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Day 8: Adios Las Cuevas!

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May 23, 2025

Travel Day! LCRS —> Tropical Education Center (TEC)
We woke up bright and early to clear out of the LCRS. WOW, how the time flew! It really feels like just yesterday we were driving into LCRS for the first time. I was sad to leave, but definitely excited for what was in store! What was that, you ask? A full tour of the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Cave!
Our tour guide, Rafael, was so great! He told us about how the Maya people used the ATM cave, and then took us into it to show us the ruins. Among them, skeletons from Maya human sacrifice. It was very interesting to hear how much every detail of the cave meant to them, as a representation of the Maya underworld. The placement of their firepits, for example, was designed so that shadows of certain figures resembled their god of rain’s wife, so to them that represented her presence in the cave and her availability to be a conduit for them to pray for rain as well. Overall, this cave was so cool to see and swim through, and we had such a great day.
After that, went to the TEC, settled in, and then went on a night tour of the Belize Zoo. I loved to see all the nocturnal animals, but I also loved to see how the Belize Zoo was dedicated to wildlife conservation. The only animals they had were kept from the wild either because they were orphaned and raised by humans (and therefore could not survive on their own in the wild) or if they were medically unable to return to the wild, like the Jaguar Martin, who lost his eye due to glaucoma. And, as always, it would not be a Sam blog post without an ant mention! Back at the TEC, I saw a cute “Leafcutter Ant Crossing” sign that was displayed over one of the leafcutter’s highways. I loved it!
Tomorrow, I’m looking forward to an awesome boat ride to the beautiful Glover’s Reef Research Station (GRRS) 80 miles off the coast of Belize City in the Caribbean Sea!
<3,
Sam
Images
ATM Cave Welcome Sign
ATM Cave Skeleton (formerly known as Crystal Maiden, no longer certain of gender so this name is out of style) (https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-crystal-maiden-of-the-actun-tunichil-muknal-cave-belize)
Belize Zoo Sign  (picture from Lily Hestjean)
Jaguar at Belize Zoo (bad picture, sorry!)
Leafcutter ant crossing sign
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The Ant-Man Super Bowl: Leafcutter Nest Excavation

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May 20, 2025
Hello again! As you can tell from the title, today was yet another amazing day at Las Cuevas Research Station. The day began with some light birdwatching, during which we saw some flying macaws, a toucan, and a Northern Mealy Amazon parrot. These were very cool to see!
Our morning and half of the afternoon was filled with finishing up the Cecropia experiment and listening to presentations. Before I get into what we did with the second part of the afternoon, I’ll illustrate the results of our experiment. As you can see from the poster below, the question “was how do young cecropia trees defend themselves if they’re not colonized and protected by a colony of Azteca ants?” Unfortunately, our results were inconclusive. Due to limitations on time, we weren’t able to catch Orthoptera herbivores of the same species, so that factor was not standard, and we also had the problem of hydration of the leaves (we can’t know if the leaves were absorbing water, or how much they had at the time oof weighing, because we are in a field station with only one afternoon and one morning to devote to this project.) So, the results were inconclusive, but you can read our poster pictured below. (The poster was a collaborative effort; if you know me, you know that’s not my handwriting.) After the project was over, we had a presentation from the Rafael Manzanero, director of the Friends for Conservation and Development, which is a really cool Belizean NGO that manages the LCRS, Chiquibul National Park and Forest Reserve, and they defend it. They have armed rangers, filling the role that the government plays in the US. It was very interesting to hear from him. After that, I gave my Ants Taxon Briefing, Lily gave hers on Epiphytes, and Dyllan talked about plant-insect interactions. During those presentation, we also heard from Yasmini Manzanero, the FCD’s Cultural Heritage and Karst Expert, and she briefed us on the cave system we are to explore tomorrow.
After those presentations, we had the ant-man Super Bowl: we excavated leafcutter ant nests to find their fungal garden. This was truly exciting. First, we approached the young colony (~1 year in age, 1 entrance) which is in the clearing right next to Jane’s (LCRS Manager) cabin. This is an optimal location for a Leafcutter colony because they like forest edges. The edges provide easy access to fresh vegetation for their fungus, while also providing the queen easy access to get into the ground quickly. We began our excavation by digging next to the colony, because fungal gardens (which is where the queen is) aren’t usually underneath the colony entrance, but they’re off to the side. Excavating this way minimizes damage to the colony’s structure and garden. This was so fun, because Dr. Solomon pulled out the entire fungal garden on a large kitchen spoon. With the whole garden came the queen, which was also awesome to see. She was so huge, because she has to store her sperm for up to 20-25 years and she also has to store her fungus when she leaves the colony she’s from, so she had a lot going on. It was super cool to see her.
Once we had thoroughly explored the young colony, we approached the mature colony. The mature colony was ~x years old and had many entrances. We selected this mature colony because it was raised, meaning the fungal gardens would be easier to access. This colony presented a problem though: the many hundreds and thousands of soldier ants that swarmed as we excavated. This meant that everyone had to put their things far away, and continually stomp soldier ants off their boots so they didn’t chew through them. As the ant-man, I was excited to see the horde of ants flowing out of the nest like a mighty stream and I grabbed the shovel. I was mostly successful, but I did get one battle wound. This was quite a different wound, as it hurt in the moment but it faded quickly. It also bled a lot, which was concerning (and turned my stomach bc I do not like blood very much) but that also subsided quickly. All in all, it was a great ant-super bowl and I’m super proud to have been a part of the excavating. After the wounds, we found the fungus. This fungus was interesting because a) there was much more of it, naturally, and b) It had a different texture than the fungus of the young colony. I’d be interested to compare them in a lab.
Following dinner, we had our first night hike. We saw a rare Pauroque bird (one of the “heard not seen” birds,) but the coolest thing we saw was the leafcutter ant highway. During the day, you see a couple or even a steady stream of ants flowing on these highways. At night, this highway was PACKED. It probably looked like the Katy Freeway when they brought 45, 90, and 180 to Rice. It is pictured below.
Images:
Cecropia Experiment Poster (if you have seen me write, you know that I did not write this. It was a collaborative effort.)
Battle wound from Excavation of Mature Colony (Got bit by Soldier Atta cephalotes)
Young Colony’s Fungal Garden
Ant Highway During Night Hike
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Day 4 (LCRS Day 2): Pee, Cecropia Trees, and even more ants!

