GVI Costa Rica Newsletter Jan - Mar 2010

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EX68 Coastal Rainforest and

Wildlife Conservation Research Expedition

GVI Costa Rica NewsletterPhase 10-1: 8th January-19th March 2010

NEw home Phase 101 has seen a major change for the expedition as we relocated to new premises within Tortuguero Na-

tional Park. 18 miles south of the old base at Caño Palma, our new home is exclusively occupied by the expedi-

tion and, with Ministry of Environment approval, is the only inhabited estate within the Park.

The property, which has been modied and added to for our use, was previously a cattle and coconut farm, and

parts of it are still being farmed. Where new buildings have been built they follow the traditional style and we

have running water and electricity provided by a generator and solar panel. The view is a little different to the old

base, but we’ll take it - through the trees to the beach and the Ca-

ribbean Sea. With forest on the other three sides we are truly in thewilds here, and sharing our home with an abundance of wildlife.

The beach here is of course already the site of our jaguar predation

project, and the second largest green turtle rookery in the world

should certainly keep us busy with turtle work later in the year.

For this phase though, the focus was on forest-based surveys and a

number of reccies for new bird survey routes within the Park.

With new buildings, facilities and equipment in place, here in the

eld we were very excited about the rst phase of 2010 and all the

new opportunities it would bring.

Phase 101 Staff The station may be new, but the team in the eld has remained largely unchanged for Phase 101:

Field co-ordinator Sara Calçada brought a team of four staff members plus ve second phase interns, all used to

each other’s quirks and habits from the previous phase.

Rich Phillips naturally kept a close hold on the Bird project and Sarah Durose stayed on to continue managing

GVI’s Jaguar Predation Project and the Jaguar Camer Trapping Programme. Jo returned to guide the Large Mam-

mals Monitoring Programme and Steph was still on board to keep the turtle project ticking over during this

largely turtle-free time of year.

Second phase interns Molly, Leonie, Russell, Helen and Sam were keen to take on the challenge and responsibili-

ties of learning project management and patrol leadership. Between them they took on the task of starting up a

new incidentals programme and developing a primate monitoring project in the forest.

TRAINING

Training week proceeded with the usual bombardment of information, and was augmented later in phase with

sessions on two new projects implemented

by Sara: volunteers learnt how to measure

beach prole and the potential importance

of this data with regard to climate change,

and how to construct track plates for re-

cording mammal tracks.

The expedition’s new home

Staff members Sara, Rich (in standard GVI attire), ‘CSI’ Durose and Jo.



Programmes and Studies

Birds

The Aquatic Avifauna Study continued, with the rst

half of phase mostly taken up with reccies of potential new

routes within the National Park. MINAE are keen for us to

make the most of our position here and have been showing

Project Manager Rich and Field Co-ordinator Sara plenty of

options.

The result of this was a shortlist of potential routes which

have been tested throughout the rest of phase. Caño Sirena,

California, ‘Australio’ and Sierpe Viejo have come though as

the most promising in terms of habitat variation, species

seen and practical navigability.

Once the surveys got going, highlights included two sightings

of Agami herons - one of which provoked Rich into his now-

legendary ‘rst Agami’ dance. It also became apparent that

some previously elusive species were out there to be seen,and Limpkins and Boat-billed herons became a regular sight-

ing. Over phase, a fantastic 25 out of the 30 study species

were seen on survey; 28 including off-survey sightings.

This phase we totalled 699 records, with Northern Jaçanas

coming out on top (162 records). The most data for one

survey record was broken with a massive146 birds record-

ed on a very wet day on Caño California.

There were also several off-survey sightings of a sun bittern,

also heard giving its plaintive call, and four Great Green Ma-

caw records this phase, each time ying in pairs.

EX68 Coastal Rainforest and Wildlife Conservation Research Expedition

GVI Costa Rica Newsletter Phase 101: 8th January-19th March 2010

Above: Limpkin (Aramus guarauna) photographed by volunteer

Emily, on survey on Sierpe Viejo. Below: juvenile agami heron (Ag-

ammia agami) seen fshing on Sierpe Viejo. (photo by Jon)

Turtles

The rst phase of the year is always a quiet time for the Marine Turtle

Monitoring and Conservation Programme as far as surveys are

concerned, although paperwork never truly ends of course.

In the last week before midphase we had a surprising encounter when the

mammal transect team, walking up the beach to begin their forest survey,

came across a very freshly predated turtle at around mile 16. This was

surprising on two counts: that there should be a green turtle nesting onthe beach in early February, and that it should be unlucky enough to meet

a jaguar.

Following this incident we saw a handful of turtle tracks at this end of the

beach, and by week 8 we were very excited to see the massively churned

up sand of a leatherback nest. It seemed that the turtles were gradually

returning, although activity tailed off somewhat in the last two weeks.

