Long Quarter & Neglected Blog

Well this sure has been a long quarter, one of the most difficult classes I have taken- bioestadidistica (I like the spanish name cuz it sounds like sadist) & then another that was one of the most ambiguous- in terms of grading & clarity of assignments anyway. I did get a lot out of both but spent lots of time frustrated at the same time= also lots of time at Peak's. I actually felt like I did a better job of starting assignments early but ironically it only prevented me from drowning & did not prevent some gpa dings. Now I get to start working on a poster about some of my REU work this quarter & work on some data analysis/ write up of my summer work, as this hasn't got done by itself.

But for more entertaining things- here's a shout out to the lovely Cynthia Rossi, who has joined us on the lovely Olympic Peninsula & is currently freezing in this most beautiful of weather. I made her acquaintance at my favorite jungle research station where she had been living for a couple years & doing GIS work, now she is out here working for the Makah. I met up with her & Scott & we made a most entertaining trip to Sam & Erin's this weekend, it was a little alarming when our late pm approach was met by a bumping house with flashing lights visible through the window, wasn't really prepared for a dance party extravaganza, who knew one could dance in fleece.

Update

I had been away from internet access for sometime so had been unable to post my blogs, but not to worry I have been amassing a collection via word processor & several are ready for release…

Have been having difficulty adjusting to being back in the US & mostly to the lack of sun. Pete & I had a great vacation at the end tho, we will see if I ever get to writing about that.

Check out below- dates are when older ones were written.

A Little Wallowing…

Bye to Brenda & Bill

I have been at Laguna del Larto Lodge near Boca Tapada for about 10 days now. I am not quite as enthusiastic on the birds & the bugs do indeed still lay in wait to attack me later in the evenings. But that doesn’t change the fact that I love it here & am sad to be leaving so soon.

Brenda & Bill left yesterday, they were headed to La Selva to drop off some equipment & samples for long term storage, & from there they were to head to the airport (today). Already I miss Brenda’s cheeky self. We have had an amazing summer together &- at the risk of sounding sappy & sentimental- a summer that (my words fall short here) won’t be repeated or outdone.

So now it's time to say goodbye to Shea who's heading off for further adventures before returning home, & then everyone else too... muy triste...

Laguna- The Arrival

Brenda & I were sorry to say goodbye to La Selva, our little room & all the great people we met there. Time to move on the next stage of the journey, we had been there for a while by now, but bittersweet to say goodbye I think. I do hope to be back someday...

I am currently sitting on the lovely veranda of Laguna del Lagarto Lodge, not really that far from La Selva, as the crow flies (maybe 60km I heard today?), but as it turns out at least an 8 hour journey for us yesterday- actually from San Jose but back to that story at another time & post.

So I am in heaven- I have seen about a thousand different chestnut mandibled & keel-billed toucans by this point our travels, about the same number of Montezuma’s oropendulas (related to the Oriole with super cool hanging nest baskets), but not like this. Sitting in a real chair in the shade, under a fan, with no ants crawling on me, no spiders, mites, chiggers etc, not even any mosquitos right now (okay so I did just have to remove a spider form arm, but really this is nothing), with coffee & water at hand, not 1, but 2 pairs of binocs & the BIG Costa Rica bird guide- no little dog-eared book that will fit in the ever-present fanny pack. The positioning of this veranda is relatively high on a hill so the crowns of the trees are pretty much right in front of us, so here I sit, observing the details of the oropendula’s orange tipped beak & pink facial skin- like I said, heaven.

I know that many of you have not caught the bird enthusiasm bug & will not understand my previous plight but I am going to tell you about it anyway. La Selva is an amazing place, with an incredible amount of variety in the birds & other wildlife, maybe in reality more than here, but the whole time I was there I just wanted to pull up a chair in the big clearing between the labs & housing & grab my water & coffee & bird book & take the time to look the freaking birds up in the book, since I am a bird-watching newbie. But this dream was just not realistic, as the ants would have started crawling up my chair a long time ago & probably would have actually carried me away by now, among other problems. I can’t wait to see the macaws- both the Scarlet & Green.

Brenda & I had a sweet paddle through one of the lagoons after breakfast, just sat out in the beautiful hot weather until it got to be too much. Now, towards the end of this journey, I have my first jungle sunburn, not much sun makes it through the clouds & to the jungle floors of La Selva.

