DAY 112
1st May 2010
Nest check this morning with Jackie. It's very enjoyable and we have a good chat as well as seeing some fresh turtle hatchling tracks from the very early turtle nests, a couple of new species of bird including the beautiful Blue-chested Hummingbird and a Two-toed Sloth sunbathing in a beach edge tree, which makes Jackie happy as it's her first sloth! We also witness a short but brutal battle between two of the yellow crabs that live on the beach. The tussle lasts for a few seconds before the loser scuttles off minus a claw and the tips of two legs, which are left in a twitching pile.
Andres and I get the chance to head down the 'boundary trail' today which is a relatively short and often waterlogged trail that leads directly away from the beach. Andres is convinced that it will be good for reptiles and amphibians (or 'herps' as they are known in the trade. Not to be confused with the rather nasty disease, it in fact, stands for Herpetofauna, which means reptiles and amphibians.). Indeed, true to his word we soon stumble across a pair of Speckled Racers, long ground-dwelling snakes that feed mostly on frogs. Andres manages to get a hold of one of them which rears up and attempts to bite (it's not venomous unless you happen to be a frog). Can't blame it really, but for a 'harmless' snake it really is feisty. Eventually, Andres using his 'Irwinesque' skills gets a hold of it around the neck, allowing me to step in and touch it and examine the quite beautiful speckled pattern that gives it it's name. Further in, the ground becomes muddy and there are several pools and sure enough there are some tiny black frogs hopping around. I've seen these before but never had the expertise to identify them. Andres is a little way off so I make a grab for one of them and scoop it up in my hands. Holding my hands closed as tightly as I dare, I scamper through the trees towards Andres only to find a boggy pool in my way. It's too deep to wade so I clamber out onto a log in a half crouch because the canopy is low here. Still holding the frog. I can feel it moving in my hands as I hop onto another slightly wobbly log before leaping across to the other side. Triumphantly, I scoot between some small tree trunks towards Andres who has been watching my progress with a broad grin and shouts of encouragement. I'm about 2 metres away when the frog wriggles free and disappears into the leaf litter at my feet. Andres roars with laughter at my dejected expression before clapping me on the back and claiming that he'll make a herpetologist out of me yet and commending my overall efforts. He then proceeds to find a couple of cool lizards that I would probably never see otherwise, by looking under logs and at the base of trees, including the Tropical Night Lizard which is quite interesting due to the fact that it is parthenogenic (they are all female and self-fertilise). Good thing that never caught on with us humans. This trail is a bit tough going but there are rewards to those who look and in addition to all these reptiles we manage to find Tapir and Peccary tracks here. Hopefully, we will get chance to fully explore this trail a bit more and Andres is convinced that if we can do a night walk here, it would be well worth it, with good chances of Fer-de-lance and maybe Bushmasters.
DAY 113
2nd May 2010
Good long walk today to retrieve some Jag cams, none of which seem to have caught anything other than the people who set them up! We still get to see a variety of jungle wildlife including Capuchin and Spider Monkeys, some nice dragonflies, frogs and toads, lizards, a snake, plus Tapir and small cat tracks and a new species of Wren on the beach edge. We are also treated to the sight of a beautiful Golden-hooded Tanager in the coconut plantation.
DAY 114
3rd May 2010
Today is the community event in the village of San Francisco. I'm quite excited as that's where Charissa is doing her intern placement so I will get to see her again.
First of all we get to climb the Cerro, the only hill in Tortuguero. We get a bit disorientated in the thick forest around the base of it, but I manage to get to us to the top where the view is still worth the steep climb. There are still Strawberry Poison Dart frogs everywhere, and though the thick forest is hard for birding I can hear Toucans somewhere.
The actual community event is at the school where Charissa is teaching. She is very happy to see me and I am likewise. It's great to have a catch up with her and I do unfortunately find out that she has to head back home to South Africa a bit early, so I may not get to see her again after this. I resolve to try and arrange something before she goes. The remaining volunteers have come up with a play to perform for the children, who are a lovable bunch of scamps. I must admit I have my reservations due to the amount of prep time that they have put it, but it is quite a success. It tells the story of a turtle trying to find a safe place to lay her eggs. Ben, who speaks fluent Spanish, holds it all together perfectly as a very expressive narrator and Hans steals the show as the villainous turtle-egg poacher, and is so good even the dog barks at him. A quick chat with the kids at the end reveals they have a surprising amount of knowledge about the creatures that give Tortuguero its name. All in all a resounding success and a game of footie afterwards is the perfect way to end things.
