Belize Update #2

Just checking in, field work is going great. There are so many microhabitats around here, it is amazing. I saw a Great Tinamou and some unidentified species of toucan today. There was a break from vegetation surveys today, instead we "scouted" locations for new camera stations, which means that we spent all day hiking around the rainforest, just looking around. In spite of swampy shoes and ticks the size of my thumbnail, it was a blast, I didn't feel like I was "working" at all. We heard macaws and howler monkeys, and saw innumerable awesome insects and fungi, I really regret not getting a good entomology guide for this area.

Tomorrow is the start of a new adventure, we're going on a backpacking trip in the Cockscomb Wildlife Sanctuary and Jaguar Preserve to collect some data (which means checking camera stations and chasing kitty scat with our sniffer dog). We (me, one of the grad students and another assistant) will camp out there for a few nights, and I'll be back at this research station on Friday night. I'm pretty excited, it will be new habitats, hopefully some new animals to see. I won't have any chance to update until after that, but hopefully I'll have some interesting things to report! I've got some awesome pictures I can't wait to post when I get home.


Lesson #1 about field work: rainy season is hell on any kind of planning, because of the lack of reliability of roads. Vehicles and transportation are a huge limiting factor. It's just one of those practical things you have to deal with when working in the tropics, definitely plenty of opportunities to hone problem-solving skills.

Lesson 2: Don't touch the plants. If they won't hurt you, chances are they have an animal living in them that will. Anyone who thinks jaguars are dangerous should try accidentally leaning on an acacia.

Lesson 3: I have discovered the wonders of Machete Therapy. If you have anything bothering you, stressing you out, weighing on your mind, just take on 100 m transects of jungle with a machete. It is astoundingly cathartic. Not sure what this says about me? I do hate that we have to leave even a small swath of destruction to do the habitat surveys, but all the data is being put towards conservation research.

Anyway, I will be out of contact for the rest of the week, I'll check in again when I can!