Week 4

Miles walked: 155

Last night was the first time I encountered what could have potentially been poachers on the beach. Usually we only see evidence of poaching (footprints, stick holes) around the nests, from people taking them for their own consumption or to sell on the black market. 

Turtle eggs have been consumed by people for thousands of years as a food source since pre-colombian times and many people in the area continue the practice, though it is highly illegal. The eggs are also believed to be an aphrodisiac, sold in shot glasses with alcohol at bars. So when we saw the lights on the beach last night, we were a little apprehensive to approach the group of people with a pack of barking dogs. 

Silently, we walked by, trying to determine what was going on in the pitch black. When they saw us, they immediately turned off their lights, which lead us to believe that they were doing something they weren't supposed to. From what I could see, there was a group of about 5 people with a young girl sitting on the ground, the fabric of her dress covering whatever was in the sand underneath.  Intimidated by the dogs, we passed them by and walked the remainder of our transect and then turned around to observe them once again. 

The second time we approached them, the dogs had stopped caring about us and we could see that they were a family with 3 kids, all digging in the sand and piling it up between them. They were giggling nervously and pointing at the rough image of a turtle they had made in the sand since we passed the first time. To avoid conflict, we are not allowed to accuse people of poaching, nor are we able to tell them that they cannot be on the beach between 6pm and 5am. Some tourists and local people just enjoy watching the turtles at night, and some even dig up the hatchlings to take them to the sea. We don't know for certain what they were up to but there was alot of disturbed sand around them. It was clear that they knew we were from Cano Palma and the fact that they were digging was the elephant on the beach that nobody could address. The only thing that we could ask them was to not use their white light so to not disturb nesting turtles. We thanked them and said good night but about a half a mile down the beach, we could see that they were using their lights again. Since the government does not routinely monitor the area, it seems the presence of three gringas is a weak force that does not deter people from being on the beach.

For the rest of the 6 mile walk, this incident was all I could think about. This was exactly the kind of thing I wanted to encounter here - the kind of experience you can't gain from reading an ecology textbook. I know that there is often a strong contention between conservation and social needs, but I had yet to see this in person. Most of my theoretical knowledge on this issue has been very black and white: poaching = bad, conservation = good and the only way to enforce this is through heavy top-down enforcement. This incident was very grey though, part of me understands why people poach but another part of me wants to condemn them for jeopardizing a critically endangered species. Some of the poachers are well known from the nearby village of San Francisco, and turtle eggs are an easy way to make some extra money from a beach that is not effectively monitored.The government of Costa Rica  has declared the consumption of sea turtle meat and eggs illegal and though people are aware of this, they are still compelled to break the law. One course in Tropical Conservation last year opened my eyes to the idea of "community based conservation", which is an all encompassing, bottom up approach to conservation that includes and considers the needs of local people, instead of exculding them from conservation initaitives. I've been racking my brain ever since last night to try and think of a way that San Francisco can implement community based conservation to benefit both turtles and people. I know that sea turtle conservation is taught to the local elementary school, but the fact that there were children on the beach last night makes me believe that this has limited efficacy. Conservation is such a tricky balancing act between preserving biodiversity and including local social needs but I truly believe that it can be achieved through community based conservation.

Here's an case I researched in a course last year, in Ostional Costa Rica, the government allows for people to harvest turtle eggs and in exchange, they protect the turtles from illegal poaching. Unfortunately our beach does not have the species of turtle that would allow for controlled harvest, but it provides some insight into innovative conservation practices. 

http://www.nicoyapeninsula.com/ostional/ 

Some more pictures from this week:

Cat eyed snake (Leptodeira septentrionalis)

An ogre spider, that blue rectangle is a net that it throws over it's prey

Slaty Tailed Trogon (Trogon messena)

  

the pool across the canal

Playing walkie talkie dress up 

...at least the sand flies have a sense of humour

White faced capuchin monkey (Cebus capucinus)

Emerald basilisk disproves of you

pretty much sums up my afternoons here

Me and Costroza (spanish for scabby). She walks 6 miles on the beach with us on morning patrol.