DAY 115
4th May 2010
Andres, Molly and I head out this morning first of all to do nest check. We are quite dismayed to find that three of the Leatherback nests appear to have been poached. It kind of brings it home that even though Tortuguero appears to be a well-protected and beautiful national park, it is still all to vulnerable to these kind of illegal activities. Costa Rica has its problems just like any other developing country despite it's vaunted reputation as a conservation paradise and more developed (compared to other Central American countries) infrastructure.
We also carry out the mammal transect which involves following a trail into the jungle away from the coast looking for signs of large mammals. It's a great trail to walk with a completely different feel to the coastal trail and as well as recording numerous tracks of Jaguar, Tapir, Peccary and Deer, we also a few snakes, one of which, a Speckled Racer, has caught itself a small toad for its lunch. Sadly, our morning ends with a long walk back to base in the torrential rain which starts almost as soon as we have finished our transect.
The afternoon is spent on base, which is all quiet as the volunteers have another long weekend, during which they are heading down to Puerto Viejo.
DAY 116
5th May 2010
Nest check again this morning with Sarah. I don't mind as I enjoy the morning walk. I get to see a new bird, the oddly named Brown Noddy ( a type of tern) and a Red Brocket Deer. Thankfully, there has been no more poaching that we can detect.
I have a night walk tonight with Alex, a tall Canadian. He has hurt his toe so we take it fairly slowly. It's a good night. We work one green turtle and I get to count the eggs again, an experience that still hasn't lost its appeal for me. Lying face down in the sand with my hand under a turtle's 'bum' feeling the eggs tumble down my palm and into the nest is a pretty cool way to spend half an hour or so. She has a few deformities on the shell but it doesn't appear to have affected her egg laying ability and produces around 85 or so. During the rest of the night Alex and I chat about our respective travel experiences. He has had some pretty cool (and quite risky) adventures travelling West Africa, including a truly mammoth trek through some real wilderness along a nomadic trade route. On the downside tonight, I manage to lose my hat, which I only had because it was raining at the start of the night and it was good for keeping the rain out of my eyes. I'm a bit upset as it was a good hat.
DAY 117
6th May 2010
Manage to get into town today and have a marathon internet session and speak to my parents. Very satisfying.
DAY 118
7th May 2010
Nest check with Sarah again! We have to cover all these surveys in the absence of volunteers and I am getting to know the nests by memory now. It starts off sunny then gets a bit stormy out to sea. The view is amazing, the sea is a deep, deep green and the sky is black. We are also treated to the sight of a Laughing Falcon, a squirrel and the Noddy is still hanging about.
The new volunteers arrive today and all seems well. They are a fairly even mix of UK and US residents and they all seem to be a pretty friendly bunch with a couple of quiet ones.
DAY 119
8th May 2010
I give my incidentals and snake presentation this morning. It goes pretty well even though its really hot and some of them newcomers are feeling the strain already. They will hopefully acclimatise. I take them for a quick walk around the garden to show them some common species and a vinesnake puts in an unusual appearance crawling along the doorstep of one of the dorms. There is also a fledgling Montezuma Oropendola flapping around underneath the colony out back of the base.
Elliot and I manage to find two more snakes in the hedge around base this evening, a blunt-headed treesnake and my first Cat-eyed Snake.
There is an ice-breaker games night tonight to try and get everybody to know one another. Its weird having so many new faces. On our phase just about everyone was staying for 10 weeks so we already knew each other well enough by this point. There definitely does seem to be a bit of a split between the existing and new vols, which I guess is perfectly natural and hopefully will resolve itself over time.
DAY 120
9th May 2010
Nest check this morning with intern Ruth. She's very nice and we have a good chat about GVI, Costa Rica and life in general. There is an awesome sunrise but unfortunately there is also a bit of rain on the way back.
I'm on Night Walk tonight so I attempt to get some sleep using one of the recently installed hammocks on the shady beach edge. I've never really used a hammock before but I must admit that once you find the right position it is rather comfy, especially with the nice sea breeze washing over you and the sounds of the waves crashing. Despite this, however, I find it pretty much impossible to sleep. I find myself watching a trio of the funny yellow crabs that live on the beach squaring up to each other like the three-way shootout at the end of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. They circle warily with their white claws held ready. One spineless (figuratively of course, because none of them actually have spines) individual decides to edge out of the fight and scuttle off leaving the other two to lock claws as though they are dancing a waltz. The fighting waltz doesn't last long and one quickly backs off and leaves the victor to gloat over his patch of sand.
The night walk is quite frankly awful. It starts to rain not long before we start and continues solidly for the first 5 miles of walking. It's pitch black and we are soaked through our waterproofs. I can't see my feet let alone a turtle and I am a little worried about our safety to be honest and it comes as quite a relief when Marlena, our patrol leader, decides we should stop after 3 hours plus of solid rain. It doesn't stop until morning.