Tortugero & the Journey

We (me, Brenda & Shea- let’s call it a haphazardly assembled trio- full of contradiction) arrived here yesterday evening after a semi-insane day of bus travel. Brenda & I started the day, after a little coffee & cake that is, at the Jade Museum, where we proceeded to get jaded out, a good thing of course.

We had arrived in San Jose after a lovely visit to Tortugero, where many tourists come to watch the Green sea turtles nesting. The park has worked out a pretty efficient & relatively low impact way for tourists to observe the actual nesting, park scouts are posted on the beach with their red lights, they locate the turtles & then radio guides from the town who are in charge of getting the tourists to the turtles in a polite & safe manner. The turtles will turn around & not lay their eggs if they are confronted with lights, they will also not bury the eggs well if they are interrupted in the nesting process, but they go into some kind of a trance when they are actually laying the eggs & people are generally able to gather around the “business end” without causing problems.

These turtles were pretty amazing, I think the holes that they dig impressed me the most, they are just about Volkswagen bug sized, dug with flippers that obviously (well obvious when your are watching the process) are much better suited to the sea than the land.

Brenda & I discussed the ethics of this turtle watching phenomena, as we both had some mixed feelings of a sort of invasive voyeurism etc. But these turtles were facing extinction without a different understanding & interpretation of them & their importance in the world- by Ticos & foreigners alike. They have always been important to the native people but in order to preserve the species it has been necessary to perceive the significance of & challenges to their long-term survival. In a way, the turtles support Tortugero & Tortugero supports the turtles. This is not to say that I don’t have concerns about this tiny town on the canal & it’s impacts, with the heavy tourist traffic. Two-stroke engines abound on the canals & I don’t feel too assured that the sewage treatment facilities of this narrow strip of land are equipped for the amount of traffic present. But this is all constantly a work in progress & Costa Rica & its people have shown an amazing concern & ability to adapt & work in order to protect its amazing natural wealth.

Estupido Gringo Tourist Moment

That said, let us talk about the Haphazardly Assembled Trio’s most really stupid tourist moment. After a long morning of travel northwest from La Selva to Tortugero, actually about 9 hours including bus wait times etc, we checked out the town a bit & walked on the lovely beach, chilaxed in general & then returned to the beach- after dark. Recall the bit about the turtles turning around in the face of light & disturbance. Yes, this trio of environmental science/ study students was actually kicked off the beach- by a park employee- while in the process of trying to disturb an endangered species.

Of course (I first thought this was in our defense but in actuality screams Foreign Tourist) we have a very Estados Unidos perception of National Parks. Both Shea & I were convinced that the beach directly in front of the town would not be part of the protected area & turtles wouldn’t be using it much due to the level of disturbance present- WRONG- fortunately this entire beach is actually off limits to everyone that is not under direct park supervision during turtle season- way to go Costa Rica, bad us! Live & learn. (For the record we did have our lights off & Brenda was not convinced of the legality of our actions).

Boca- The Journey

The trip from La Selva to Tortugero did require 9hrs, 3 buses & a boat ride, but it still didn’t quite compare to the trip from San Jose to Laguna. In general we did pretty well navigating the bus system, Brenda did an awesome job researching the numerous buses required & we pooled our espanol words whenever we needed to ask for information. The public transportation here rocks, by the way, you can get just about anywhere by bus.

After 2 nights at Tortugero we headed to San Jose bright & early (0600) & made it to San Jose smoothly by ~1130. We stayed 1 night at Hostel Pangaea in San Jose, pretty cool place, mostly full of Europeans, North Americans & some Canadians, nice bar on the roof- a bit noisy but I was too exhausted to care. After hitting a couple of museums & a market Sun pm & Mon am we hit the road again. There may have been a way to get from Tortugero to Boca without hitting San Jose, but it is much easier & sometimes only possible to locate the buses to the big city.

This leg of the journey was to be one of highs & lows/ ups & downs (literally & figuratively). We were off to a pretty good start after getting pointed in the right direction & walking to the bus station from the hostel, we did manage to hit a pretty gritty part of town on our way to the bus stop that serves Cuidad Casada (aka San Carlos) but arrived without incident. This is a pretty town & a pretty bus ride through higher elevations. I made a friend on the bus, with my poor Spanish & his poor English the precise details of the conversation are a little sketchy but I am hoping to practice my Spanish & fill in the details via email. I am fairly certain he was a DJ for a local radio station.

