Yesterday at Pipeline Road there was so much to look at and so many bird calls all around that it took us approximately 4 hours to walk a mile. We saw several birds (my favorite was the Slaty-Tailed Trogon), only heard the calls of several others, witnessed a vested anteater climbing a tree using it’s tail, and became super jealous of Ian’s (our STRI guide) amazing bird call skills. After lunch back at the school house, Dr. Hovick gave us a crash course on statistical analysis for people (like me) who have not yet needed to take statistics. We then split into groups and spent the rest of the evening brainstorming and doing research for our projects. I will be running behavioral tests on leaf cutter ants with Tony and Sarah (the engineer) to detemine their “Trail Recovery” abilites after an obstacle has been placed in their way. We will be running the tests and analysing the data all day tomorrow so more information to come!
Today was amazing with our much anticipated visit to Barro Colorado Island! We had an early start and were out the door at 6:15 to catch the 7:30 boat to BCI. Our fellow passengers included other STRI staff and maintence workers including Owen McMillan who boarded carrying his mug of morning coffee. After a brief power point presentation about the main species on BCI, we headed off into the forest. The majority of the trails are composed of sement stepping stones put in place by a single STRI maintence worker, the “unsung her” of BCI. Claudio was our guide and he stopped periodically at certain spots to talk about some of the massive trees we passed or other wildlife that crossed our path. We saw several poison dart frogs, bullet ants (whose sting has been known to make men cry), agoutis, and red-eyed tree frogs. My favorite plant was the Piper darienense whose leaves, when chewed, make your tongue go numb (and yes, we got to try it!). The plant is used by natives for tooth pain and the roots are much more potent than the leaves. Eventually the lightning and thunder started and pouring rain followed. We continued forward but armed with my poncho and waterproof daypack I didn’t mind the rain one bit. If anything, the rumbling thunder, the echoing roars from the howler monkeys and the peaceful sound of the rain made the experience all the more magical.
We ate lunch at the BCI dinning hall and explored the visitor’s center and surrounding buildings before it was time to catch the boat back to Gamboa. We’ve worked out the kinks (hopefully) for our project with the leaf-cutter ants and will begin first thing tomorrow morning.