DAY 121
10th May 2010
I'm up reasonably early but I start to feel a bit rough – faint and nauseous. A couple of other volunteers have come down with a bit of a stomach bug and in an attempt to stop it spreading we are all banned from entering the kitchen. A wise precaution, I guess.
I end up doing a bit of computer work as I can't sleep during the day here no matter how hard I try.
A wildlife highlight of an otherwise quiet day is a Common Snaileater snake in the garden. It's a harmless but quite pretty snake with a marbled black and white effect going on.
DAY 122
11th May 2010
I'm recovered today. I suspect just a bit of wear and tear. It's another quiet day but I do have another night walk to look forward to. Sadly, it decides to rain a lot today, but this has the effect of setting of the frogs in the field behind base. Well, never ones to pass up an opportunity, Elliot and I go to have a look with Stephen and volunteer John (other Jon) from South Wales. There is a small pond not far away surrounded by a few trees and some lillies around the edge. Tonight, it is frog heaven. The volume and variety of croaks is astounding and in a half hour investigation we discover 8 species of frog ranging from the tiny exquisite Tink and Hourglass frogs (no more than the size of the top section of my thumb) to huge Smilisca treefrogs (that could comfortably occupy most of my hand) and of course a couple of showy Red-eyes. The numbers are staggering and listening further out into the field and towards the forest edge – there must be hundreds upon hundreds out here. There are of course the party poopers, the enormous Smoky Jungle Frog who likes nothing more than to snack on other frogs can be seen lurking around the periphery of the pond and we also see two Northern Cateye snakes which are top frog-hunters. It's a wonderful little ecosystem here and I hope we can come back and maybe try and do some kind of frog census here on another good night.
Elliot and myself are on the night walk and whilst vision is clearly improved over the previous one we did and we are still all buoyed up from our frog encounter and chatting away for the first few hours, sadly the night turns out to be pretty disappointing with not even a turtle track to be found.
DAY 123
12th May 2010
Sleep in today and nothing scheduled. Never ones to stay at base if we the chance to be elsewhere, Elliot and I head down the estuary track for a quick walk before dinner. It proves to be one of the best casual decisions we have made.
As we are nearing the estuary itself we hear a strange noise up ahead. I don't recognise it as any kind of bird that I know of yet – which is exciting, but as it turns out its not a bird at all. As we get close to the source of the noise we realise that it is a large treefrog. Clearly, it is a distress call because the next thing that we notice is that it is dangling from the jaws of a rather large Green Parrotsnake. The snake isn't venomous but its saliva does contain factors that cause profuse bleeding and maybe mild toxins suitable for use on small prey. This frog isn't small though – it's one of the big Mexican Treefrogs, the size of my hand, and its not going down without a fight. The frog has inflated itself as best it can to stop the snake swallowing it, but the snake is actually dangling the frog downwards from the branch it has anchored itself to, presumably to stop the frog getting a purchase on anything with its sticky foot pads. We have to stop and watch this struggle. We feel for the poor frog, but its a fascinating event and I manage to chronicle it with some photos and video footage. I'm not going to spoil the ending – watch the vid!!!
DAY 124
13th May 2010
Visiting Tortuguero today to see Charissa for the last time in ages, as she is heading home to Durban, South Africa soon. Her brother, Jeremy has also come down to visit her before she leaves and they are going to go rafting again on their way back to San Jose in a week or so. We go for lunch at a local restaurant which serves a mean rice and beans with the best bit of chicken I've had for ages. I also get to meet a guy that Charissa and Jeremy met on the way to Tort, called Kendal who is originally from Limon, so has a rich Caribbean accent (but has Irish roots), but went to Uni in Panama, married an Italian and has lived in Europe for many years. I'm not quite sure what he's doing back here, but he's a nice guy and it rapidly develops into one of those afternoons where we have a few beers and it just starts feeling like I could hang out with these guys all day and evening. Sadly, I have to cut it short as I have to go and get the shopping for base, and plus they are leaving at 15:00 anyway. It's a sad farewell to Charissa. If you read this Cherry, it was an absolute pleasure to be your roomie and travel with you. You're a truly amazing person and I really hope than I'll be able to come and visit you in Durban one day. If you're ever in the UK when I'm there, please consider yourself under obligation to come and visit!!!
