When we got off the bus at Palo Verde, one of the first things we noticed was the heat and low humidity. Feeling and looking much more like the Texas hill country, we were excited to escape the dampness of the Osa. The next thing we noticed were all of the mosquitoes, as we walked they followed us in swarms. After taking our "deet baths" in bug spray, we went to set traps. We set the three transects at varying elevation. The farther away from the station, the higher the elevation, meaning the third transect was at the highest elevation. We split into three groups to set the traps, but were rushed by an incoming storm. After setting the last camera trap, the sky opened up and we made it quickly down the mountain. After waiting for the rain to die down and having a short bout of frisbee tossing, we settled into dinner. After dinner we had one last meeting, along with some yoga, and then we went to bed under mosquito nets.
June 1
We got to sleep in to a whopping 6:30 in the morning, which was when breakfast was ready every day. After breakfast we went on the trails as one large group to check our traps. We found at least one mouse on each transect, and caught a total of five mice. We caught four Liomys salvini and one Sigmodon hispidus. Three of the five mice were found on transect two, with the medium elevation. For each mouse we measured weight, determined sex, breeding status, species, and then put an ear tag on each. Later in the morning we went bird watching with Maikol as our leader. We walked along the coast of the wetlands, we looked both towards the water and in the trees lining a road near the water. We saw a variety of species including: Crested Caracara, the Great Kiskadee, Orange-chinned Parakeet, Bare-throated Tiger-heron, and Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks. After birding, it was time for lunch. After our couple hours of free time, we went back on the trails to rebait our traps, except this time we did not come right back to the station. Instead, we followed a trail up to the rather perilous top of a group of limestone boulders. We sat for a couple of hours to watch the sunset with a 360 degree view of our surroundings. We returned for dinner and Ann-Elizabeth Nash talked about her research on Ctenosaur iguanas that are commonly found around camp.
June 2
We got an early start this morning at 4:30am in order to be ready to look at traps at 5:00am. We caught another 5 mice yesterday, most of which were Liomys and but another was a Cotton Rat. We returned just in time for breakfast. After breakfast we got to take a river boat tour lead by Gustavo, the manager of the field station. The tour was about two hours and we saw lots of birds, crocodiles, and some very friendly Capuchin monkeys. One of the monkeys, potentially the alpha male, even got on the boat, which made for spectacular pictures. After the tour we had time to relax and work on assignments, like this blog. We were even fortunate enough to see the iguana researcher release a captured iguana. After lunch we had more free time, followed by a discussion with Dr. Reed about the banana plantations and their impacts on the economy, culture, and social classes. After dinner, we went on a rainy night walk out onto the boardwalk that goes over the wetlands. We saw plenty of mosquitoes, frogs, rabbits, and many glowing eyeballs in the distance (because of our flashlights).
June 3
We woke up at 5:00 to check one transect of traps before breakfast. After breakfast and finishing the other two transects, we captured a total of 15 mice. We rushed back to the field station to shower and pack to prepare for our next adventure. While at Palo Verde, we learned the necessary steps to preserve the wetlands. The wetlands are currently overrun by cattails, a species of plant invasive to Costa Rica. The cattails grow rapidly, and deplete the wetlands of water. Visible water is necessary for migratory birds to know where to land when they visit the wetlands. To naturally get rid of the cattails, the Palo Verde National Park lets cattle roam the wetlands during the dry season. The cows eat new plant growth and stomp and squish older plants. The cows' efforts lead to more water in the wetlands and more birds knowing where to land. By lessening the cattail population, the cows slowly combat the growing problem of invasive species in Costa Rica.
Our experience at Palo Verde taught us how different the tropical dry forest is from the rain forest at Osa. Even though we observed it during the wet season, we can easily imagine the dry season when trees drop their leaves. During the wet season the wetlands are alive with birds and the adjoining forests are full of rodents (we caught 3 different species). As much as we enjoyed Palo Verde, we look forward to moving up in elevation and experiencing cooler temperatures in the cloud forest.
No comments:
Post a Comment