Hello! Today was our last day in Glover’s Reef!Today we began the morning by picking up trash to give back to the island. I was amazed how much trash we found and picked up. We only had 6 garbage bags which unfortunately put just a dent in the amount of trash we found washed up. While we were doing a trash pick up, we came up with a research project. We were looking at the amount of trash and trash distribution around the island. We were curious how the type of beach (mangroves, sandy, or dead coral) would contribute to the amount and type of trash that was on the shore. We didn’t notice a significant difference in this, but we noticed that the unprotected side of the island facing open ocean had more trash then the atoll protected side.
We then dissected a lion-fish! Lion-fish are invasive to Belize so our professors had speared some that we had found snorkeling.We opened up the lion-fish and looked at the sex and stomach contents. Our fish had three digested fish and one whole shrimp!
We ended the day with free time where me and a few others went for a last swim at sunset! While I didn’t see any eels personally, Dr. Solomon and Dr. Evans saw a couple green moray eels over the duration of our stay!
Though today was our last day at GRRS, it was still nonetheless an eventful one. We started the day by picking up trash around the island, to try to help out wherever we can. Though we filled up six huge trash bags, we felt like we didn’t make much of a dent, which was a pretty depressing.
A little good news though, was that I found my missing left airpod! On the second night here, I had dropped my airpods in our room in the middle of the night and couldn’t find my left one. However, I wasn’t sure if the left airpod had even made it to our room, and the last findmy location made it seem like some crab picked it up and took it to their burrow. However, it actually just landed in Sam’s shoe, so the pair is now fully back together again!
Anyways, back to the trash pickup. We also turned it into a small research project, observing how trash distribution would differ between the sides of the island that were facing in the atoll (towards the lagoon) vs. facing the open ocean. We ended up using our quadrats again!
In the afternoon, we dissected a lionfish! Well, “dissected.” I fear I’m using this quite loosely here. We tried to, and ended up just demolishing it. We found the stomach and half of a small fish, likely a cryptobenthic fish, in its stomach at least! However we did not get much further, and failed spectacularly when trying to find the otolith (sorry Elise…).
At some point we gave up and just went for it’s eyes!
After we dissected them, Dr. Solomon and Dr. Cory prepared a dip with the longish for us to try. It felt pretty exotic but also the lionfish itself didn’t have that much flavor. I don’t think I got an actual taste of it at all.
We also had a bunch of coconut and drank straight from the fruits along with eating the flesh fresh. Though I’m not the biggest coconut fan, I really enjoyed these!
We ended the day by enjoying our last sunset here on Middle Caye. The dock has been a perfect place for the sunset, and I’m truly going to miss having such a beautiful sight present daily. I know I said the same about LCRS, but I’m also truly going to miss this place.
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 into the cave and actually being in the cave was so surreal. It was significantly cooler (literally and figuratively), and the cave was hazy, 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.
Although I did not directly have any mammal sightings, I was still able to see holes in the ceiling of the cave, which the KARST team explained were the roosting sites of the various species of bats in the area! No picture, since we were not allowed to take any photographs within the caves in order to minimizing looting risks.
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!
As you can guess from the title, today was indeed the first day that I have successfully caught a butterfly in my net!!!I caught a Dirce Beauty at the top of our toughest hike yet. My feet are still aching from this STEEP incline, but it was so worth it because not only did I catch a butterfly at the top, but we also got to go to the top of the bird watch tower to see the sunset. It was such a beautiful view, and I got to see a big group of dirce beauties all huddled in a corner. I think this reinforces my theory that these butterflies prefer open areas.
We also had another cool night hike on the way back. I got to see a lot of moths on our path. I noticed that when there is not a big light around like there is at the field station, the moths can actually be pretty still and like to rest under big leaves. I think one of the moths might have been a tetrio sphinx moth, but I don’t think the others are on my taxon ID sheet.