Things started to get a little trickier after this point. This is the stage of the journey in which the buses began to be particularly crowded & we had to stand much of the time, while dealing with our backpacks. There was a little confusion regarding whether or not we were actually on the bus headed to Pital, as a kindly gentlemen was trying to explain to us (in espanol of course) that there was actually a large rock slide running thru the middle of the street & we would have to change buses at this point. The bus just went to the end of the line at the rockslide; we walked across & got on the bus waiting on the other side. Well somewhere in all this madness I managed to part with all of my cash- around 35,000 colones/ $70. I am not sure what happened, but I know that I wasn’t paying attention by then (& had already left the infamous fanny pack open at one point), I am not convinced that I actually lost it, I think it had some help disappearing, but I certainly wasn’t keeping tabs.

So I was pretty pissed off at myself/ my carelessness by this point & the bus station in Pital was an experience. We were faced with a 2hr + wait here, as these buses running to progressively smaller towns don’t run as often. There were a few sketchy characters just hanging out at the bus stop so we eventually decided to just head for a beer. The crowd on our return looked much more legitimate & we garnered the attention of the entire throng with more English/ Spanish attempts to make sure we were getting on the right bus- amarillo grande- aka big yellow school bus. We met several more people that were genuinely concerned that we arrive at the right place, the owners of the great little bar/ restaurant in Pital- where we also had some totally delicious Sopa Marisco- let us use their cell phone to call the lodge to let them know we were headed in on the bus. (We were a little confused when the person on the other end of the line told Brenda that they would be there at between 7 & 8, didn’t realize it would actually take that long to cover the distance).

The jam packed bus headed out we hit the gravel road that we were to travel on for the next almost 3hrs. It started pouring rain as darkness fell & the thunder & lightening hit. Once the bus started to get stuck going up a hill & had to back down & try again- with success! Brenda spent much of the ride with her arm extended upward in order to keep the window up & prevent getting soaked. By this time my sense of humor had returned, mostly thanks to all the kind, helpful & laughing people on the bus- including my awesome traveling companions Shea & Brenda who were both very sympathetic regarding my cash woes. Lesson learned I hope!

Confession

Side note here- I have to admit something that some of you will be really disappointed in- I AM ADDICTED TO DEET. I like to live & breathe it on a daily basis. Okay, I've said it, say & think what you will. I know that the bugs could be a lot worse, I actually expected them to be a lot worse. But keep in mind that I spent my entire youth covered in itchy red scabbed spots & scars. I still get chewed up at home & have become covered in bites once again here in Costa Rica. I obviously just taste really sweet (or I just stink). So I get up, spray on the DEET, spray on some DEET, go to dinner, then roll around in bed with it at night & as god is my witness it has helped!

My ankles have been swollen to an unhealthy size from ant bites and I look like I am suffering from the worse case of adult chicken pox you have ever seen. So what do I do? I get up, spray on the DEET, brush my teeth with DEET, spray on some more DEET, go to dinner, wash my bed sheets in the DEET, spray on even more DEET and slip in between the saturated sheets for a night of DEET filled dreams & as god as my witness it is working!!!!!

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Capuchan Scorned

Thinking about us

Mood is changing...

No, not into the intruders

Ok- so I concentrated on the happy parts of the Osa Peninsula trip- now I have to fessup & admit that the trip was not without a couple of bumps in the road to heaven. I tried to attach some video of the tail end of the monkey attack (almost) event in question, but it won't upload. Anyway it politely missed the part where the monkey came flying out of the tree & rushed me, whereupon I proceeded to let out a shreak & start to run the other direction. Next came a thought something like "don't show fear" & I began my monkey whisperer "tranquilo, tranquilo" talk while it glared at me & gnashed it's surprisingly vampire like fangs. It is amazing how easy it is to read the facial expressions of these little primates. I think that I came very close to adding some nasty monkey bites to my poor ant & mosquito bitten legs (or elsewheres). For the record it was not my idea to get that close!

This is the rushing event- even tho the quality isn't the best it captures the moment

Photo credits go to Justin (who is now dearly missed at La Selva after his return to LA) & blog title cred goes to miss Brenda C!