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May 19, 2025
Hey hey hey! Today was, like yesterday and the day before, a fantastic day. We worked on two projects today, the first being a pitfall trap experiment to assess nitrogen limitation in arthropods in the canopies versus the forest (underlying assumption: canopies have less nitrogen. Hypothesis: arthropods of the canopies will exhibit more signs of nitrogen limitation (be more attracted to nitrogen-rich fluid (human pee) than arthropods of the forest floor.) In the afternoon, we began an experiment with Cecropia trees. This was exciting for me, because I am the ant man. These trees, like the Bull’s Horn Acacia mentioned earlier this week, are protected by a colony of Azteca family ants living inside them (except Bull’s Horns have Pseudomyrmex ants in them.) The experiment considered whether young Cecropias found other ways to protect themselves from herbivores before they were inhabited by ants, so the experiment didn’t directly involve ants, but that didn’t stop us from studying how the colony moves about the tree.
The first tree we found was inhabited by a whole colony, and it was so cool to see them swarm to protect the tree and to see the tree’s structure to provide a home for them. The second tree we found, after a long search, was much younger and had only one inhabitant: the queen. She was laying larvae, and the tree was not yet colonized, so we sued it for our experiment and called it day there.
However, throughout the day, we saw many cool ants. In the morning, doing the nitrogen-limitation pee experiment (where we peed in tubes to see if arthropods would be more attracted to our nitrogen-rich pee compared to water,) we saw a leafcutter ant colony that must have been 30-40 feet long across the trail. SUPER cool. Right next to the colony (or right above,) there was a Bull’s Horn Acacia Tree coexisting with the Leafcutter colony. We decided to run a fun experiment by putting a leafcutter soldier on the acacia tree to see what would happen. Unfortunately, while attempting to rouse the ants who lived on the tree, the leafcutter soldier fell off so the experiment was cut short. We got to see it run away from one of the Pseudomyrmex guard ants though, which was pretty cool.

