Last week's Animal of the Week

I know we just started this Animal of the Week activity this week, but we have found some very cool creatures in the past that we have not yet shown you. Last week's prize for "Animal of the Week" has to go to this leaf-mimicking Praying Mantis! Wow, look at those wings! We need an insect expert to tell us what species this is..........anyone?

Animal of the Week

Mat has already proposed a fun new activity today, the "UAQ", but here is another one we want to get going: the TREES Animal of the Week!

We are always finding amazing little (and sometimes big!) critters here, and we want to share them with you! Each week we will post our animal of the week, the coolest, prettiest, or downright craziest critter we've found that week.

This week's winner is the Boa Constrictor! I found this big guy (or girl) lying partly hidden in the grass in the orchard on a walk through on Monday. I know it is only Thursday but I really don't think there is any way to top this thing. It was huge, feisty, and I dragged it all the way up the super steep hill and threw it in the empty cabin so that I could get some pictures of it and surprise Mat when he came home from his trip to town! Poor boa. He was a good sport about it.















Don't worry, we let him go..........(or worry, we let him go!!)

Eva's surgery

As cute as Eva is, and despite how much we would love to have little puppies from her, we have made the decision to spay her and not put her through the stress of motherhood! Eva went all the way to Belize City yesterday to have her operation, and came out very sedated. This was the poor girl last night! Now she is doing quite well. What a tough little girl you are Eva!

King Vulture found at TREES

I have been meaning to post this exciting moment in January but totally forgot! As some of you know I have worked with vultures in the past, particularly investigated the King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. This beautiful bird is almost unknown to science and it is quite a rare observation as the are quite shy to humans and human disturbance.  They appear to require vast areas of undisturbed forests and with human encroachment in jungle habitats, it is unsure how individuals and their populations will react. Anyhow, on the 7th of January we had 3 adults fly quite low over TREES and circled the thermals for about 30 minutes over the neighbours untouched jungle land across the highway! A very exciting moment for TREES!

I will keep the blog posted on new KV sightings! For those who want to know more about KV, you can find info at the IUCN website http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/106003823/0, and at Birdlife http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3823

Unidentified Animal Quiz!

We figured with all of the amazing species of animals, plants, insects, fish we are finding in Belize, there are just more than we can identify! We are starting a new activity called the Unidentified Animal Quiz (UAQ) ! These are animals that we have tried to identify at the station or elsewhere in Belize with no luck!

For our first Quiz we chose a fish we found while snorkelling in Caye Caulker. This fish was found near the dock in about 5-6 feet of water, on the sandy floor. We have looked at field guides and on the internet but to no avail. Please feel free to comment, we are curious to see who will win the first TREES UAQ!!!

Good luck!!!

The super shed

I figured as the infrastructure of the station is really shaping up we will do a little series of posts on the new building additions to the station. The first entry is about our new Super Shed. It was not our original intention to make this building right away, while we were aware that in a year or so we would need this building we did not think it had to be done right away. But after a long discussion with our last contractors we were convinced to build a big shed to store our equipment etc. After some time passed the shed somehow got bigger and bigger until the final product. Once we stopped using the services of our first contractors and the shed was only about a quarter finished, we used the help of TOBAR construction which are helping us with our new cabins to finish the job, and they did a great job. At the end of the day this shed ended up being a lean-to 20 feet by 60 feet! We are very pleased with it after if will serve many purposes in the near future, right now it offers a new large surface to obtain rain water, a good garage for the tractor and trucks. Soon it will  be used partly as a storage barn when we obtain our chickens and ducks etc.! It also provides us with a good cover for the wood we are using for various projects!

The original shed foundation before we decided TOBAR to step in!

The completed new shed, now a nice little house for the tractor!

Our first scientific conference!

After spending many months slugging away in construction of the station, house renovations, orchard rehab., we finally managed to get to Belmopan, the capital of Belize, for our first Research Symposium at the University of Belize named the 6th Natural Resources Management Symposium. The theme of this symposium was Conservation through Cooperation.

While we heard about the conference a little last minute, we were not able to present a poster or a presentation but where able to join all of the talks. We were both very impressed by the quality of the speakers at the symposium and at the energy of the researchers and conservation groups in maintaining the great biodiversity and natural heritage of this country. Also about the willingness of various conservation organisations, reseachers, NGO's to work together to reach common conservation goals.

We both learned even more about the conservation issues most affecting the country and the issues that we should most target while setting projects for future students, interns, and researchers willing to do conservation research from the station. We were both very inspired by the work being done in belize and have now slowly making contacts to create collaborations with other researchers and conservation groups in this country.

This conference confirmed once more that Belize was the right country to start our little research station. For those interested in learning more about the groups involved, the conference was organized as a collaboration between the Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation, the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) at the university of Belize, the University of Belize (UB) and the Belize Wildlife Conservation Network.

Great work to all those involved in organizing this symposium!

For a link about the University of Belize visit http://www.ub.edu.bz/fst/index.php and for ERI visit
http://eriub.org/