DAY 125
14th May 2010
Back to reality again on base with an early morning nest check. It is raining on and off and I'm with intern Ben, who I get on with a lot. He is around my age, done quite a bit of travelling and is a very good wildlife photographer. It quickly becomes apparent that the Hummingbirds are out in force today. The male White-necked Jacobin, the stunning blue head and white belly stand out even in this dim light, is the dominant force here and there must be two or three territories every 200m or so. Beautiful as they are, they have the annoying habit of chasing off all the other species, and there are a lot of other species around today. We see the common Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Long-billed Hermit, Stripe-throated Hermit, Violet-crowned Woodnymph (another real stunning though it looks all dark in this light with a fabulous iridescent green throat patch) and best of all my first ever Band-tailed Barbthroat. These names probably don't mean too much too anyone but six types of hummingbird in a relatively short space of time plus the sheer numbers of Jacobins makes for a very memorable experience, but sadly there are no photos as they are fast little buggers and the rain made it almost impossible. The icing on the cake however, comes when we have reached Mile 14 or so and I manage to somehow spot a furry creature sat up in a tree just inside the forest. It's a great spot with clear visibility and the creature soon reveals itself to be one of the animals I have long wanted to see, a Northern Tamadua. A tree-climbing anteater. I'm so happy and Ben is equally pleased to see it. Though again light is bad, I manage to get some poor quality record photos as it moves along the branches searching for a termite nest (presumably). It's a beautiful and unique creature with quite a long body, a long head with a long tongue and a long prehensile tail. Long it definitely the word that springs to mind when describing it! It's fur is a rich golden-orange with a black back and shoulders that make him look like he's wearing a waistcoat like some kind of exotic Beatrix Potter character. It seems completely unaware of our presence and just makes his way through the branches at an easy pace. Perfect. Except for the rain. But you can't have it all! Nest check is not everyone's favourite activity but all you have to do is look around you enough and you can see what an amazing opportunity it is to be out in the National Park early in the morning with the chance to see these incredible creatures. It's all about perspective, I guess.
We get back to find out that the incidentals survey team have had some luck as well, with a Boa Constrictor in the forest and also a rather bedraggled young Crested Owl sat in the middle of the path. I think its a recent fledgling judging from the pictures. Molly, Elliot and the rest of their team actually took pity on the poor little soul and built him a shelter out of palm fronds. I really want to go and see if it is still there as it is a new species for me, and Elliot leads myself and Shelbi back there. Sure enough, 'Owlbert' as it is now known is still there and looking quite miserable though considerably dryer thanks to the seriously good quality shelter they constructed. I wonder if the parents are around at all but scanning the surrounding forest reveals nothing.
The rest of the day is quiet as I'm on duty staff, looking after things on base.
DAY 126
15th May 2010
Bird survey time again. My favourite! Sadly, it's still a bit rainy and we see very little on our survey. The birds before and after it kind of eclipse it. The Sunbittern is still out in his usual spot making his mournful call. I wonder if there are any more here in the park or if he is doomed to be alone. On the return we see my first Mississippi Kite, a migratory bird of prey. So a nice morning still.
Owlbert was found dead this morning. Something predatory found him before he was able to dry out and start flying. Sad.
Bird firsts continue into the afternoon as I find myself chasing an active Mourning Warbler around the garden trying for a picture. It's a nice combination of grey head, yellow belly anf pink legs. It's also a migrant, presumably stopping off for a snack on its way to the USA.
I'm in a positive mood for tonight's night walk – I'm determined to break my dry spell! The light is better and the group is larger than normal with two volunteers joining me, Laura from the UK and John. We are with Arturo tonight which is also cool as we have a bit more in common to be able to talk about. Spirits are high and we keep a good level of chat up as we make our way up to mile 13. We are doing the longer distance walk tonight and dissapointingly we make it up to 13 without much of a sniff of a turtle (apart from a recently killed turtle which we most certainly get a sniff of!). Thankfully on the way back we are lucky enough to come across a nesting Hawksbill Turtle. She has unfortunately already started laying eggs so we can't count them. The Hawkys lay around double the amount of eggs that the Green and Leatherbacks do. They get their name from their beak like snout which helps them to feed on crustaceans. They also have a distinctive ridged shell edge and a much more streamlined profile than the Green turtle. They also leave a distinctive asymmetrical track as they move along using one flipper after another rather than both flippers at once (kind of like front crawl instead of breaststroke). They are Critically Endangered, just like the Leatherback, which is about as threatened as you can get whilst still having a just about viable population. So all in all its quite a privilege to be able to witness virtually the whole nesting procedure – we get to measure her (88.5cm) and tag her, and wait for her to cover her nest and head back into the sea. I find it still quite a magical sight and the rarity of the species adds that extra dimension to it. We don't see anything else tonight but it was worth every mile.
