Costa Rica
As most of you have probably heard, I spent the winter in Washington state and Costa Rica. Washington was much fun of all the usual types. There were shiny people, tasty food and good music. Move the adjectives around however you like.
Costa Rica was much fun. We spent several days in each of two different rainforest sites, and then 3 more days in a beautiful highland site. All the worthwhile pictures are available here.
A few things that I thought were particularly spectacular (in other words, warning, too many pictures) can be found
Upon leaving the airport, this critter was the first this to welcome me to Costa Rica:
After getting out of the airport, I met up with the rest of the class at Hotel Cacts, where we spent most of the afternoon watching various birds from the roof.
Later, we headed to La Selva Biological Station, where I got my first glimpse of leaf cuttter ants
and many other things.
We stayed at La Selva for 3 days of research and gathered many ants. This creature helped us organize our supplies.
Highlights of La Selva included this critter (can you tell what he is? Hint, you have seen his relatives before).
and this critter.
After La Selva, we left for Sirena, in Corcovado National Park on the Osa Penninsula. There we did more ant research and saw many more fascinating critters.
I will be blatantly pandering and start with a charismatic vertebrate.
and another charismatic vertebrate.
Now we return to our regularly scheduled insects.
With a brief pause for a hermit crab on a tree.
After Sirena, we went off to Cope to write up our work and hid out in cabins in the mountains surrounded by hummingbirds.
And finally, after too many hours on a plane, I arrived home to my house, partner and foster cat.
Now, we just have to sort and mount hundreds of ants in order to turn this into a paper. Oh, wait! That's what undergrads are for!
Costa Rica was much fun. We spent several days in each of two different rainforest sites, and then 3 more days in a beautiful highland site. All the worthwhile pictures are available here.
A few things that I thought were particularly spectacular (in other words, warning, too many pictures) can be found
Upon leaving the airport, this critter was the first this to welcome me to Costa Rica:
After getting out of the airport, I met up with the rest of the class at Hotel Cacts, where we spent most of the afternoon watching various birds from the roof.
Later, we headed to La Selva Biological Station, where I got my first glimpse of leaf cuttter ants
and many other things.
We stayed at La Selva for 3 days of research and gathered many ants. This creature helped us organize our supplies.
Highlights of La Selva included this critter (can you tell what he is? Hint, you have seen his relatives before).
and this critter.
After La Selva, we left for Sirena, in Corcovado National Park on the Osa Penninsula. There we did more ant research and saw many more fascinating critters.
I will be blatantly pandering and start with a charismatic vertebrate.
and another charismatic vertebrate.
Now we return to our regularly scheduled insects.
With a brief pause for a hermit crab on a tree.
After Sirena, we went off to Cope to write up our work and hid out in cabins in the mountains surrounded by hummingbirds.
And finally, after too many hours on a plane, I arrived home to my house, partner and foster cat.
Now, we just have to sort and mount hundreds of ants in order to turn this into a paper. Oh, wait! That's what undergrads are for!