Day Ten: BOOM! Chachalaca

Hola! My name is Jared Peick and I am a a senior biology major from Concord, New Hampshire. Just when I thought that I was out of ideas for a new alarm clock ringtone, nature delivered me a new option for the future. Two words: Howler Monkey. If you have never heard the howl of a howler monkey, I suggest you look it up and turn up your speakers really high. That will give you a good idea of what we all woke up to this morning at 5:45.

Nick's Breakfast

Today's plan was to put our second tropical ecology research studies into action. The howler monkeys must have known that "Team Domination,"otherwise known as "The Man Team," needed to get up extra early to start their study. While chowing down on beans and eggs with plenty of coffee, we observed the food preference of tropical birds such as toucans. The menu we set out in front of them consisted of bananas, papayas and even fruit loops. Unfortunately Toucan Sam was a no-show and gives me reason to believe that he is only a Kellogg's myth.

Nick setting up the fruit 

Team "Mary, Brianne, Kelsey and Amanda" is working on determining the species richness of birds in the area and their visit time to a feeder. This was done by setting bananas out on a perching/feeding area and observing what types of birds show up and for how long in a number of set time periods.

The girls observing birds

"Ant Lions Inc." made up of Steph, Kate, Marci and Emily are looking to see if there is any correlation between the size of antlions and their holes and what kind of distances they are apart from each other. These holes are constructed for the soul purpose of trapping ants for food.

Marci digging up an antlion

We all took a swim break in the resort pool to escape the Costa Rican heat even though it wasn't even noon yet. We also got to witness a fairly large tree do it's best impression of a a Jenga tower when it fell loudly to the ground. Fortunately, both our group and the pool escaped the tree's wrath.

A bunch of us were lucky enough to see the howler monkeys from the morning up close and personal above the bridge over the river. We quickly found that the most important language in the country isn't Spanish, but rather monkey howling. We all are a little rusty in our translation but we hope to improve on it in the future. In all seriousness though, it was really surreal to be so close to the monkeys, see their facial expressions, and look directly into their eyes. Prof. Hope was able to snap some really great pictures of the monkeys that probably could be sold to some nature magazine.

Howler Monkey (courtesy of Nick)

We all enjoyed a lunch around noon and then got back to work on our research projects. It's a great opportunity to observe the kind of wildlife and vegetation in the area knowing that not everyone will have this same chance.

We also practiced our trigonometry skills when Prof. Lewins posed the problem of determining the height of a termite nest on a tree that we could not get close enough to measure. This is all in consideration of projects that could be done on future trips. Thanks to our resident math minor,Brianne, and our naturally gifted classmate, Eric, we were able to determine a plausible method using a protractor, laser pointer and a little math. We also found out that Prof. Lewins regularly confuses his eyes with his nose #classicbill #musthaveskippedanatomyclass.

We finished up the day with two organism presentations before dinner (Marci-blue morpho butterfly; Patrick-red-eyed tree frog) and two after dinner (Amanda- White-Faced Capuchin Monkey; Steph-Three-Toed Sloth). We had Italian food and fish for dinner. I would say that we all thoroughly enjoyed one of our last big group dinners together.

Prof. Lewins enjoying dessert and Prof. Hope

My dad told me to come back to the states with either a Costa Rican girl or a job. Unfortunately,I found neither. I do have a sunburn, though I don't think that will be something to brag about. Thanks to those of you who managed to read this lengthy entry. If it were done by Peter Jackson, it probably would have been split into three different entries.

We look forward to a shorter bus ride back to San Jose tomorrow and will be on our way home shortly.

#classicbillatkfc

-Jared