army ants AGAIN and raging hormones

How is it April already? I've been here for a little over two and a half months now! It feels like I just got here and also like I've been here for years.

Thursday night the army ants were out and about again. The security guard ran and got me from La Sala (my office / where the internet is) yelling "hormigas! hormigas!". We went running over to the clinic and apparently they had only made it as far as the laundry room. The first troop of secal that I had seen were the ones involved in the dove incident and they were quite large. These guys, however, were tiny and covering almost the entire laundry room. We eventually got them out only for them to migrate towards the BRB (bird rehabilitation building - where the flighted patients are kept). Seriously, we sprayed them for at least an hour with water and citrus oil (apparently applied straight it destroys) but they wouldn't leave! Ricky eventually sent me to bed and said he'd keep an eye on them. Thankfully my Spanglish language partner (aka Mr. Chata, the security guard) was on his toes and caught them as they were swarming the Aracari's enclosure. Ricky rushed in and scooped up the Aracari just as the ants had gotten to her. She had maybe a dozen ants on her and so far there aren't any injuries. Little Aracari got to spend the night in Ricky's house while the ants continued on their way to wherever they go to hide out until their next attack. It's quite hard to explain how overwhelming these ants are. Their numbers and their persistence.. what a nightmare, yet I find myself in awe of these things. They stop at absolutely nothing to claim their victims, take over houses, and cause miniature insect stampedes (the ants are coming! runnnnnn!).

In other CASA news, breeding season as arrived! There are pairs all over the property... there's even a pair of White-fronted parrots nesting in a dead palm near Ricky's house. There's a Yucatan squirrel nesting outside of my room so I can get my mammal fix, too. The majority of the parrots at CASA are too young to be affected by the breeding season. However, Jack, the Red-lored parrot, and one of the Yellow-loreds are at that age. So far Jack hasn't been shown any aggression, but he has been spending a lot of time in his roost box. Now, I say "he" because it is assumed that he is a he and not a she. There is no sexual dimorphism in Red-lored parrots and the only way we could tell would be through DNA testing and that's not really an option. It's entirely possible that Jack is really a Jacqueline and maybe female parrots aren't as aggressive as male parrots during the breeding season. The oldest Yellow-lored, on the other hand, decided that my head looked like a good target for dive-bombing on Sunday. Luckily he has little feet that can't do a lot of damage... I hope. He was pretty insistent on getting me out of the aviary though - he even flew at the door as I was leaving and landed where my face would have been. Ahh... good times with the birds.

Due to the army ant attack and other circumstances, I didn't have a day off on Friday. Tuesday made up for it just a little... I was asked to tag along for Howler monkey health checks. Dr. Isabelle, the CASA vet, and I met Robin who is with the Wildlife Care Center of Belize.

Robin rehabilitates primates, mainly Howler monkeys, the majority who have been confiscated because they make popular pets. Funding is in short supply down here (for everything) but you can help Robin out by donating on her page. Four monkeys in all had to get checked out. One had some blood drawn while the other three had check-ups and got dewormed; none of them were ecstatic about being handled. I didn't actually handle any of the monkeys... I just recorded data and took pictures. It was an interesting experience nonetheless. Since primates can carry several zoonotic disease, masks and gloves are a necessity when working with them (that would be me masked and ready to go on the right). Really, I don't even want to know every single thing I can contract. Sometimes, ignorance is best or else you'll be too scared to do anything. I'm actually surprised that I don't have some crazy diseases. I always take precautions though, because nobody wants Rabies or TB or Chlamydia psittaci or Apsergillosis or parasites or Leprosy or or or... I'll stop there.

This weekend is Easter weekend. It's another four day weekend here so it'll be quiet and a bit lonely. There's the Easter Fair in town on Saturday and Sunday. It sounds like it's going to be a pretty big deal with local musicians (Bullet Tree Boys?) and "mechanical rides" (whatever that means). I'll be in attendance and I'm sure there will be plenty of people from all over Cayo there.

So far I've been relatively unaffected by the Chloroquine, with the exception of some stomach upset. I've noticed the past two weeks that I've been ridiculously tired the day after I've taken it... tired to the point of not being able to do anything except lay in my hammock. It's not an excuse, I swear! It should be interesting to see what the approximately 46 more doses hold. Hopefully I won't have to stop taking it. That might be a little scary.

And now the countdown is on.. 11 days until my sister gets here!