Earlier in the day, we got to get a tour of a huge cave. You have to get special access to enter this cave and we can’t post any pictures from inside. We saw how the stalagmites and stalactites get formed via the acidic water and limestone. It was cool to see how small little drops turn into huge structures over millions of years. I also enjoyed learning about how the Maya used the caves and seeing the archeological finds.
After lunch we analyzed the invertebrates that we collected in our pitfall traps and presented our findings. We found hundreds of bugs, so it took us a while to tally them all up, but once we did, we were able to see how vertical stratification in rainforests impact nutrient limitation in invertebrates.
Tomorrow is our last day! I can’t believe that we are almost leaving Las Cuevas.
Sorry for being a little late posting for yesterday, but it’ll be worth it! We started the day early with a cool sighting of a Black Howler Monkey family group (after they had woken us up with their LOUD calls)! We then got special permission to enter the Las Cuevas Cave! The cave is a protected archaeological and cultural site, so we weren’t allowed to take pictures. The cave was enormous inside, with Maya steps, building foundations, and pottery. It is right below a temple that archaeologists think was seen as a special ceremonial place for the Maya.
We then hiked around the trails collecting our pitfall traps–and finding really cool animals like this Wolf Spider hiding in the leaf litter and the Basilisk that Dr. Solomon caught!
We worked as a group to write and draw our findings on our poster and present to the professors, and it was pretty cool to see it all come together with our team work!
After all of our presentations were done, we started probably the most tiresome but breathtaking hike of my life. We climbed about half an hour through and up a steep path riddled with Maya structures. My watch even said I got 2x, 3x, and 4x my stairstep goal in ten minutes! At the hilltop, we climbed up the Bird Tower and watched the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen in my entire life! Minus the station, there was no sign of any human life in the rolling mountains of the rainforest!
From there, the world changed as we climbed down from the heavenly sunset to the eerie world of the nighttime rainforest. The lights from our helmets were all that cut through the heavy curtain of darkness, and I had to remind myself that I needed to look out for all of the predators on the prowl.
Somehow, this hike was the most exhausting, spooky, and indescribably beautiful experience I have ever had, and I would do it all over again if I could!
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!
Our second-to-last LCRS day. A lot of people went birdwatching, but not me! It was really cool today though 🙁 they saw a howler monkey family and some really fun birds, but I’ll get ‘em next time. After that though, I had some bread rolls with our classic eggs, beans, and fruit (thank you Ms. Angie!).
And then it was time for some caving! Not our regularly scheduled program, but so so cool. The cave was off of the station, and newly being researched by FCD’s Karst Management Unit. Immediately walking in there, it was ten times cooler (both temperature-wise and experience-wise). Given my topic lecture on life in the caves, it was so surreal to see. We saw stalactites and stalagmites, beautiful columnar speleothems, and the classic multi-chambered characteristics of the caves. And my favorite part, the cenote in the middle, featuring some groundwater as well. Cenotes don’t need to have water in them, so it was cool to see that this one did have some in it. Watching droplets of mineral, calcium carbonate polymorphs forming what in millenia will be curtains upon curtains on speleothems, it was surreal to see the potential of it all. Also, the cute bats flitting around were to die for. I kinda wish I’d been able to see some of the deeper chambers, potentially finding some troglobytes or troglophiles, but it was amazing nonetheless.
Interesting lichen from the day because we are not allowed to take pictures of the cave
After cave exploring, it was time to collect our pitfall traps from two days ago. I think the worst part was the heat along the pathway–it was such a contrast to moments before, and really trying for that reason alone. I did get to collect my nitrogen samples though, and I’m slightly proud to say that I caught a super big cockroach in one. Not that that beats Claire’s 66 ants in her groundwater, but still kinda impressive. Post-lunch (rice and beans), it was time to analyze the data and make a poster. Sam was our ant man once again, because that formed the majority of organisms we caught. Additionally, we did find some spiders, beetles, crickets, and some unknown species! It ultimately told us that the ground had much more resources like nitrogen, while the canopy had a greater difference between its water and nitrogen sample, hinting at resource limitation there. We made this really beautiful poster (Emily’s drawing for our methods section is actually a masterpiece oml). But after that, it was time for an evening hike to Bird Tower.