Whirlwind Whale Weekend to the Osa Peninsula

1st Night at the Hostel

Justin & "the ladies"

La Playa
We- Brenda, Shea & myself along with new friends Justin, Taryn, Christian, Kenneth & little brother, & Octavio - took the weekend off to experience some sweet sights & smells on & around the Osa Peninsula (southern peninsula on the Pacific side of Costa Rica). The stated goal was whale watching but this was just to be the icing on the cake of a superb weekend in a sunny tropical paradise. We spent the first & third/last night at a nice hostel in San Jose & the night on the tour at "Poor Man's Paradise" (http://www.poormansparadiseresort.com/wildlife.html - fortunately included in the tour price as in looking at the website the poor man part of the title is comparatively questionable if you don't have a larger party).

The 5 hour bus ride over the mountains & down to the peninsula was beautiful, the mountains were amazingly chilly after our ascension from the jungle, but incredibly lovely. All the information was relayed in Spanish- I listened to the introduction information on the bus but only caught a small percentage of it, good practice tho. Fortunately Justin speaks fluent Spanish & Christian, Kenneth & Octavio are all guides at La Selva- the tour guide was also an old friend of Christian's.

The baby humpback whale & presumed mama were amazing, well worth some waiting on the boat, the boat ride itself was actually pretty incredible but I think that the beach that runs along south of Drake Bay & in front of the hotel has to be the highlight. We had time for hours of swimming/ body surfing- not so much for me with my incredible sense of timing- but I sense progress. Some truly heavenly beach walks complete with the warmest seawater I have ever had the pleasure to experience, sand, palm trees & coconuts, several lightning storms in the distance on night walks, a bar & restaurant- & lest I forget the most awesome presumably fresh caught white fish (of unknown species) for the "vegetarianos" Brenda & Mel (term is used loosely of course :) & lastly some of the most charming company one could ask for.

Bye to Chris & Dwight

The team was so sorry to see Chris & Dwight head home yesterday. They fit right in with Team Eaton's Microbes & Team La Selva in general. Chris jumped right into the jungle yoga (which is awesome with those good warm muscles), adding some great energy to the whole deal. Time went too fast & they couldn't be convinced to change ticket dates to prior obligations, but Dwight got lots done, to our benefit & now we will be able to say something meaningful about all our hard work.

I was feeling a little wiped out today, especially after some drama in the lab over the past couple days, but went for a long jungle walk & saw a cool heron in the river & some a crazy troop of opossums (maybe?) & a good sized turtle or two in the river & also a monkey skull that some hardcore researchers had picked up- maggots & all.

& lastly the yoga was less painful on the bruises today! Progress!

The Story Behind the Wounds

So I never really finished recounting the details of my trip over the bicycle handlebars. Let me start by mentioning this is actually the 3rd accident that the particular vehicle has been involved with while under my watchful eye- I was only the driver for 2 of these incidents, the other was while the bike was under Shea’s care (there was some drunken debauchery here, I have no such excuse, for my bike accidents anyway). & back to Erin, I am certain she is really shocked to read these ramblings after watching me nearly run into a bright yellow pole that was directly in front of us in broad daylight, again totally sober, amongst several other peel outs & very close calls. You would think I was some kind of wild mountain biker or something, but no, these incidents generally occur on strait forward cement.

I had just finished a long day in the lab & was excitedly heading out on the bike for one of our perfect yoga sessions in the Swiss Family Robinson house. I was carrying several items & when attempting take off realized that I had better pack some stuff away first. So I put everything except my umbrella in my already heavy backpack & cheerfully headed down the trail towards the River Station where we live. I got about 20 meters down the trail & my mind had wandered away from the important matter at hand- riding the bike without injuring anyone- when I was surprised by a party of 3 heading towards me around the corner. I quickly squeezed the brake of the hand that not holding the umbrella. It had been raining heavily- a regular occurrence in the tropical rainforest- & since this bike had been sitting in the rain all day nothing really happened when the pressure was applied. I guess I panicked & squeezed the brake about as hard as I could, as it turns out this was the front brake & as best I can ascertain I was promptly thrown forward in a sort of a somersault fashion, with the bike, my huge backpack & myself kind of in a big pile left skidding across the cement. My tank top was pulled over or under, my bra was covered in dirt & both my body & my ego were severely scraped & bruised. It was pointed out to me that I was dripping blood & may need to seek medical attention- I limped the rest of the way to my room & found my roomie, Chris & friend Kellie chatting. I was kind of laughing hysterically by this time, mostly due to wounded pride, but after the blood was noted my emergency team sprung into action. Brenda came prepared with a well stocked first aid supplies (note to self: bring one!) & is not afraid of a little gore, Kellie has a background in Search & Rescue, & Chris provided a little ego first aid & valued friendship by complementing my tenacity, if not my grace. I was in good hands, especially when Emily joined the bathroom party to add some more humor & moral support.