DAY 127
16th May 2010
I find out today that Rich, our fearless leader, was on Eggheads (a UK quiz show) once. I used to see it a lot, and its pretty likely I once watched this episode! They didn't win and unfortunately Rich himself did not make it to the final (he refused to say who knocked him out), and his team did not win. And CJ is actually as big a tool as he appears on the show, apparently. I must try and find out if anyone is sad enough to have posted this footage on the internet anywhere....
Night walk again tonight. It starts promisingly with a huge Leatherback, the biggest I've yet seen, measuring at a whopping 166cm. Unfortunately, it has already begun laying its eggs so we don't get to count and it has already been tagged (I need to get some practical experience of tagging a turtle so that in the future we can lead turtle walks ourselves with out the presence of the CCC), but we still get to measure it and examine it for injuries or other notable physical abnormalities. She is pretty healthy and we leave her covering up her eggs to continue with out walk. After that we all get a bit tired and quiet and the night seems to get darker and spirits drop somewhat. Then right at the end we meet the other team with a smaller Leatherback that seems very indecisive about whether to nest or not. Some of the volunteers are feeling the strain so we split up and I take half back whilst half stay to work the turtle (although apparently it never does decide to nest).
DAY 127
17th May 2010
It's quite a hot day today and after my lie-in the only thing I have to do is take a group out to look for things in the forest. There are lots and lots of lizards skittering around on the jungle floor but not much else. I was hoping that with the profusion of lizards there would be some things around that eat lizards i.e. snakes. But not today. Owlbert's sad little corpse is still strewn about the trail.
DAY 128
18th May 2010
It's my day to walk the Mammal transect. This is high up on most people's list of favourite surveys. For those who may not remember, the transect follows a trail into the interior of the forest instead of along the coast parallel with the beach. This means you get a real difference in the habitat – more 'proper' jungle i.e. bigger trees, more open forest floor and different species of animal. We are looking for tracks, signs and if we are lucky, sightings of large mammals that use this area frequently. Unfortunately, because the ground doesn't drain so well, when you have rain recently like we have, large areas of the trail become standing pools of water. These areas are all the coast end where we are starting. Our team is four, three interns, Elliot, Siobhan and Ruth, and myself. We've all been looking forward to this so spirits are not dampened by having to wade for a bit. I actually find that the water running into my wellies actually quite refreshing. It is whilst wading through one of these pools that Elliot makes our first discovery of the day. He is on the opposite side of the trail to me and stops. 'Snake', he calls over his shoulder. 'I think its a Fer-de-lance'. He says it pretty casually given that he thinks he's looking at the most dangerous snake in Costa Rica. I wade over to him, attempting to make as little splashing as possible, and indeed he is correct. A Fer-de-lance is sat coiled up on the bank above the pool just off the trail under some overhanging branches. It's not moving and we can't see its head so I assume its asleep. The girls join us and we gather round (at a safe distance of course) and take some pictures. I can't deny it's a slightly more subdued first sighting of a Fer-de-lance than maybe I would have liked, but I'll take what I can get. Everyone is pretty happy with that and we haven't found a single track yet!
The forest floor dries out a little and gives us some nice mud and some Jaguar and Peccary (wild pig) tracks. I love the atmosphere of the forest here and my enjoyment is heightened my another exciting first. The Red-capped Manakin makes its home down here and has been seen by several other teams but I've never managed to see it whilst I've been down here. This time though one is perched bold as brass on a branch ahead. It's undeniably an extremely handsome bird with a jet black body offset by its bright red head and glaring white eye. It's the sort of bird that you don't have to be a birdwatcher to get excited about. They snap their wings rapidly when displaying – I've got recordings of it and it sounds like someone bashing two marbles together impossibly fast. Sadly, he doesn't feel like doing that for us today. We also managed to see some Eyelash Vipers, some lizards, monkeys and some other bird species and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Somewhat worryingly the Fer-de-lance is not there on the way back causing us to be on our guard, but we are treated to a small freshwater Turtle instead.
It's not over yet as we still have to walk back 2 miles along the coastal forest path, which has more treats lined up for us. First of all, another bird first for me. Not one but two noisy pairs in quick succession of a rather cool-looking wren. It's got a slightly awkward chunky look with a big red-coloured head. It has a white mask of skin around its eye. It's quite a unique looking bird in all honestly, and what is the name that the imaginative chap that discovered it called it? The Song Wren. Honestly, it really deserves something a bit more exciting. One of them gladly perches out in the open (they are usually extremely secretive and skulk in the the thick undergrowth) with something dangling from his beak – I presume displaying for his partner. Admittedly, they are also making some crazy sounds, which is probably why they got their name, but still....