Pee-roll: featuring big cockroachData collection and tallying up the species!An arrowhead orchid midway our collection!
An uphill climb for sure! My feet still ache as I write this up. And through the hike up, Dyllan was definitely in need of a hiking pole. I think Ian needed one on the way down. Obviously, though, I was fine because I’m actually a super good climber and have the dexterity of a mountain goat and the climbing skills of a person who’s hiked the Himalayas. (JK but imagine if I actually believed that lol). To be honest though, delusion kept me going. That is, until I saw the beautiful sunset. It was worth it. Fiery, red ball in the sky, golden sky ablaze with colors, and dense canopy below, it was amazing to see all that we’ve previously hiked. It felt like such a surreal rundown, encompassing all the work we had previously completed.
The Great Potoo on our uphill climb–can you spot it?
Just because of the time we spent not directly in the forest, I didn’t get to observe much fungi and lichen past some white mold on a tree and a log. It was still very cool to see. And I’ve learned about a couple more fungi over this time, which I’m really happy about. I’ll be going up to Bird Tower again tomorrow though for sunrise, so I’ll compare that and y’all stay tuned!
Things are winding down here in Belize. It’s our last full day here and I can’t comprehend how quickly the time has passed.
This morning, we started out by dissecting lionfish that Scott has been finding and spearing these past few days at the reef. Lionfish are invasive species, meaning that they were unnaturally reduced to the area around here. Because this ecosystem didn’t evolve with lionfish in it, these guys don’t have any natural predators here, and the native fish don’t recognize lionfish as a threat. This means that lionfish can gorge themselves on helpless native species without fear of predation.
Because of all this, killing and eating lionfish is actually encouraged here! Even all the vegetarians on this trip tried the lionfish – they are detrimental to the environment, after all! We first took measurements of each specimen to contribute to a database about lionfish. In the individual that Claire and I dissected, we found a mostly undigested fish still in its stomach!
Scott made us some delicious ceviche using the lionfish after we finished the dissections. Made for a nice (and eco-friendly) snack!
After lunch, a few of us headed out for one last snorkel on these incredible patch reefs. Today was a great day for lobster sighting, as I spotted 5 large Caribbean spiny lobster hiding in caves in the reef. We also got the chance to watch the colorful ecosystem of the reef one last time before we head out tomorrow. And we finally spotted a starfish, a type of Echinoderm, in the sea grass. I hadn’t seen one yet out in the field, so I was super excited when Jessica spotted it on the way back! It was a cushion star, quite plump and with spiny orange skin. Its tube feet suctioned to my skin.
This afternoon was purely an afternoon of fun and relaxation, which was a strange but welcome change of pace. Apparently it’s an old tradition of TFBs past to travel to a nearby island, Southwest Caye, to hang out at the bar and enjoy the island. We spent a happy afternoon sitting on the dock, dancing to Belizean music with one of our marine safety officers, Rose, and exploring the island.
I was pretty skeptical at the beginning of this course about becoming comfortable with my classmates on the trip. But by now we’ve been the grossest and smelliest of our lives together, experienced nature at its best with each other, and picked ticks off of each other’s backs like gorillas. And later tonight, after we returned to Middle Caye, we had a short group meditation session led by Scott.
I guess it’s impossible to experience these things together without becoming good friends.
Today has been a bittersweet day, for sure. I can’t believe we’re leaving this place.
Hello! Today was our last day in Glover’s Reef! Today we began the morning by picking up trash to give back to the island. I was amazed how much trash we found and picked up. We only had 6 garbage bags which unfortunately put just a dent in the amount of trash we found washed up. While we were doing a trash pick up, we came up with a research project. We were looking at the amount of trash and trash distribution around the island. We were curious how the type of beach (mangroves, sandy, or dead coral) would contribute to the amount and type of trash that was on the shore. We didn’t notice a significant difference in this, but we noticed that the unprotected side of the island facing open ocean had more trash then the atoll protected side. 
Last sunset in Belize.