cameras caught 3 pumas, many curassows (a pheasant-like bird), and a wild Sam strolling by, with the heaviest traffic actually being on human-disturbed paths rather than undisturbed jungle vegetation. Looks like no one here was taking the path less traveled, and I can’t blame them. We’ve tripped on floor vines and roots a few too many times. 

(Puma Spotting – 05/23/25)

We celebrated the completion of our last project with a little campfire, feeling comfortable and laughing about all of the ecology inside jokes and memories we shared. As I made my way back to the cabins, I said goodbye to all of the epiphytes I saw (the giant Philodendron sagittifolium leaves collaring the trees) and filled the final page of my jungle field notebook, feeling a quiet sense of completion. I’m ready to step into the next timeless chapter of this trip: Glover’s Reef.

(Campfire Close – 05/23/25) 

Peace,

Lily 🙂

Uncategorized

Day 7: Sunrise to Sunset

Leave a comment

A small group and I started the day this morning by going right back to the bird tower to watch the sunrise. We were a bit late but caught the tail end of dawn. It was also a bit cloudy, but the clouds helped accentuate the rays that made it through. We rested and chilled there for around an hour, enjoying the cool breeze and the sun.

We then went out and collected our camera traps! Sadly, I didn’t get anything outside of our group and a couple cars.

While we collected camera traps, we ended up using our extra flagging tape as bows, ribbons, and bracelets!

To wrap up both our day and our stay at LCRS, Steve helped make a campfire where we did rose bud thorn and then just chatted. It felt a lot like all the backpacking trips I went on in high school, and was a feeling I didn’t realized I had missed.

I ended the day sitting out on the deck stargazing. The stars were still just as bright and just as pretty.

I came into Las Cuevas not knowing what to expect, but I’m sure gonna miss this place. Hopefully we’ll meet again!

Ian C

Uncategorized

Day 7: Animal Sightings Galore

Leave a comment

We collected the camera traps this morning. It was so much faster the second time around when we knew where we were going and didn’t have to clear any paths. It was also a good idea to go out and collect them in the morning before it got too hot.

We waited until evening to look at the results, in order to make sure that the lighting conditions were optimal and we weren’t dealing with an annoying glare. That meant that we had a lot of time in the afternoon. We’re going to have a long day tomorrow, so we used that time to do the presentations for both today and tomorrow. We still had some time, and we were sitting around relaxing when we saw a group of macaws! We were amazed, and the best part was that more kept flying by. In total, I think we collectively saw 15, all before dinner. It was incredible.

The animal sightings didn’t end there, of course, because we had to unpack the camera traps. Some of them only caught us setting them up and taking them down, but some of them caught impressive wildlife. The most common animals were turkeys and curaçaos. The most impressive thing we caught, though, were pictures of a puma on three different traps! Not to brag, but my trap was one of the ones that picked it up. Our original experiment was looking at whether there was more biodiversity on trails or in undisturbed areas. We found that there was certainly more abundance on trails, and also more biodiversity, although with a limited sample size. Only one of our off-trail cameras caught any animals at all.

We look at a picture of a puma.
Puma caught on the camera traps!

We ended the day with a bonfire near the station, in a clearing a little way down the Maya trail. It was a sweet way to end our time at the station. We shared our favorite  experiences and what we were looking forward to at the reef, and then we talked into the night. Tomorrow’s we leave Las Cuevas bright and early—what a stay it’s been!

The campfire by Las Cuevas.
Uncategorized

Camera Traps and Campfire Stories at Las Cuevas

Leave a comment

 

Today was an exciting and rewarding day at Las Cuevas Research Station! We went back into the forest to retrieve the camera traps we set up when we first arrived on May 19.  It felt great to collect the equipment after it had been silently observing the rainforest for days. These cameras are key to helping us understand more about the wildlife here—especially the birds that are often hard to spot in person.

We spent most of the day working on presentations. In the morning, we wrapped up our rainforest presentations and then began preparing for our upcoming reef topics. It was a great opportunity to reflect on what we’ve learned so far and to practice communicating that knowledge clearly. Talking about the incredible biodiversity here made me appreciate just how much we’ve seen already.

In the afternoon, we gathered as a class to look through the photos from the camera traps. It was so interesting to see what animals had wandered by while we were off doing other things. One clear trend stood out: cameras on the trails captured far more activity than those placed deeper in the forest. This made a lot of sense—animals, including birds, often use trails as pathways, just like we do. Watching these patterns emerge really brought our research to life.

Later that evening, we had dinner outside and were treated to something incredible: fifteen scarlet macaws and two parrots flew overhead while we were eating. It was an absolutely surreal moment. Seeing so many brilliant flashes of red and green cutting across the sky was breathtaking—definitely one of those memories I’ll never forget. We ended the day gathered around a campfire deep in the forest, sharing stories and soaking in the sounds of the jungle. It was the perfect ending to a busy, beautiful day.