April 2017

We celebrated Earth Day by offering free tours at the reserve.  Bird watching, information on the history of the reserve, and an explanation of the flora and fauna were included in a Spanish speaking tour with local residents and one tourist, and an English speaking tour that included a few visiting guests and tourists.

Later in the afternoon the Cloudbridge Staff and researchers had a Bird and Beer tour.  We enjoyed bird watching all the way down the road to the Uran Hotel where we finished off the day with drinks and food. We are all grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this project that contributes to education and a greener earth!

Earth Day Tours

Jenn’s sock puppet salamander represents the creatures that we are working to protect and provide habitat for.  We happen to have a large supply of abandoned socks.  Stay tuned for more puppet pals in the future.

Birds and Beer tour: 

Research:

There is one new volunteer this month.   Laura Cannon from the UK is doing an internship with Global Vision International. She is a university student in her placement year working in the industry of her studies – wildlife and practical conservation.  Her project at Cloudbridge focuses on how artificial feeders affect hummingbird behaviour.   In the future she would like to work at a reserve that helps to rehabilitate wildlife or in the capacity of education for wildlife conservation and protection.  She also has an interest in marine biology.

Distance Education:

Through a Skype call Frank entertained grade 4 students from Nottingham UK with frogs, very large insects and giant plants.  The students had questions about the ecology in the rainforest.  They wanted to know about the animals that live in the area, how much rain we receive, and  why we reforest.

Talking to these students gives them another perspective on what is happening in other parts of the world and the importance of conservation.

Tree Planting:

It is tree planting season again now that the rains have started.

Then and Now:

             2013- we had a community tree planting day.  Notice the bare slope up to the left of the photo.

2017 – this is the same slope today.  The trees are growing and there is enough shade below them to deter unwanted grasses and bracken ferns.

Camera Trapping: