Wow, sure is quiet around La Selva with Oxy gone. Just as I was getting accustomed to having every meal with 20 people and walking through the forest in a small pack, it was suddenly time for the Bio 370 students, Drs. Zellmer and Claisse, and our fantastic t.a. Juan Moreira, to go on to the next site. Well, what did I do after you all left? Besides grading all those excellent papers and presentations, and packing up Oxy gear and readying the office for the research team who will arrive just after I leave here, I did go out of La Selva for an afternoon with Claudia and Carlos (yes, they lured me off station). We met up with Alex Gilman and family, along with a couple other La Selva researchers, for a swim and dinner at Selva Verde Lodge (near Jaime’s place). Oh yes and on my many QUIET walks in the forest I saw: a Gray-headed Kite (Leptodon cayanensis) calling from a perch over the stream on CCL, a 1.5 m bird-eating snake (Pseustes poecilonotus) crossing the STR, a group of purple guans feeding on fruits in the understory, a sleeping red-eyed tree frog, and several "tuxedo" grasshoppers (Copiocera specularis), a specialist on understory palms like ASMA.
While I was sad to see you go—I love the quiet!
- Dr. Beth Braker
Sleeping Agalychnis
Leaf cryptic katydid
Bridge Q el Salto on CCL