bathing birds and field work

So it seems as if I'm back to (semi) normal after faltering last week. Onward!

Birdies are all still birdies. Every Tuesday is cage-scrub day.

Since the releasable patients don't have access to the elements, it's also bird bath day. How does one bathe a parrot? Just squirt them with the hose and, for some reason, they love it. Jack (Red-Lored parrot) and Elmo (Collared Aracari) don't appreciate the spray down nearly as much... and Jack is quite vocal about it. Their enclosures are partially exposed so the spray down isn't really necessary; Jack will even sing in the rain. The White-fronted, Pionus, and Yellow-lored parrots, however, generally hang upside down with their wings spread "asking" to be sprayed down. If you don't succumb to their wishes, they yell at you until you do. Spoiled parrots. It was hard to get a good shot while spraying the hose with one hand and trying not to drench myself / my camera.

Today I held an impromptu training session in the clinic. I figured it might be a good idea to show everybody how to draw up medications and give injections. It ended up being pretty successful and I think everybody appreciated it. A weekly session was requested which is pretty exciting. It's definitely important to get everybody here involved; education is key. Being more hands on leads to being more passionate about conservation, I think. Any suggestions for training sessions would be appreciated. I have the feeling I'll run out of ideas pretty fast...

What's this about field work, you say? Well, I was able to get out in the field and assist with the trapping / radio-collaring study that is happening in the Mesoamerican corridor. A single Paca was trapped on day one. She was processed (ie measurements taken, radio-collared, samples taken). I ended up taking respiratory and heart rates - just the basic stats to make sure she was doing okay under anesthesia. It's a bit tricky since there's absolutely nothing to compare it to. More traps were opened for day two, but none of the animals wanted free snacks. I believe I'll be making my way out there again tomorrow; hopefully we'll have more luck. It's pretty exciting to be a part of something that's never been done before; there are no sedation statistics on a lot of these animals nor are there any real population counts.

Now, time for some more random facts about my life here! The mosquitoes come in waves. I have a million bites but I have no idea of what blood sucking insects have caused them. I can tell which ones are the tick bites since they itch for at least a week and a half after the fact (even with the awesome anti-itch cream that Donna sent me). Thankfully, there aren't any documented cases of Lyme disease here. And what is this rash? It's near the tick bite but I have the suspicion it's heat related. The things you have to find out from experience - the next ACM is going to be over-prepared if I have anything to do with it. At least I already conceded to the fact that I'm going to be dirty for a year... if I hadn't done that early on, I probably would have run screaming from the tropics. Seriously, as soon as I take a shower I'm sweaty again (it doesn't help that it hit 100 at least three times this week) and there are mysterious bugs living in the thatched roof of my casita. I don't know what they do up there, but debris is continually falling from the ceiling. Ah yes, and then there was a tarantula hanging out on my mosquito net the other night; I think he probably just wanted to cuddle with his eight fuzzy little legs. On Sunday night, there was a crazy storm that came through. Crazy rain and wind, thunder, lightning... I even ended up getting wet at some point. The thunder was seriously the loudest I've ever heard in my life. We are situated on a small hill above a little valley so I guess that had something to do with intensifying the sound. I even had to cover my ears at one point because the sound was deafening. The security guard noticed that I had left in the wee hours (4:30 for field work) and asked me in Spanglish if I had run away because of the storm. He was terrified, too.

I got a library card today! Well, sort of. I have no proof that I am a member. Hopefully the lady who was at the desk will be there every time I go in now. I have had a craving to read Harry Potter lately and, guess what! They actually have the first three books at the library. They're all in Spanish, of course, but hey... what better way to practice than reading a novel?

So field work tomorrow morning and the Agricultural Show on Saturday. Who knows what else will happen this week... hopefully no more frightening storms.

rum and the atm cave

No new birdies this week. No real news either, except that Jack has begun hisher molt. Last year heshe molted in August... perhaps because that was hisher first year? Who knows. Nobody knows. We are pioneers in neotropical bird rehabilitation. Fantastic.