The last thing on what has been a very long but highly enjoyable walk is the latest entry in my snake vs. collection. Boa vs lizard. In all honestly its not much of a vs as the lizard pretty much breathes its last as we arrive. Very interesting though. Check out the video.
After our trekking this morning, I have little to do in the afternoon, but I am pleased to say that GVI are officially offering me a paid position should I want it. It's not hugely well paid but accomodation, food and certain transport arrangements are included (sadly, not flights though). Things are a little tight financially, but I can't let that stand in my way of actually getting a cool job for the first time in my life. I'm quite stoked to be honest.
DAY 129
19th May 2010
I'm looking after things on camp this morning which is a good time to catch up on some work.
I have the afternoon off though, but choose to do an impromptu walk with Andres and intern Ben. My luck is holding up and we spend the first 20 minutes or so discussing snakes, in particular the Fer-de-lance. Andres is telling us about the difficulties of seeing snakes from the trail here due to the thickness of the coastal vegetation. Fate must be smiling on us along with Irony, as mere minutes after this conversation, I notice movement at my feet and look down to see a Fer-de-lance slithering past my foot (maybe a couple of inches away) off the trail edge. I am behind Andres and Ben and have no idea where it came from or why they didn't see it. I guess at that moment the point about why we wear wellies and why you must always be paying attention to where you are walking, is made exceptionally clear. I keep my head and as it doesn't attack me instantly, simply back away slowly whilst calling to the others. It curls up at the side of the track and Andres occupies its attention with his snake stick whilst Ben and I get some photos. It's not really aggressive in the slightest, though it is a small one at maybe a metre in length, though it certainly does look mean. Excitement levels are high after this encounter and we also manage to find a small Boa and a cool Laughing Falcon when we continue. Andres also shows us how to catch small Anole lizards in order to identify them by examining their dewlap (a coloured flap of skin under the throat which they use for display). It's easier said than done and I don't have any success today. Unbelievably, on the way back to base and quite close to where the forest ends, another Fer-de-lance slithers past my foot this time maybe a foot away. Again Andres and Ben are in front of me and don't see it. Thankfully, again its a small one and thanks to Andres' skills we can circumvent it and take some more pics before it slithers away. Again, it is not particularly aggressive. Andres makes the very good point that the main reason venomous snakes don't want to bite you is that it takes some 30 odd days to make a full dose of venom. If it wastes it, wasting you (a target too big for it to eat) then that's another 30 days without a meal. It makes sense. This apparently, is also why non-venomous snakes will bite more often if handling or threatened. They have no venom to use up so hence are unafraid to bite as much as possible if they have to.
DAY 130
20th May 2010
Its day off today and most of the volunteers are off to Tortuguero but its my turn to stay on base. I head out for a walk in the forest with Marcus, from Northern Ireland who is remaining on base today. It's a good walk despite some rain and we see a new bird for the area, the rather handsome Orange-billed Sparrow.
The two-week volunteers are leaving today. It barely seems like any time at all to spend in a place like this and its a shame to see them go. One of them, Nick from the US, is going to follow my blog and left me a book about zombies to read, so here's a shout out to him.
I'm also on night-walk tonight. It's a really good night with great visibility. The trouble is that we keep missing the turtles and finding their tracks. We are also surprised to see Jag-tracks that are so fresh they must have been made before we started our walk at 8:00 – maybe even during the afternoon! There are also some hatchling tracks from a nest that we have marked. We will be able to excavate the nest now to determine the success rate of that nest, but not tonight. Finally, we get lucky and find a Leatherback. Sadly, she has already started laying eggs so we can't count them. I do get my first shot at tagging a turtle though, which is pretty straight forward.
DAY 131
21st May 2010
Lie-in in the morning and start reading World War Z that Nick left me. Its really good actually. Its written in the style of a collection of interviews with people from all over the world that survived the zombie apocalypse, so familiar to anyone that has seen a George A. Romero film. But for such a subject matter the book is actually extremely well researched and written and feels very realistic. It's played completely straight without a trace of Zombieland style humour at all. Recommended.
I join Andres for a walk along the waterlogged boundary trail this afternoon. We don't have much luck with finding snakes which is our primary mission but its a good walk despite volunteer Alex repeatedly getting stuck in the mud! We eventually find some eyelash vipers which keeps everyone happy.
DAY 132
22nd May 2010
Nice walk this morning with some nice hummingbirds, wrens and trogons to be seen. Quiet afternoon doing a small beach clean and forest walk. Notable sightings are the biggest Eyelash Viper I've ever seen coiled in the dangling Heliconia flowers over the trail and extensive crocodiles tracks in the sand around the river mouth. Its funny how the Eyelash Vipers actually look almost cute when they are smaller, maybe the combination of eyebrows and big eyes, and then when they get bigger they just look really mean.
