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Day 6: Breathtaking View (literally….)

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Hi Blog,

Today was a very exciting day! The day, as always, started off with a delicious breakfast from Angie! Apparently there were a family of howler monkeys in the tree at the edge of the clearing that a bunch of people got to see, but I did not, which I’m a little sad about. But I did get to see some in the caracol on day 2 which was cool.

After breakfast, we went to the Chiquibul cave which was super cool! Surprisingly, the cave entrance was directly outside of clearing, so it was a very short walk. The entrance was much wider than I expected, and walking in to the cave and actually being in the cave was so surreal. It was so much cooler (literally and adjectively), and it was hazy in the cave which added to the surreal effect.

Pre-caving photo!

It was really cool to see the geologic formations, especially since the baby stalagmite appeared sticky, which is apparently calcium! I thought it was interesting how the tour guide pointed out to not touch the geologic formations, since the human imprint will stop the growth of the geologic formations. It made me aware of the disruptive effects that humans can have, even if the actions seem really minuscule.

After the cave, we went on a hike to collect our pitfall trap samples, which was done quite efficiently since we had been on the paths before and had annotated thoroughly in our field notebooks of their locations. Then, we had lunch which was chicken, rice and beans, and plantains. These were yummy as usual! After lunch, we went right back to work to analyze our pitfall trap samples and then present to Dr. Evans and Dr. Solomon immediately after. My vial for the ground sample had a huge cockroach on it, which was effectively identified by Emily.

We went hiking to the bird tower to catch the sunset, and the view was absolutely breathtaking. The journey there was breathtaking as well (literally), but I digress… The tower and ladder were a little shaky though which was kind of scary… I was physically exhausted and drenched in sweat, but I was so glad to have persevered.

At the bird tower!

After we returned, we had dinner — chick peas, fried cucumbers, and eggs. After dinner, I finally had my first presentation, which was my 30 minute topic lecture about Visual and Auditory Communication in Rainforest Animals. I was a little nervous, since this was the longest presentation I have ever done, but I think it went fairly well, and I’m glad to have it out of the way. I have my mammals taxon ID briefing presentation tomorrow though, so I’m excited/nervous for that.

Tomorrow morning, at 5 AM, a small group of us are planning to go to the bird tower to see the sunset. I’m going to try really hard to wake up, but we will have to see tomorrow. Stay tuned!

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Day 6: Belizean Circus, Belizean Monkeys

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Sadly, the birding streak has officially ended. I was woke up TWICE by the howler monkeys in the trees near the clearing: once at 2:30 AM and another at 4:00 AM. They made up for it in the morning though, as we got to see a family of five this morning.

We then got to explore a cave that was part of the Chiquibul cave system. It was huge. We only got to walk into the first chamber, but we caught a glimpse of the second which felt like double the size of the one we were in. Sadly, they didn’t allow us to take any pictures.

It was also super breezy. It felt like natures own AC. If only we had that in our rooms 😔.

After we came back, we went back out to collect our pitfall traps. A ton of people found a bunch of different species, totaling up to over 300 total invertebrates! I managed to contribute a whopping 4!! Of my four pitfall traps, I only captured an ant, a mite, a fly, and a cricket. Hopefully my camera trap is more successful…

While we were working, Dr. Solomon came in carrying a basilisk lizard (aka Jesus Christ Lizard). By some combination of physics and wizardry, this lizard is able to run right on water.

Right before dinner, we hiked to the bird tower to watch the sunset. Though the hike was steep, we made it just in time. The structure was slightly wobbly but we got up high enough to see the entire forest! The sunset was super pretty too.

Near the base of the tower, we also saw a white-tipped dove!

Walking back wasn’t as fun though. As it got dark pretty quickly and my headlamp was really dim. I even almost took a little tumble while taking a pic!

However, after many a slips, trips, and almost falls, I made it back in once piece! Now just time to do it all over again tomorrow morning for the sunrise!

Ian C

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Day 4: caving as an afternoon activity

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There were two main activites of the day—one involved urine and the other involved feces.

The urine one: we collected our pee in the morning as a nitrogen source to entice the elusive insects of the forest. Essentially, we were comparing the diversity of insects between the canopy and the forest floor. The urine (and a control sample of water) will attract some insects, and we can then quantify the insects and compare biodiversity between the locations.

My Orthoptera of the day were plentiful: a small, striped one that looked like Cornops aquaticum (pictured below) but probably wasn’t because the latter tend to be found in semi-aquatic habitats; a beautiful red-winged grasshopper that I only saw fly away like a bird into the skies, scarlet wings beating; a lovely dull-brown katydid (that I touched! and then immediately un-touched) on a leaf in the jungle; and about four other smaller species that I didn’t know the names of.

A fairly poorly-taken photo of the little cricket Adrienne found on the side of her cup.

The highlight of the day was the caving, which took place in the afternoon. We headed into a local cave that almost no one goes into, and began our trek into the darkness. Honestly, I was more taken by the formations of stalactites and stalagmites (beautiful white crystalline structures, hanging like sharp teeth) than by the tiny biological life forms on the floor (which included worms, millipedes, isopods, ants, the like). There were bats as well, important cave creatures, and we saw a whole flock of baby bats huddled together on the ceiling.

The baby bats huddled at the roof of the cave. PC: Jessica

There was a moment, a very good and unforgettable moment, of total darkness where we all turned off our lights. Something about it was surreal. I grinned the whole time, eyes wide staring into nothing. I swear to you I saw silhouettes of crickets carved into the darkness—this is the level of my imprinting.