My sister left this morning to return to South Korea with a short stop in the States. Yesterday was a rough day (oh, hello mini-meltdown) for me and I'm pretty sure her subsequent departure undoubtedly added to it. Some of you know what I have to go through down here so you understand where the stress and feeling of helplessness comes from. The others of you who don't know... well, you'll just have to wonder because I won't broadcast these sorts of things on the internet. All jobs have their frustrations, I suppose. Must stay positive and not give up!

Fortunately, we were able to do a lot of things while my sister was here. Not as many as I had hoped, but that's how it goes when you're the only one working a rehabilitation center. We went into town a few times, to Cahal Pech, to Spanish Lookout (Western Dairies' soursop ice cream is a let down, by the way), swimming in the Mopan (and fail fishing), to see Orange-breasted Falcons at the sink holes, browse collecting in the middle of nowhere and at Branch Mouth, and to the ATM Cave. Hopefully it wasn't too exhausting of a vacation for her! On a side note, my tolerance for rum has increased exponentially due to somebody wanting piña coladas, watermelon daiquiris, mango daiquiris, etc etc etc etc. I had nothing to do with this.

One of the highlights of the trip was on Friday when we headed off to the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Cave located in the Maya Mountains at 8:00 AM. I think I've mentioned the Maya Mountains in some of my previous posts. They were once coral reefs when Belize was under water so now they are mostly limestone. Limestone = caves. Caves hold a huge significance in the Mayan culture - they are the dwellings of the gods. Because of this, many sacrifices (objects and people) were made in the caves; people were killed and pottery was broken (into multiple fragments or with a small piece removed) in order to release the spirit. And now that you know a brief history... we were driven to Teakettle Village and went through part of the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve (sadly, no tapirs were seen). The road was quite bumpy and we ended up driving through a stream in order to get to the cave. After parking, we hiked for about 45 minutes. We crossed / waded through three streams on the way in and it was a relatively easy hike, albeit slightly rushed with no time for birding. We did minimal research before going on the tour but we did read that the

difficulty was described as "challenging". The hike in left something to be desired in the "challenging" category and we figured the entire tour would be similar... oh boy, were we wrong. We arrived at the entrance of the cave (left - matching outfits not intentional) and our tour guide gave us a fairly lengthy history lesson while we waited to have enough distance between us and the previous groups. The entrance consisted some slippery rocks and a nice plunge into freezing (understatement) cold water for a swim to the bank inside the cave. My caving / spelunking experience is minimal and I've only been in smaller caves... it's a bit difficult to put into words how amazing this experience was. If you're ever in Belize and are able to climb up slippery, wet rocks, squeeze through tight spaces, and swim in a cave with only headlamps to light the way, I would definitely recommend doing the ATM Cave tour with Pacz tours. After wading / swimming for a bit, we came to some small statues and a lot of pottery. All throughout the hike, there were innumerable multi-colored stalactites, stalagmites, and diamond-like quartz. We eventually climbed our way up some precarious rocks to a main cavern with an altar, a ton of sacrificial pottery, and a few bones. We proceeded to climb up a very wobbly ladder to a small chamber that housed a small boy, thought to have been placed kneeling and facing the wall. There was also the only full skeletal remains of a woman aged 18-22. The water levels, which are visible by the water lines inside the cave, fluctuate depending on rain. Quartz is on the entire skeleton, except for a very small portion on the top of the skull, which has earned her the name "Crystal Maiden". I took a ton of pictures, a few of which I uploaded to Facebook. Pictures don't quite do it justice. But really, pictures don't do any of this country justice. You'll just have to come see for your self! I'll be here until January. Tempted?

This week will be spent recovering from late nights and getting together some information for the Agricultural Show. It's going to be held in Belmopan next weekend so if you happen to be in Belize, stop by and say hello! Thousands of people should be there so it'll be a great opportunity to spread awareness and to educate.

Now I just have to wait two more months until Alison comes to be the Assistant ACM! I can do this.

sad egret and a sister

I apologize for my lackluster post last week. How boring!