In the afternoon, when looking for a cecropia tree, we naturally ran into the cecropia ant inhabitants. Our afternoon experiment will test whether or not young (not colonized by ants) cecropia trees will develop alternate (chemical, physical) defenses to herbivorous predators before they are colonized by ants and benefit from that defense. When we happened upon an adult cecropia tree, we got to see how they swarm out when it falls, and how the tree has evolved a hollow structure inside of it for the ants to live. The structure is an akin to the ants having high-rise apartments, because that tree is tall! Cecropia ants all fall under the Azteca family, and I think we saw Azteca alfari based on the looks. After we saw the big cecropia tree & colony, we set out to find the young uncolonized tree. While we searched, we happened upon two more really cool ant phenomena. The first, we saw a young leafcutter ant colony. We could tell it was young for two reasons: a) the colony entrances were small. there were multiple, indicating an age greater than one year, but still relatively small and therefore young. b) the ants were bicolored (red head and abdomen and a darker thorax.) Dr. Solomon did some inconclusive research as to why leafcutter ants may be discolored, but he discovered that ants were bicolored when the colony was young, which is how I know that colony is young! After the young colony, we saw an ant I hadn’t seen yet or even researched: theCamponotus sericeiventris, or Carpenter ant (but it directly translates to “Golden butt” ant, which is more fitting.) After we saw these two ants, we found the young cecropia tree, which was supposed to be uncolonized, but the one we found had one singular inhabitant: the queen! It was super cool to see her working in the little tree before her colony and her tree grew (her colony and tree did not grow because we cut it down unfortunately.) Overall, it was another fun and interesting day to be the ant man, and I know tomorrow will be even better as we are to spend the afternoon investigating leafcutter ant colonies! What a treat!

Ttylxox,
Sam
Images:
Me with my Pee tubes for the nitrogen limitation experiment:
Huge leafcutter ant colony
Bull’s Horn Acacia directly next to/ on top of huge leafcutter colony
Colonized Cecropia tree filleted open
Bicolored leafcutter ant (Image from https://leafcuttingants.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=531&start=10)
Golden butt carpenter ant (Image taken by Dr. Solomon) (I know it doesn’t look gold, the gold part has mostly fallen off)
Young Cecropia tree filleted open showing only the queen inhabitant
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LCRS Full Day 1 and First Big Project! (And, as always, ants!)

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Day 1 at Las Cuevas (May 18)
Today was another great day here at Las Cuevas! We began our first big project for the class, and the prompt was to use motion-detection cameras in some way. We decided it would be best to use them to assess animal motion on man-made trails (disturbed area) versus undisturbed area. We settled on the research question: How does the presence of man-made trails influence the biodiversity of the vertebrate animals in the immediate vicinity surrounding the LCRS (Las Cuevas Research Station?)
We decided to set up cameras both on trails of all sizes (Small Mayan and Bird Tower Shortcut Trails, Intermediate Monkey Tail Trail, and along the overgrown San Pastore Road and the more maintained main access road) and for each camera set up on a trail, there was one ~50 steps into the woods to monitor undisturbed animal activity. My camera was set up in the woods near the Monkey Tail Trail, at N 16.73019, W 088.98109, in case you were interested.
It wouldn’t be my blog without this next part: the ants of today! The morning was fairly ant-less. There were ants, but I didn’t see anything too noteworthy. The afternoon, though, was quite fun. Early on (first 5 meters of the Bird Tower Shortcut Trail) we saw a leaf cutter ant pathway breaking up leaf litter. I thought it was cool how the leaf litter was broken up in their path, that shows often they walked it & how many there were. After that, we saw a leaf that had been cut up by a leaf cutter ant, which was really cool! Dr. Solomon shared that these ants have zinc-lined (really really hard) mandibles with which they clamp on to the edge of a leaf, vibrate (like a jigsaw,) and rotate their bodies to carve out a semi-circle shaped piece of leaf roughly the size of their bodies. In the image below, the size of the semi-circle gives the size of the ant! After a bit of time, I was bored while people were setting up their cameras, so I went and caught a leaf cutter ant with the pair of forceps (pictured below!) This was the first of what I assume will be many ants caught this week. After that, I found a Pseudomyrmex family ant on a flower. I was initially puzzled because this was a less likely species to see, but when I realized the large silvery eyes, I could tell it was a Pseudomyrmex. If I had to guess specific species, I would guess Pseudomyrmex gracilis. That’s all I got ant-wise for today.
What a great day, and I can’t wait for the adventure tomorrow will bring!
Images:
Defined ant path in leaf litter
Leaf cut up by Leafcutter ants
Me holding the leafcutter ant I grabbed with forceps
Image of Pseudomyrmex ant found on flower. Apologies for poor quality.
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Final Reflection Blog: An Unbelizeable Adventure!