I lead a night walk up the north trail tonight but nothing out of the ordinary tonight unfortunately.
DAY 133
23rd May 2010
Nest check this morning. It's quite interesting with a sighting of a whopping 143 Pelicans flying north along the surface of the ocean (Jag walk who are out today and ahead of us made the count), and a recently predated Hawksbill turtle. The tracks tell the story of this unfortunate turtle that came up to nest, presumably successfully before making its way back down towards the ocean, where it was caught by the jaguar and dragged back up the beach where it was dispatched. It's sad to see a critically endangered species killed like this, but jags unfortunately don't take this into account when looking for their dinner. On the positive side, hopefully it managed to lay its eggs before meeting its end and on a strangely symbolic note, there are hatchling tracks from a nest maybe only a few metres down the beach from the 'murder' site. So we have the death of one turtle and the beginning of many new turtle lives all happening in the same night on the same stretch of beach. Kind of cool when you think about it.
I'm tired today. It's getting to one of those times when the weariness catches up with you. But I feel good in myself. I'm in better shape than I've been for many years. I've lost weight – I don't know how much but my shorts and trousers are starting to hang off me and I'm down another two belt notches.
Sarah and I go for a forest night walk in the rain tonight. Surprisingly, this seems to bring the arachnids out in their droves and we see a big black Tarantula, a giant whip-scorpion at least 2 or 3 times the size of any others I've seen, and a moderately sized scorpion.
DAY 134
24th May 2010
My weariness is not helped today by doing the 9 mile Nest check walk again today with Rich. I do enjoy the walk though, a lot of people are not fond of them, but I think they are a great opportunity to see wildlife if you can be bothered to look. Today we see two Red Brocket Deer, one of which poses incredibly well for us and does not seem bothered by our presence in the slightest. I also see a few hummingbirds, though they are not the most active today, and a flock of White-crowned Parrots.
A lot of the current 5 week volunteers have made a trip to Panama today for their long weekend. Seems a bit too much trouble to me to go all the way there for a couple of days and then back. Why not do it at the end of your stay with GVI? I hope they all come back.
I get a bit of rest in the afternoon and then I'm out on a turtle walk tonight with Tim from Oxford. It turns out to be a really nice night with great visibility, which is always good for the spirits and Tim and I end up chatting for much of the time. Sadly, there are no turtles to be seen tonight and I pretty much reach my physical limit, having walked something like 16 miles today and 9 yesterday. I'm not complaining in the slightest though.
DAY 135
25th May 2010
There were some poached nests this morning, which is annoying as it must have happened sometime between 1:00 and 5:00 as I was out on the beach during the night and the nest check from 5:00 onwards. Two of the nests poached were marked by us so that's some more data lost. It is disheartening, to say the least.
Some lucky lucky people got the surprise of their lives today. The Mammal Transect team were heading up the beach to reach Mile 15 when they saw the monstrous form of a Leatherback on the beach ahead. Alive and well, she had simply decided to nest close to dawn and as a result given the team a great opportunity to get some awesome pictures of her disguising her nest and heading back into the sea. Andres was on nest check following behind some half a mile or so on the beach and sprinted all the way to just about manage to see her disappear into the surf. I was laid in bed recovering from my nocturnal exertions and heard the radio interchange to let people know. Sadly, even if I was in a fit state to go see it – it was too far away from base. I will borrow some pics to post though as they are too good to miss. (In case anyone is wondering, and I can't remember if I would have said this earlier in my blog, we are not allowed to take pictures on the beach at night during turtle walks).
A new member of staff arrived yesterday, though I didn't get chance to speak much to her. She is called Marta (roll that 'r'!!) and is from Barcelona. Her area of interest and expertise is in Marine Biology.
We get given a huge fresh fish by one of the guys who works the neighbouring coconut farm. It's a massive yellow-fin Jack and those of us left on base set about gutting and de-scaling it and interns Ben and Siobhan cook up some fried marinated fish pieces with sweet potato mash and a great chilli, garlic and ginger sauce. It tastes divine.
DAY 136
26th May 2010
Nest check with Marta and Tucker this morning. We are showing her the ropes in our daily ritual of walking up the beach checking the nests and making sure all measurements from any new nests the night before are accurate. We see a few hummingbirds and another deer, as well as a bunch of White-throated Capuchin monkeys eating fruits in the trees on the edge of the beach. My body really is taking a pounding this week and all my muscles are aching by the end of this walk.
We get given another fish today!! This time the rest of the volunteers have gone to Tortuguero for their long weekend so its just the staff. Luckily, the fish isn't as big, but we still get some lovely big fish steaks that taste amazing!
