Boys, stings and more birds!

Today while we were netting we ran across 3 young sons (out of 7 children) of the president of the community. The oldest couldn’t be more than 9 years old, and they were out collecting Tagua nuts. It is interesting to see first hand how children in the community start working almost from the time they can walk. We frequently see young boys of 4 or 5 galloping along through the forest on their own horse, followed by their father and other relatives, off to harvest bamboo or collect nuts. We called the boys over to look at the birds we had taken from the nets, and they showed mild interest as we explained what we were doing. Everyone we’ve talked to so far thinks it’s hilarious that we are putting colored “rings” on the birds, especially when I tell them I like to put hot pink ones on the males! So the boys hung around, looked at our nets and sat at the banding station. Phil stayed back to watch our stuff—and I’m very glad he did! Somehow the oldest boy managed to slip the silver numbered bands of size class 1 into his pocket, without Phil noticing. When I returned I saw a tiny band in the boys’ mouth, and quickly asked him where he got it. He told me he’d found it on the ground, and I was skeptical but believed him. I then realized there were no size 1 bands in their special bag. It’s not easy to loose the whole string of bands, and so I asked the boys where they were. They said they had no idea and were very convincing. At that moment they left, and after quickly searching around and making sure Aaron didn’t have the bands I ran after the boys. This was a tricky situation, since they were the sons of the president and I didn’t want them to think I was making false accusations. I told the boys the bands were very important to me, and that without them I couldn’t do my project. I also mentioned that the bands weren’t valuable—they weren’t made of real silver. The boys emptied some of their pockets and said they didn’t have them, they did not know where they were. I said ok reluctantly and walked back to the banding station. A few minutes later the oldest boy ran back with the chain of bands in his hand, saying that he had found them. We all thanked him enthusiastically and he ran off. I was not happy, and now we must be sure to always watch our things in the forest.

Pics of me and Aaron at the banding station

An angry White-backed Fire-Eye

Birds waiting to be processed...

Placing a metal leg band on a bird

We blow on the feathers of the tummy to see how much fat the birds have, whether they are molting, and if they have a brood patch (loss of feathers for better incubation).

We found a piculet nest today! Piculets are super tiny woodpeckers, the size of large hummingbirds (see photo below). We were wondering why we kept catching the same two piculets over and over in one net—until Phil noticed that there was a little hole in the tree RIGHT behind the net. We heard noises coming from it, and then a piculet flew out. Too bad it was too small and dark for us to see into it!

A summer tanager changing it's plumage

As we were taking a relaxing swim one evening I suddenly felt a burning pain on my right thigh. I knew immediately it was a jellyfish, but this hurt A LOT! Actually ok I’m exaggerating a bit, but really it did hurt. I quickly got out of the water and saw my thigh swelling up with red bumps. And I still (4 days later) have a nice red line on my leg where the tentacle wrapped around me! (Photos below of one we found on the beach, not sure if it was the same species!).

A cool crab on the beach....

Anenome (ok I can't spell)

Sea cave at low tide

The giant rotting cow we encountered in the forest (not really randomly, it had been bitten by venomous snake) actually brought us good luck. Hordes of buzzards were feasting on the carcass—including some beautiful King Vultures. And we got some nice pictures!