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Throughout this course I have learned and experienced so much in such a short amount of time, and I have definitely walked away with an unshakeable sense of wonder and respect for these two tropical ecosystems. One of the main ideas this course has left me with is in the surprising amount of similarities between these two seemingly separate ecosystems, and how that might relate to their current biodiversity. Both coral reefs and rainforests are shaped by their how they maximize the use of limited resources such as light, nutrients, wave energy, and soil. The variety of complex ways in which these organisms adapt to these conditions is reflected in their unmatched biodiversity.

Some personal connections I made along the way are definitely related to what I studied for my topic lecture: the biogeographic history of the region. Both of the specific ecosystems we visited were highly shaped by the history of geologic processes in the region. Glover’s atoll was created by past volcanic activity, and the limestone sediments that characterize the karstic landscape of the Chiquibul were deposited millions of years ago. Actually, the origin of the calcium carbonate in this limestone is from the many millions of marine shelled creatures that lived there when that area was underwater, so the connections run even deeper! Both areas were also deeply impacted by continental movements, specifically the connection of North and South America 3 million years ago, which separated the oceans and joined the terrestrial organisms, but still both leading to continued diversification.

This course was more difficult in some ways than I expected, but also so much fun! I definitely expected to get lots of bug bites while there, but I certainly did not expect the sheer volume of mosquito, sand mite, and chigger bites I came home with! My least favorite part was probably getting seasick on the first boat ride in, that was pretty miserable. Future TFBs beware, and bring itch cream and Dramamine! But as is true with most field work, there were so many fun moments that made all the uncomfortable parts so so worth it! Some of my many favorite moments include: seeing giant ceiba trees, watching a jaguar feed, eating lionfish ceviche, holding a comb jelly, touring the Caracol Archeological Reserve, and seeing the beloved Mexican burrowing toad! And all of these moments were made even better by the friendships I made with my classmates, which I am very grateful for.

Before I post this final blog, I want to leave it by sharing some of the most important or surprising things I learned on this trip that will stick with me for a long time. The entire guest lecture by Dr. Arevalo was definitely memorable for me, especially in his dedication to the ecology and conservation of the scarlet macaw, and his point that there is only limited impact for ecology research if we do not actively apply it to conservation practices and efforts. I will also always remember our conversations on the health of coral reefs, and how quickly climate change can damage these beautiful places. It was something I was always aware of in the periphery of my mind, but there is something different about firsthand experiencing the incredible diversity of these reefs and then learning how threatened they really are. One final thing I will always remember is seeing  and learning about the insane complexity of leafcutter ant colonies! We learned that the characteristics of the ants change as the colony ages and can spread into massive structures that last with a single queen for a max of about 25 years! The fact that such complex eusocial animals have evolved is so insanely cool!

This class and the people I got to know along the way are unforgettable and I had such a great time!

-Phoenix

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Pee Experiment, Leafcutter Ant Excavation, and Night Hike! 

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After hearing a lovely morning lecture from Michael on the importance of tropical soils and their nutrients, we designed a classic TFB experiment: pee tubes. We wanted to see whether arthropods in the canopy or the forest floor are more attracted to the nitrogen in our urine and what that might say about the scarcity of nutrients in these areas. We all peed in tubes, compared hydration levels for fun, and then set out to lay these pitfall traps in the forest. During this I actually spotted a jumping viper on the trail right before we were about to step on it which was a little terrifying, but it never struck. Someone also spotted the adorable and rare eyelash viper curled up on a tree! 

BIOS 319 pee gradient

After that adventure we had our very own leafcutter ant expert Dr. Solomon show us the inner workings of these colonies (including their fungal gardens!), which was so fascinating to see! During our search for a suitable candidate, we found so many arachnids! Dr. Correa found a bunch of tiny scorpions under a damp piece of wood, as well as a dead tarantula. We were also able to spot two golden silk orb weaver spiders in their web which was really cool! But the star of the show was definitely the Mexican burrowing toad we found while digging around! He was just such a fun looking guy he was so gelatinous, had no neck, and the most powerful little back legs. He was fantastic. 

Golden orb-weaver spider
Qur amphibian expert Rusty holding the beloved toad

Then to top off a fantastic day we had an eventful night hike that definitely broke some TFB records! We took a short journey to a pond nearby and along the way saw TWO Morelet’s Tree Frog (which are a rare endangered species) both of which jumped onto some students and hung out there while we tried to photograph it which was so cool! We had to be very careful not to let it touch us if we had sprayed bug spray because they can take in chemicals through their skin, but they were so friendly! And then we saw the insane, documentary worthy event of a snake winding up a tree and eating sticky tree frog eggs! There were snakes everywhere today. It was so insanely cool! I wonder how many more cool species we can find! 