I thought that I had some pretty good excuses/ reasons for these accidents, but after discussing the event with one of the party- Scott from Alabama- who I thought I nearly ran over, I am forced to seriously question my skills. He reports that I had a good 10 yards of stopping room when I took my tumble. Oh well.

So I thought I was up to some yoga today. Which was good, but I discovered that I had even more bruises than is obvious- when going into chataranga I found the mild roadrash across my left chest was accompanied by some deep bruising, on top of my obviously bruised left knee, inner right knee, right thigh & hip, right elbow, chin & right eye socket/ cheek. But in reality I am just really happy to have not knocked a tooth out here in the jungle & I know that this is all an important lesson in something- mindfulness I think…

Update: Mel's Near Death Experience

(Check out cool GJL armpit hair above:)

Okay I am just going to start this out with a shout out to my dear friend Erin Drake, who will not be at all surprised by this at this latest story about my hard core biking skills! So I was a little distracted after a hard days work in the lab & after some serious stats courtesy of our latest La Selva arrival Dwight (& of course dear friend Chris...

Check Out Brenda's New Post (Link to Right)

I am famous now.

Oh the Cloud Forest

Monte Verde- the Cloud Forest

Just returned to La Selva from an adventure in the cloud forest of Monte Verde- & I am tired! ~ a 5 hr bus ride from here & 3 days strait in the field, with much up, down & over hiking & trail blazing. I have a ever deepening respect for a well wielded machete! Made some new friends (a couple of them park employees with afore mentioned machetes). We are starting some work for/ with the Tropical Science Center so collected soil samples from another (besides here at La Selva) tropical wet forest & also tropical dry forest at a lower elevation. Didn't get to see to much animal wildlife, due to the speed of the trailblazing I think. It is such an amazingly beautiful spot, I would love to return & spend some time viewing.

I think that I will continue this story later lest I fall asleep...

Here is a link to the Tropical Science Center's website w/ some info about the cloud forest-
http://www.cct.or.cr/english/reserva_monteverde/historia.php

The Tree Frogs- Don't Try This At Home

7/14/08
So I never wrote about my long night spend wading through the swamp looking for mating tree frogs. It's actually been well over a week now but it was quite an experience, although not for the faint of heart. One does wear rubber boots on this type of venture, but when wading in crotch high swamp water these boots are of small comfort only. Ryan, a new La Selva friend of mine who is studying the feeding habits of toucans, & I had got to be quite good at spotting the tree frogs in El Suampo (as we like to call it, truth be told this is also where some of the crew's drinking & mild trash talking takes place). So when offered the opportunity to tag along & perhaps even help on some research regarding these cool little creatures I jumped at the chance. The recent spotting of a Fer-de-Lance in this new (to me) swamp wasn't really mentioned until the water had hit my thighs, & only one researcher had actually had a leech attach itself- oh well, well worth it just for story value if nothing else!

So the Red Eyed tree frog evidently comes down from the trees to breed & then moves higher up in the canopy again- females only once every 8 wks but males every night I believe. After breeding the male rides the females back on trips down to the water where she fills her bladder in order to moisten the eggs- muy interesante!

So these hardy researching souls were only interested in the matched pairs , we found one pair + another female who was ready to be bred in the lab (none were harmed in this experiment) & I survived to tell the tale!

Comedic Relief

So since I am not providing the juicy details of live at La Selva I am providing the link to my newfound superfunny roommate & workmate/ lab sharer. She has a couple pics of the lab space, living quarters & the super cool bridge that the howler photo was taken on. So check it out with all your spare time
http://brendacampbell-costarica.blogspot.com/

Tried to get to bed early last night so I could get up early & check out the stomach contents of the white breasted wood wren, but unfortunately was waylayed by an extremely large tree coming town right outside the Swiss Family Robinson room. Took the power out for the morning, so no alarm clock, no white breasted wood wren. I did sleep right thru the excitement due to headphones I think, well & a natural talent for sleeping heavily. I took advantage & went back for a much need nap after not sleeping so well.