Demon Maggie demands food

Week 3

Miles walked: 131

This week has been a very goofy one - since entertainment is rare in the jungle, we've resorted to laughing at anything and everything remotely funny. This was my outfit the day that army ants invaded the station - complete with rubber boots and a herpetologists hook attached to flipflops for showing those ants who's boss.

We also had a pirate day - the picture below speaks for itself. And yes, rice and beans and cheetos is a complete and balanced meal, especially when you eat in in your underwear.

Last night before our night patrol Kirstin and I were killing ourselves laughing because we hiked our pants up to our armpits. This, in combination with our oh-so-attractive night patrol attire made for a solid 15 minutes of giggling. I've lost my sanity to the jungle.

I never thought I would come to love crocs with socks so much. 

Excavation day!!

Miles walked: 106

Today was the very first nest excavation of the turtle season, this morning we were on the beach at 5 am to dig up two recently hatched Leatherback nests. The biological station excavates all nests two days after the first signs of hatchling emergence have been detected (i.e. teeny turtle tracks in the sand). This is so that we can determine the factors affecting hatchling success, and  to see if there are any live turtles still in the nest.

It was all fun and games at first - everyone was excited at the chance to see a hatchling.We dug, by hand, about 60cm into the first nest when it became very apparent that something smelled a little funky. We kept digging until reached a layer of hatched eggshells from turtles that had already left the nest, along with some undeveloped eggs covered with maggots. I'm so grateful for the face masks my Mom gave me before I left, I probably would have lost my cookies in the egg chamber if it weren't for my mask.The smell was so strong and has permeated everything that was on the beach with us- even after a shower and a change of clothes I can't get rid of the smell of rotting Leatherback eggs. Needless to say, I'm turned off of scrambled huevos for a while.

Since this particular nest had been dug up by stray dogs, we thought the chances of finding a live hatchling were slim. As we removed and counted the egg shells, we came upon a tiny head sticking out of the sand so we carefully removed the hatchling from the nest to check if he was alive. We all breathed a sigh of relief when he began to squirm around.

Too happy to notice my shirt is falling down

After letting the little hatchling go to the sea, we started again with the dirty work. There was only one live hatchling in the nest, and about 4 dead ones. There were also undeveloped rotting eggs that needed to be opened to determine what prevented their success (mostly predation from crabs, fungi and maggots). This was my least favourite part but the live hatchling made it all worth it! We'll be preforming excavations regularly now since most of our nests are nearing the end of their two month incubation period. Maggots and all, I'm still having the time of my life here in Tortuguero.

Excavating a nest tends to look a lot like I'm robbing a bank

Week 2

Miles walked: 92

Larissa, the York University international internship coordinator, has asked us all to describe our placement in one word. I would have to say that the word for Cano Palma is alive. This is the most biodiverse place I have ever been to - the abundance of plants and animals here is astonishing. A previous intern from York described her experience here as 'nature shock' rather than 'culture shock' and I couldn't agree more. I've seen so many species of animals and plants here that it's hard to keep track of them. I'm slowly learning their names (both in latin and in English/Spanish) thanks to a record book we keep of all incidental sightings on base. Just as I write this a male yellow headed gecko is hunting on the shelf behind the computer, next to him is a cockroach twice his size. Earlier this evening someone found a yellow eyelash viper in a tree (not too far from my room) and we found a green eyelash viper on the boat dock a few days ago as well. Yesterday our compound was invaded by army ants that scoured the cabins and pathways looking for food. There's always something moving in the corner of my eye, and if I can't see it, I'll hear it instead. The amount of activity here makes it seems as if Cano Palma is a living organism itself.

Since our patrol leader training, Kirstin and I have begun to lead beach walks on our own with groups of 3-6 people. Last week a rather large group of people from Ohio arrived and we've been really busy ever since. Two nights ago I walked 7 miles in the pouring rain on a very dark beach when we came across a huge mother Leatherback. At that moment, I forgot my aching feet and soaking wet clothes and sprung into action. I snuck up behind her to check if she had laid her eggs yet, and found that she was just starting to dig the egg chamber with her back feet. She dug about a metre down and then began to lay her eggs, which I counted with a gloved hand. I had to lay down behind her and it was somewhat intimidating to be putting my body at the mercy of a 600kg reptile, but she was a good first turtle for me to work and stayed very still. After she laid her eggs, we checked her tags and measured her carapace, which was 1.5m long and 1.12m wide. We got to watch her return to the sea  in the light of the moon, which had just come out over the ocean. I couldn't take any pictures because the light disturbs the turtles but the picture below is a pretty accurate image of what I did. It was awesome.