2022

Forest Cano-pee & Meeting the Queen!

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Day 2 in the rainforest started off early with a lot of sightings during the morning birdwatch. I saw two crimson-collared tanagers, which are black with a red head and rump, as well as a black mask. I also say a blue-gray tanager, which is a bit smaller and flies by sporadically flitting its wings. One bird that I had to research in my field guide to identify was a white-collared seedeater! This bird was small (like the size of a finch), had a black head, light-colored wingbar(s), brown/white patchy body, and a white band laterally around its throat. I spotted it in the grass, which makes sense if it was foraging for seeds. I also saw a pale-billed woodpecker, which is a very large woodpecker with a black body, bright red head, and a white line down both sides of its neck that meets on its back. One bird that I managed to get a photo of was a social flycatcher! It was brown with a yellow breast and belly. Its white head had a black eyeline and crown, and its wings had a light wingbar.

Then, we started another experiment testing the nutrient attraction of arthropods and their abundance on the forest ground versus the forest canopy. We chose methodology to place pitfall traps of both water and a nutrient solution to test our question. The nutrient solution that was the most widely available was our own urine, so we all peed in tubes. We ranked our pee in hydration by comparing color. A huge shoutout to Rusty for having crystal clear pee and being my TFB hydration idol. Then, we put our water and pee tubes on the floor and hung them on trees!

Right by my pitfall tree, we spotted a jumping pit viper! Luckily, Phoenix saw it before anyone got too close, so we were all safe.

We also saw an eyelash viper curled on a nearby log! Rafael, the LCRS station manager, said that he had never seen an eyelash viper in all his 12 years here, so we were super lucky to see one! I didn’t get a photo, but a lot of my classmates did.

We also did a leafcutter ant activity where we dug up their nests. We started with a 1-year-old nest, and we took turns digging with a shovel. We found the fungal gardens, and it looked like spongy, white honeycomb. After some more digging, Scott uncovered the queen! She was huge and was being protected by smaller ants, but she didn’t try to bite anyone. I got to hold her! I feel so lucky to have met the queen.

We moved onto another bigger nest, but there were too many rocks and roots to dig it up. Right when we were about to find another nest, Michael shoveled one last scoop and initiated another lucky find! Sitting in the mound was a Mexican burrowing toad! This toad is black with orange markings and very round in shape. Its head is very small and is basically missing a neck. When Rusty gave his amphibian taxon briefing last night, he said that he really wanted to find one of these toads. So another shoutout to Rusty for his toad-finding dreams coming true, I’m so happy for him!

I gave my topic lecture on neotropical plant-insect interactions, and I think it went really well!

After sunset, we went on a night hike! Before leaving, I spotted a red-rumped tarantula on the deck! It crawled out of a space between some of the wooden planks.

Then on the actual night hike, We had so many amazing sightings! We saw two Morelet’s tree frogs, as well as their eggs. It is extremely rare to spot Morelet’s tree frogs because they are critically endangered, so we were really lucky to see them! Then we spotted small snakes on the tree branches above us. We witnessed one snake eat tree frog eggs!

The theme of today seemed to be pure luck, and I feel so fortunate to have experienced it all. Maybe tomorrow Ava will catch a blue morpho butterfly!

– McKenna

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No time for Reef-flection, too much to T-E-Cee

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This morning after breakfast, we had to say goodbye to Glover’s Reef (and Ruth). I had really started to get comfortable at Glover’s. The food, the views, the reefs, the hermit crabs and blue land crabs, the pelicans and frigate birds, iguanas, the snorkel shed, poster sessions, Clivus, and even the mosquito mangroves of death…. I’m grateful for it all.

After a 3.5 hour boat ride, we (quite fittingly) made our transition from ‘surf’ to ‘turf’ by dining on the shore at Calypso, a restaurant on the marina. After lunch, we all piled into two white vans and hit the road for the Tropical Education Center (TEC). On the drive, we passed a couple Police Security Checkpoints and got to see the dominant landscape features shift between developed cities, thick twisting mangroves, karstic mountains, and savannah peppered with palmettos.