As a last tidbit- told the 19yr old hotty that I liked his bed, swear I meant his shirt... guess my español is getting better!

love to all, mel

Wildlife Views

Look close for the Caiman



Great Curassow

One big spider

Mama & baby pecarries

Chestnut-mandibled toucan

Finally a good view of a a howler!

Things are great, haven't been on the computer much until tonight- making up for lost time! Here's a few more viewings for the list- if I knew what everything was I would add more...

Birds

Crax rubra- Great Curassow
Penelope purpurascens- Crested Guan
Amazona autumnalis- Red-lored parrot
Baryphthengus martii- Rufous motmot (pretty sure it was a rufous anyway)
Pteroglossus torquatus- Collared aracari
Myiozettes similis- Social flycatcher

Alouatta palliata- Mantled Howler Monkey
Morpho peleides limpida- Blue Morpho
Dendrobates pumilio- Blue Jeans Dart Frog
Coenduo mexicanus- Mexican Hair Porcupine
Iguana iguana- Green Iguana
Ameiva festiva- Central American Whiptail
Caiman crocodilus- Spectacled Caimain

PS

I will add the 2 toed sloth to my wildlife list before I sign off- very cool! My pics aren't great but I should be able to come up with a better one!

Finally... the snakes

Big Daddy Boa

Green Vine Snake

Green Vine Snake says hello

Alright, the internet was refusing to cooperate with my photo uploading when I got to yesterdays grand finale, the snakes! Both of these snakes are very close to my quarters- which my roommate had a better description of- Swiss Family Robinson style. I am thinking that I should just send you a link to hers as she is super funny, maybe when I have the address. For now I will just torment you with wildlife.

Today we trekked thru the jungle looking at sights for a study looking at bacteria on rocks in the rivers, had a lecture/ discussion regarding the microbiology work, Polymerase Chain Reaction here we come! The term just comes with a general sense of coolnees, in case I needed any more!

So evidentally there has been some close calls with actual poisonous here recently- a coral snake I think & a fleur de lance- life on the edge!

I have discovered that wildlife watching doesn't really go along with getting anywhere in a timely fashion, I didn't see as much today just as I didn't have as much time. I was feeling a little moody this am, didn't get enough sleep last night, but met some really cool people in my bldg & cheered up.

cheers for now, I'll continue the list later, I met another cool birder who can help me w/ ID.

luv mel

Oh the fauna (& the flora)!

Very hungry turtle- possibly White-lipped mud turtle

Checking out the intrusion

Agouti

Pale-billed Woodpecker

I cannot believe the sights- I had no idea how much wildlife there could be be in such a concentrated area! This is going to be my bird list (thanks to Barbara Blackie for the motivation). Excuse the crappy bird photos, but they are still kind of cool & helped me ID the woodpecker later. Needless to say I am doing great & would think I had gone to heaven if not for the biting insects- even tho they could be a lot worse...

Today I identified-

Dryocopus lineatus aka Pale-billed woodpecker
Ramphastos swainsonii aka Chestnut-mandibled Toucan
Psarocolius montezuma- Montezuma Oropendola
Penelope purpurascens- Crested Guan
Amazona farinosa- Mealy Parrot-
I will be looking for the last 2 again as I didn't get good enough views
Multiple species of hummingbirds waiting for more skills
I believe some kind of Aracari & also a Tinamou

Dasyprocta punctata- Agouti
Tayassu tojacu- Collared peccary

Atta cephalotes- Leafcutter ants
Boa constricter- this is also the scientific name, who knew?
Oxybelis fulgidus- Green vine snake
& I'm pretty sure a saw the rear-end view of an armidillo tonight

Pura Vida!

Hello to all from Costa Rica! For those of you who don't know, I am doing a research project/ internship funded by Peninsula College (where I attend my WWU Huxley classes on the Olympic Peninsula) & the National Science Foundation. This is related to the other internship I have been working on, but I am working on a different project now. It is an incredible opportunity & I will be staying mostly at a couple of different biological research stations for the next 10 weeks! But more about that later-

Just a short post to get me in the blog groove & let you know that I made it safely am enjoying myself already- it was a whirlwind trip to the beach at home for the 4th, back & then here on the overall uneventful, ultimate red-eye. I left Peter with a disaster of a house & didn't get to relax with him much but I am already looking forward to seeing him when he comes down in Sept, for the last week I am here.