DAY 137
27th May 2010
Day in Tortuguero today trying not to spend money that I don't have. An interesting sighting whilst waiting for the boat is that of a large blue land crab scuttling along with a dead baby caiman dangling from its claws. Gruesome!
DAY 138
28th May 2010
I'm out on nest check again this morning and my body still hasn't recovered from the last one. I have the Jag Walk coming up this week and I'm worried that I won't be up to it..
Nest Check is OK though. I get to chat with Molly, who is now also coming back next phase, which is great. We also see a few birds, including a new type of Flycatcher. The most interesting find though is a hatching nest of Iguanas which come bursting up out of the sand from their concealed nest chamber. Unfortunately, a crab has got in their and is trying to grab one of the little lizards. Now, I know I'm supposed to be an impartial biologist, but I can't just sit there and watch. I grab the crab by his white claw and hoist him out of the hole and throw him to one side, where he scuttles away unharmed, to find some food without its own guardian angel. The lizards aren't particularly grateful and scurry off into the vegetation on the beach edge without so much as a thank you.
When I get back all sweaty and tired, I voice my concerns about my current fitness to Rich, who, with Sarah, kindly decides to go easy on me this coming week and takes me off the Jag Walk. I still want to do the next one though.
DAY 140
29th May 2010
Lazy morning today waiting for volunteers to arrive back on base. They are late and we don't know why.
Still no sign by the time the afternoon comes around and Sarah and I take out intern Ruth and new staff member Marta to excavate some hatched turtle nests. We do this to determine the success rate of the nests. We can see how many hatched and how many didn't make it, how many were lost to fungus infestations and so on. There is also the chance that there may still be some hatchlings still left inside. Basically we have to excavate two days after we see any hatchling tracks on the beach and when a nest reaches a certain point after the due date of it (each species has a pretty accurate date from the date of nesting). It should be really interesting and it will be the culmination of the whole turtle process that we go through.
The first nest is a hour or so away from base along the hot beach. I chat to Marta along the way, who I am getting on well with. She is helping me with my Spanish, though being from Northern Spain she speaks with that lisping accent that is absent from Latin America, soI have a little trouble with that. We chat in Spanish to the best of my ability for a little while. Its the sort of thing I really need to do more of and hopefully this will be a regular thing.
We have already marked up the nests that due to hatch imminently and they have been reported as hatched by the nest check team. There is a small depression in the sand where the little hatchlings have emerged, and this is where we dig. I am excavating the first one and I eagerly start digging away. The first thing I encounter is a dead hatchling oozing with maggots. Yuk! Excitingly, next is a live hatchling. It is absolutely exquisite, a miniature replica Leatherback and about 1/100th of the size of an adult. I name him (I have no idea what sex it is) Larry and we wash him off with some seawater and place him on the sand away from his dead brethren. If he starts making his way down the beach we will keep an eye on him and let him go. If not we will rebury him as he is not ready to go yet.
In the meantime, I have started removing eggshells and unhatched eggs from the nest chamber. There is a lot to remove and several more smelly, maggot infested corpses make this slightly unpleasant, although there is another live hatchling in there, this one obviously not ready to go quite yet. After all the eggs have been excavated we categorise them and count them, noting hatched eggs and the stages of any unhatched eggs. We do this by cracking open unhatched eggs and examining the contents. These can range from horrible spongy fungus to almost fully formed embryos. These full embryos are not far off the little fellow on the sand next to me and it is quite sad to see them get so close to life and not being able to make that final step. Then its all back into the nest chamber and cover it over again. The live ones are buried in shallow sand nearby so hopefully predators don't get them and maybe they'll have enough energy to get to the sea when they are ready.
The next nest is very similar and we pull out only one live hatchling this time. Whilst we finish off counting all the eggs, she starts to pull herself down towards the sea (I names her Loretta). It is incredible to see the little creature pulling itself over the sand, battling across a deep human footprint and a tire tread from the MINAE ranger's quadbike, in it's quest to reach the mysterious ocean. Of course, I can't resist adding this to my growing collection of wildlife film footage and actually end up kneeling in the surf to get the view of the turtle cresting the final bank and battling into the surf. It is washed back a couple of times, but eventually is swept out into the waves, where all we can see before she disappears is a small black speck bobbing in the water. It's a magical moment and a memory I will treasure for a long time.
The volunteers have finally returned when we arrive back at base covered in sand but happy. I find out that I am going to have to take Shelbi to San Jose tomorrow as she has an infected foot and needs to go to hospital. Well it has been a while since I've experienced the delights of good ol' SJ so I guess that's OK. I'll get to use the internet at least.
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