Some other pictures from this week:

Kirstin with the tagging kit and triangulation tape 

 

Juancho, the fatty caiman who lives under the dock

 Geoffroy's Spider Monkey

I went to Tortuguero for the greatest ice cream sundae. I've been craving this ever since, it was like opening Pandora's box.

Machinery leftover from when Tortuguero was a logging town

 

  

The beach at Tortuguero

Taking a water taxi back to Cano Palma

Week 1

Miles walked: 28 (45km)

Today was my first day off since arriving to the station, but it was hardly a day off. The station is always full of activity and there are always chores to be done. Today was our staff meeting and also Kirstin and my patrol leader test. I'm happy to say we both passed with flying colours and are now officially patrol leaders! It's been an intense week of training, but it's been so much fun. We've been tagging fake cardboard turtles and retrieving buried coconuts to practice nest trangulation and relocation. I'm also learning other skills that I didn't think I would pick up here - like how to light a gas stove and how to steer a canoe. I also volunteered one morning to set up the mist nets for bird banding, though I didn't get to stick around long enough to see the birds that were caught.

So far this past week has been very physically demanding, I've had four turtle walks on the beach but still haven't seen any turtles! Our first morning walk we saw the half moon tracks of a leatherback and a loggerhead turtle. A halfmoon means that the turtle came up to the beach to nest but turned around and decided not to nest. Apparently turtles are very indecisive.



I'm amazed at the abundance and diversity of wildlife at the base. It's like BBC's Life in high def with surround sound ALL the time. I wake up to the sound of howler monkeys every morning (which sounds like death metal in my opinion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYtoz-t-bbY) and can be a bit alarming if you're having a nightmare. Just this morning as I left our rancho (cabin) I nearly stepped on a strawberry poison dart frog in the grass.



 It's really hard to concentrate at the station because the wildlife is so distracting and it is EVERYWHERE. Kirstin and I were trying to study for our  test on the dock, but I ended up taking these pictures instead:

The station is very basic but comfortable, very different from the luxury tourist accomodations I've had in the past. I have to say I prefer this more authentic Costa Rican experience, with the exception of the bathrooms. At night I lie in bed debating whether I can hold it until morning because our toilets are outside, and I have to walk through the dark to get to them. Once I get there, I can't help but think of that scene from Jurassic Park where the guy gets eaten by the t-rex while on the toilet.

There are some unpleasant things about Cano Palma, like the 3 inch cockroaches or walking though at least one spiderweb a day. I've seen waaay too many scary insects in our room, so I have to sleep with a mosquito net for my physical and mental well being. I'm slowly becoming more used to these things.



All in all, I'm enjoying life at Cano Palma. I'm constantly learning new things and there's always so much to see in and around the compound. Just as I'm writing this one of the girls spotted a beautiful 4 foot boa underneath one of the cabins. The work is tough but the closeness to nature makes it very rewarding in the end. I feel so lucky to be here, this is truly a dream come true for me!





On the way to Cano Palma

The trip to Cano Palma took us about 5 hours on bus and boat. We passed through some beautiful mountains with rivers cutting through a cloud forest on the way.

We also passed through the Chiquita banana plantation and I was a bit surprised and upset at how unsustainable the whole process is. The banana bunches have plastic bags over them and are doused with fungicide and pesticide inside and out. We also got to see the tiny airstrip where the plane takes off to distribute more chemicals on top of the plantation.To top it all off, it takes about 10 months for the fruit to develop, and they are picked unripe to be send thousands of kilmoeters around the world. I'm going to think twice about buying bananas from now on.

The boat ride to Cano Palma Biological Station had beautiful flora and fauna along a winding murky canal. I can see why people conside this the "amazon of Costa Rica"

Along the way our boat driver stopped to show us some of the local wildlife. We saw a caiman, a crocodile, a keele billed toucan (?), but my favourite was the mother and baby sloth hanging out on the side of the canal.