I have already seen several different birds, howler monkeys, some lizards/ reptiles & spiders etc. It is very beautiful & La Selva- the first biological research station that will be my home for the next several weeks- has a nice vibe & set up, lots of trails, bathrooms, the rooms are simple but have the required bed & storage & are nice in a full of character sort of way. The people are very friendly & lots of educational opportunities abound.

My Spanish was very weak with the cab driver & at the store on the way here. People mostly speak English here at the lodge, but I would still like to practice. I should have plenty of opportunities if I head back to the city tho, there are lots of people who speak English, but I sure lots more who don't!

No pictures yet but keep checking- manana. There is a lizard above my head now & an unidentified nose that I hear, sounds like someone making kissy noises to a dog-

Hello faithful readers! & sorry there has been nothing to read:( Life is a little insane right now- leaving for South Carolina tomorrow & still trying to finish a paper (of course!) for fish biology. This has been a great class, all of my classes this quarter were great- Oceanography is my favorite though! Learned tons in everything- now once I am back from SC I will turn around & go to Costa Rica for 2 months for REU! Okay too many exclamation points, but it is pretty darn exciting, expenses paid & a stipend in order to study microbiology of the tropical soil. Will I blog to keep you all posted? well, stranger things have happened...
love mel

Quarter update

Heavy classload this quarter- Oceanography, Forest Ecology, Fish Biology (thru Peninsula College not WWU) & my REU is focusing on GIS- but a complementary & enjoyable combination. Great professors & the coursework involves new work building nicely on old stuff. Forest Ecology class joined forces with the Natural History class last week to learn about conifers, ferns & mosses. I am getting better with my species ID (also for fish). Took a midterm today in fish biology- scary that its that time already! Went well although I had some confusion about some basic taxonomy that was a little disappointing- got a too focused on the details & lost the big picture of Phylum Chordata- good lesson tho (don't assume your remember everything form basic bio lesson :)...

Endangered Rivers Issues

Thought this was interesting in regards to the Pitt River dams & other issues


Canada's Endangered rivers '08

1. Upper Pitt River (proposed independent power project).

2. Flathead River, (proposed coal mine, coal-bed methane development).

2. Fraser River, (urbanization, sewage, pollution, industrial development).

4. Taku River (proposed mine, acid-mine drainage).

5. Peace River (proposed hydroelectric dam).

6. Headwaters of the Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers (proposed coal-bed methane development).

7. Kettle River (water extraction, proposed power project).

8. Coquitlam River (urbanization, excessive sedimentation).

9. Glacier/Howser creeks (proposed power project).

10. Coldwater River (water extraction).

11. Okanagan River (water extraction, channelization, urban encroachment, riparian habitat loss).

12. Salmon River (low flows, pine beetle, riverside habitat loss).

13. Little Campbell River (agricultural impacts, water-quality concerns).

From-

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=e438cec2-06d9-4562-8345-5dd401637a5e

I survived & the Pitt River

I found this lonely old post sitting in my drafts-

Hello everyone- I officially lived thru the second worst quarter of my academic career! & the morning warmed into a beautimous spring afternoon- for awhile anyway. Found myself with too many projects & not enough time & energy last quarter.

I have been listening to my CBC (Canadian Public Broadcasting) & the subject of interest today is the run-of-river (& without large reservoir) Pitt River hydroelectric proposal that sounds like just got shot down (maybe?). This would require moving the boundary of Pinecone Burke Provincial Park for a transmission line, or an amendement to the "Park Act". Sounds like 1,000 public members showed up at one meeting- largely in opposition. The place of hydroelectric dams in th interesting topic that has been on my mind lately. I wrote a paper about the Snake River dams last quarter & listened to some interesting talks at the Elwha Research Consortium meeting yesterday, including one discussing different current dam removal projects, controversial stuff but it seems that the tide of public opinion is shifting to question new dam projects & support dam removals.