At TEC, we received a lecture from Dr. Boris Arevalo, a conservation biologist who studies northern scarlet macaws. These macaws are a flagship species for several countries in Central America, so Dr. Arevalo wanted to better understand their nesting preferences on local and regional scales. The main points that I took away from his presentation was the importance of having a holistic understanding and management of BOTH breeding and foraging habitat, and that collaboration and communication are the most important tools for scientists. Some of my favorite quotes from Dr. Arevalo’s presentation:

  • “Conservation is a human issue”
  • “Scientists are professional beggars”
  • “Conservation is a business”

After dinner at TEC, we got a night-time tour of the Belize Zoo! We saw more animals in an hour than I can recount here, but I’ll try to list as many as I can remember. We saw three types of owls (spectacled, mottled, and barn), four types of cat (puma, jaguar, ocelot, margay), coatimundis, a paca, white-lipped peccaries, a tapir (which we got to touch), a four-eyed possum, a termite nest, an anteater, and most importantly…. I finally saw leafcutter ants (Atta cephalotes)! My excitement at simply seeing their little nocturnal parades across the paths bodes well for this trip. I’ll probably fully lose my mind when I get to see their fungus gardens.

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Day 1: Ant Man? Not quite!

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Today’s general agenda: airport —> lunch at Cheers —> grocery shopping at New Flags —> Crystal Paradise Ecolodge 

We have only been in Belize for less than 24 hours, but it definitely feels like we have experienced so much of it already. What may have been long car rides between destinations actually turned into interesting observations and discussions. 

For instance, we spotted the Taiwan ICDF and Taiwan flags! After getting more stable internet, I quickly searched up Taiwan ICDF, and, turns out, they work towards boosting socio-economic status and providing human resources for developing partner communities. I think I was definitely surprised to see Taiwan conducting such outreach work in Belize, and I am definitely glad that they have such capacity to do so. 

Taiwan ICDF in Belize

In terms of taxonomic identification (again, I am the ant-person or ant-man), I was pleased to find many different ants already! The most common ants that we spotted were leaf cutter ants, specifically Atta cephalotes. These leaf cutter ants have mandibles, which are pincer-like jaws, that cut leaves and flowers and brings them back to their nest. However, other ants identification proved to be more difficult. I spotted two ants that were roughly 1.5cm, but I could not seem to correctly identify them (see image below). My guesses are that they are some leafcutter ant species but it definitely is hard to be sure without any type of microscope. 

Unidentified ant. Possibly belonging to the Ponerinae family

Overall, today proved to be a very eventful day! From jumping into the river to observing horses, tapirs, and more, we really have only grazed the surface of Belize. Tomorrow, we will slowly disconnect from civilization (internet is really not the best in the forest as you can imagine) and head into the deep rainforest. Until then, hopefully I’ll get better at identifying ants and I can’t wait to hear what other students have prepared for the trip. 

 

 

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Ant Day

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Today we focused on some of the many ant species that habitate the Chiquibul forest. The cecropia tree has a symbiosis with azteca ants, which protect the tree from predators in exchange for shelter and food. We spent the morning testing a few hypothesis about how the cecropia trees avoid herbivores before they are colonized by the protector ants. 

This afternoon we excavated three leaf cutter ant colonies of different maturities. Once a queen colonizes a nest after a nuptial flight she can live for 20 years reproducing, expanding the colony until there are millions of ants at any given time. There are tunnels underground leading to chambers full of the ant’s fungus garden and pupae. The youngest ones are fairly small, but once they are 10 years old they get huge, with tunnels the width of your arm full of soldier ants ready to come out and attack you when you disturb them. They have quite a pinch and we were all thankful for our rubber boots today.

We had an unexpected amphibian sighting once we got back to our housing; one of the bedrooms had a large frog on a bedpost. I caught it and took it outside to get a closer look and try to identify it. It hiccuped in my hand, puffing out its chest, in protest to its capture. The frog was dark green and brown, with some stripy markings around the forelegs. I couldn’t examine its back without it jumping from my hands so I didn’t get a clear look. It was about 2.5 inches long with horizontal pupils, bronze irises and toe pads. The toe pads indicate that its a treefrog and since there aren’t many in the area I would have to guess that it was another common Mexican treefrog, based on size and color. I released it into the trees after a minute or two to not cause it too much distressed and it leapt from my hands with a defiant squeak.

Digging leaf cutter ant nest

Sophia Streeter

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