To start off the post on a depressing note, the Cattle Egret's wing fracture wasn't able to be repaired. Poor guy. The thing about wildlife is that it's exceptionally resilient... so by the time they're able to be caught, they're pretty bad off. But! All of the parrots are doing well. Jack's been getting some attention from my sister, which I'm sure he (she?) appreciates. The Collared Aracari has warmed up to me a bit and will let me "preen" her. Really, I'm just petting her and picking at her feathers. She makes her squeak chatter-chatter noise that she makes when the wild Aracari visit.

So yes! My sister is here! She arrived on Monday and finally made it to CASA. Piña coladas seem to be the current theme (pineapple chunks + cream of coconut + One Barrel Belizean rum). She's gotten to feed the birds, make bird food, clean mice containers, collect browse, and scrub cages (fun fun!). We've wandered around town a few times and on Wednesday we tagged along with the Peregrine Fund. We went to the sinkholes again and this time the female Orange-breasted Falcon was sitting on eggs! Three, to be exact. It was pretty awesome. The hike in was a little.. exhausting, but we made it and nobody fell off of a mountain. Speaking of raptors and babies, I was able to get a shot of the White-tailed Kite kids in the nest. They're huge now and should fledge in the next week or so. You'll have to just check my facebook for photos, as usual. Tomorrow we're going to the ATM Caves on a tour. It's a big of a hike in, but beautiful from what I hear. Then we'll go pseudo-spelunking (or maybe real spelunking?) and see some Mayan artifacts and burial sites (complete with bones). It should be pretty amazing! We plan on going to the Xunantunich and Cahal Pech ruins at some point... and also drinking more piña coladas.

I went to the Easter Fair in San Ignacio the Saturday before last and I completely forgot to post about it. It was like a fair in the states but a lot smaller. Also there were no lines for the rides or barriers so the crowd doesn't get too close to the rides. If you get kicked in the head by people on the ride that's spinning around in the air, it's your fault. It was kind of funny actually watching people grab others out of the way of flying feet. I've noticed some similarities in this regard between Belize and South Korea. You want to climb a Korean mountain after (and while) pounding soju and balance on precarious ledges? Go right ahead. You want to stand atop a Mayan temple with no guardrails where you can actually look down onto Guatemala? No problem. These things I'm fairly certain couldn't (legally) happen in the US...

A fun bit of advice from my sister: if you're coming to visit, make sure you bring lots of deodorant... you're sure to run out after applying it 17 times a day.

I'm still awaiting the first babies of the season... any day now, I'm sure. In the meantime, I'm enjoying my not-so busy spell and having fun spending time with my sister!

egrets and miscellaneous things

I was worried that I wouldn't have anything to post this week, and then a Cattle Egret showed up on Tuesday. He has quite a bad fracture on his left wing near his shoulder and another on his radius. It'd be great if there was an x-ray available to see the extent of the fracture, but alas, this is Belize. He was found in somebody's backyard with foam sealant on his feet. You know, the stuff you spray to fill in holes / cracks in houses? It dries and expands quite fast. I don't want to think about how the egret even got into this predicament; I try not to think the worst of people.

These really tiny, crazy ants seem to have taken over the clinic. They're generally harmless but ants are never a good thing when you have a debilitated patient. They decided to flock to the water dish that I had put in the egret's carrier so I had to improvise. The internet is trashed, again, so there is no picture to share... just imagine a picture of a carrier basically on stilts sitting in water pans. Note to self: put the water in the trays BEFORE putting the plycem slab and carrier on top. Fun times with water and a 60 ml syringe. Not.

I keep seeing new birds! There was a pair of Keel-billed Toucans on the property the other day; I had only seen toucans before flying overhead as a black funny-shaped bird. There's also a pair of white-tailed kites nesting next door. They've got four chicks and I was able to watch them feed the other day. Hopefully I'll be able to get a clear enough picture of them to share.

My current list of skills that I really should have possessed before coming to Belize used to stand at two: fishing (I found out today that I am still lacking those skills) and being a car mechanic. My newest realizations include building construction skills and the ability to look extremely intimidating in order to discourage being "hollered at". I have a little construction experience but no knowledge of construction jargon. And it's too bad I'm not 6 feet tall with a scary muscle builder's body.

It's been a fairly slow week so I haven't anything else to update.. except that my sister will be here on MONDAY (!) and my birthday is in exactly a month. Ack!

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!