Here's a link to the content of the Park Act (just cuz I was interested)-
http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/P/96344_01.htm#section7

So evidently I'm having an attitude problem of late. I try to thing of something to blog about & it just comes out negative, so I guess I'll just roll with it, like the rest of life. Team Nearshore just got back from the Pacific Estuarine Research Society Meeting. It was quite an experience. I thought I pretty much knew what I was in for as I have a long, long history with veterinary conferences but- as it turns out- it was kind of a whole different thing. The talks are only ~15 minutes long each & tend to be pretty specific in topic, like about a specific grad or other research project. So for someone of my little experience it was difficult to get oriented to the topics- I just found that I didn't know enough about eel grass or zooplankton etc to get as much out of it as someone who had a broader knowledge base in the marine world. I guess that is probably the same at vet conferences, much of the difference is probably the knowledge base that I already had through lots of experience & also from conferences. Veterinary conferences come in many shapes & sizes so it is not difficult to find topics that are aimed at audiences with different levels of experience. Hopefully I will find this to be more the case at the American Fisheries Society conference that we are leaving for tomorrow bright & early. I don't know about that tho- in reality what I know about fish could be probably be written on a 3x5- okay maybe not quite but you get the gist, my knowledge base isn't really any stronger.

I did meet some great people, 2 in particular made helpful comments on my project & poster. Someone by the last name of Emmett who does forage fish research along the coast & another gentleman who works for a private environmental consulting company had some great thoughts on the sediment work. Only one person seemed a little overly aggressive with her questioning.

Anyway it's all a great learning experience & I certainly know a lot more than I did last week. The best part was the dinner at the aquarium in Newport- I forget the name at the moment but it is a beautiful facility. I loved all the different rockfish & everything else. The hotel was also great, beautiful ocean view/ balcony- I ended up with a huge room to myself. It was sad to not be able to really get out to the beach- it was all go, go, go. If only I was an early riser & not feeling so thoroughly sleep deprived at the moment!

So thank you to Dwight, Karen, Anne & all the people who provided funding & support to get us to the conferences. I'm a little jealous of the snow teams conference plans- I have the feeling their group won't be quite as stressed out on their travels:)

Life has been filled with work involving paper & computers as of late. Team nearshore has not been seining much lately but our trip out to Pysht last week did result in the most fish that we have seen in awhile- lots of surf smelt again which I don't really understand as they have a winter spawning season & are not known to make annual migrations to the ocean- they may actually reside near the shoreline for their lives. I don't know what makes the huge apparently seasonal variation in numbers but it would be nice to know as I have to get up in front of people & talk about forage fish a couple different times over the next 2 or 3 weeks. I have been working on sediment size analysis using photos lately, although not as much this week with all the work on my presentation, which I am still working on now (well I am taking my break to update my blog as I have sort of lost track of it). I am discovering that we don't take enough pictures of the actual forage fish, I need more material! Especially for the poster form of my presentation.

Blair asked what my artwork attempt pic was of (hi again B :) It is the shoreline along the Elwha bluffs (at least that's what we call them), east of the Elwha river mouth, with the shoreline armoring, I am not sure what that metal piece is actually called. I am sure that is adding some nice metals to the water, although over a very long time, obviously it is slowly breaking down. That is a crazy beach for collecting stuff, all kinds of metal & other stuff, I found the coolest fork there w/ the tines are curled & disfigured. People used to dump garbage right off the bluffs & there is also a landfill above that has been the source of some local contention as it is close to the shore.

Happy whatever holiday it is! Okay President's day, sorry, it's just filled with non-holiday contemplations for me.

Oh yeah, one more thing, welcome to new team member Sean. He is part of the Peninsula College fisheries program & a welcome addition to Team Nearshore. Especially as he knows my friends Ward & Sharon from Bremerton- small world! The new addition should help fill the empty spot in our hearts left from Jon's decision to head back to the paid working world. Congrats on the house tho Jon!

Post New Years

Here's my attempt at art from the Elwha!

Looks like an extra beautiful day on the peninsula today- the sun is shining & the days are getting longer! My poor blog has been suffering from the holiday break, my faithful readers hopefully aren't too distraught, some of you got to see me in person instead. We tried to make the holiday rounds but we ran out of time on our whirlwind tour.

Thanks for the comment from previous nearshore team member Eric, I passed the hello on to Jenna but still need to pass it on to Anne. We get to hear stories about all the previous nearshore team, so rest assured that you have not been forgotten! The Smokercraft is looking a little worse for wear (thanks to some of you more than others I hear) but still going strong.

I forgot to mention that during the flooding last month one of the trout we caught appeared at the Elwha appeared that it may have gone over the dams, his/ her poor face was smashed basically to the bone. See photo above.

I am off to snowshoe- Hasta leugo!