Though July is usually a relatively low season, this month we have had a full house of researchers and volunteers, in addition to various visiting professors and groups. And to cap it off, we were able to participate in the first edition of the Festival for Coexistence, organized by Oncilla Conservation and their allies in the neighboring town of Herradura de Rivas. Thank you to everyone who made all of these great activities possible!
The long-term monitoring of felines and other mammals in the Talamanca mountains is a worthwhile project that has been spearheaded by Dr. Mike Mooring, along with officials from Chirripó National Park and La Amistad International Park, and private reserves such as Cloudbridge. On July 8, we participated in a meeting about this project at the SINAC offices in Pérez Zeledón.
On the same day, the director of Chirripó National Park, Laura Díaz, had arranged to receive a group from the University of Costa Rica, who were able to learn about the management of this important protected area, as well as about Cloudbridge!
These Tourism Management sutdents are able to enjoy a unique experience as well as learn quite a bit, here at Cloudbridge.
This month we hosted our first group yet from World Challenge. This lovely group from Kingsley School in the UK was able to participate in an educational and volunteering program at Cloudbridge Nature Reserve, learning more about the Cloud Forest and the research we do here at the reserve, in addition to helping out with some volunteer tasks.
One of the highlights for the group was the cooking class with San Gerardo elder Doña Leila Fonseca, thank you doña Leila, doña Vera and don Edgardo for your amazing hospitality!
Visiting professors Dr. Bruce Schulte of Western Kentucky University and Dr. Lynn Von Hagen shared some of the fascinating research they have been conducting and human-animal interaction with the visiting group and our program participants. It was so interesting, thank you Dr. Bruce and Dr. Lynn, it was so nice to have you both on the reserve!
We were also quite happy to receive this month Dr. Martin Stone, the director of the Arboretum at Western Kentucky University, and Katie Bush, who works in the study abroad department. Dr. Martin also shared a presentation about the diversity and beauty of an important tree family, the maples : )
July is the month of wild felines, of which Costa Rica has six species: The jaguar, puma, jaguarundi, ocelot, margay and Oncilla. To celebrate these magnificent creatures with whom humans occasionally have conflict, Oncilla Conservation has worked with local communities to see how we can all coexist peacefully. We greatly enjoyed participating in the First Edition of the Coexistence Festival, which was held at the end of July, and where we were able to participate with a stand and some environmental education games : )
Researchers and Volunteers
Hi! my name is Ruby.
I am a forestry student from the Netherlands, I am almost at the end of my internship here at cloudbridge.
for this, i am doing research on mushrooms in the different forest types that exist in cloudbridge. i am comparing the mushroom diversity between the forest types. what i like most about my research is the fact that i can get to learn about a subject that is often overlooked in forestry and is also wildly interesting to me.
Hi! Luke and Reena here – We’ve really enjoyed our time helping out researchers on bird surveys, exploring the trails, and it has been really good to volunteer with helping with trail maintenance and to build tables to fit out the new lab. Highlights so far are a juvenile Quetzal on an early morning hike and coming across a Cloud Forest Racer eating a frog on Rio trail!
The juvenile quetzal that Luke and Reena mention has been seen by many people around the Reserve, it is so nice to catch a glimpse of him here and there : ) Photo credit: Luke Griffiths.
Here he was seen near the Sentinel Trail entrance on July 9th. Photo credit: Casey McConnell
And Anthony saw him just a couple of weeks later. Photo credit: Anthony Garita.
Pics from around the reserve
Photo credit: Anthony Garita
Photo credit: Anthony Garita
Photo credit: Sandro Pérez.
Photo credit: Casey Ella McConnell.
Suggested reading
- Luuck Reesink did his research on hummingbirds during the second half of 2021. Thank you for sharing your results with us, Luuck!
- As we have seen, this Summer in the Northern Hemisphere has brought high temperatures, wildfires and other signs of the climate crisis. We are so sorry for all of the people who have been negatively impacted by these situations. This article has an interesting perspective on the difficulties of protecting the amazing forests of California during these difficult conditions.
- Communicating about the climate crisis takes all shapes and forms, and through the arts can be incredibly effective. In this interview, novelist Jon Raymond speaks of the near-future world that he portrays in his novel «Denial».
- This article from the Tico Times summarizes a recent report from the World Meteorological Organization regarding the impacts of climate change in Latin America. Needless to say, it is not very hopeful.