In the meantime, however, Sarah and Rich attended a training course at

the CCC (Caribbean Conservation Corporation) to get themselves up

to speed on the CCC’s turtle protocols, which GVI will be following next

phase. Further night patrol preparation came in the form of mile markerrepainting for the length of the beach.

Leatherback half moon; Green turtle tracks;





Jaguars

The Jaguar Predation of Marine Turtles Study com-

pleted 8 surveys this phase, totalling 120 miles on Tortuguero

beach. Eventually we got used to starting at the mile 18 end,

even if a triumphant nish at Mile 34/8 never felt quite as epic...

Out on the sand we recorded a total of 6 full green turtle

tracks, 2 leatherback and 4 dead turtles including, unusually, one

predated leatherback.

This nal point is notable, as prior to this the last record of a

predated leatherback was way back in the late nineties (data

collected by the CCC).

Our new location gave us more information on what happens

to a fresh turtle kill, as survey teams were passing the carcase

es near base almost daily. For example, the green found in early

February was an extremely fresh kill and the team were able

to document it as such. By the following morning the carcase

had been turned over, and by later in the same day had been

dragged into the vegetation. A day later again and it was further

in the vegetation, suggesting a jaguar had visited the kill at least

twice after the initial attack.

Throughout the phase as a whole, the presence of jaguar tracks

was recorded along most sections of the beach, but the most

jaguar activity in terms of exit/entry points was at mile 12-13.

There were jaguar sightings this phase, but none actually on jag

walk. A mere technicality, you cry - tell us more!

Well then...

When Russell, Jeremy and Lydia returned from seeing the pre-

dated leatherback they had huge grins on their faces: it couldonly mean one thing. Sure enough they burst into the kitchen

declaring “We saw a jaguar - we have a photo!” An accidental

photo, because they didn’t spot the jag until it got up and ran

off, but a photo nonetheless.

A week later it was Sam’s turn, when his survey team in the for-

est happened upon three jaguar - a mother and two juveniles

- crossing the trail. Not photo this time, but what an amazing

experience. Some folk get all the luck...

The Jag Cams project - using digital and lm cameras this phase

- has also been yielding some results, although so far only RedBrocket Deer have shown their faces on camera.

Mammals

The Large Mammal Monitoring Programme was a

new project for this phase. An existing trail through the forest

at Mile 15 was available to Project Manager Jo, with the route

running from the beach through to the canal, and a kilometre

of variable mud in between.

After volunteers helped preparing the route - agging tape ev-

ery 50 metres, and clearing a fallen tree across the trail - thedata collection began.

Above: jagwalkers Charlotte & Leonie need a bigger tape

measure. Below: predated green turtle found in early February.

Above: jag walk team reach the fnish line

Below: a jaguar returns to the predated leatherback.

Above: Erica, Jess and Nicky hard

at work on the mammal transect





Nine surveys were completed, and 116 records collected for a total of

16 species. Live mammal sightings on the trail were usually monkeys but

teams had a couple of surprises in the shape of a Variegated Squirrel and

a Mexican Hairy (aka Prehensile-Tailed) Porcupine (photo left).

Top of the phase gures for species was the Jaguar - with 23 separate

records of tracks. Another endangered big cat was also recorded several

times: the Ocelot. Other sensitive species showing up regularly were

Baird’s Tapir and the White-Lipped Peccary, the latter also seen and ap-

parently present in large groups in the area.

Overall a good start to the project, which will hopefully expand to fur-

ther sites next phase.

Incidentals

The Incidentals Project was up and running once more, but

in a modied form to reect our new location. The second phase

interns took charge of working out the best possible way to collect

and organise useful data.

Zones have now been established to differentiate between the gar-

den and base area, the coconut plantation, the beach, estuary andforest. A total of 2732 incidental records were collected over phase,

with 176 species represented. Most of these (122) were birds but

reptiles, mammals and amphibians were also seen. Night

walks proved a popular way to collect data. The most

common sightings at our new base are Montezuma’s

Oropendola (see James’s photo, right), Great Kiskidee

and the Brown Pelican, with the base zone having the

most records. Notable sightings included the 2 jaguar

sightings, an armadillo wandering through base and a

Northern Tamandua (far right) just down the trail.

Around Base As usual, day to day life on base provided constant reminders of Costa Rica’s extraordinary biodiversity. Our

privileged position in the rainforest is even more apparent here at Jalova. The regulars may have changed slightly

but we still woke to the call of the Mantled Howler Monkeys, followed the constant displays and nest-building of

the Montezumas, and had regular sightings of tanagers, parrots and, on the trail, a variety of snakes.

Weather: Rainfall for phase was a substantial 968mm (excluding the huge amount that fell in the rst week).

Although the garden area ooded somewhat, groundwater was generally quick to drain away and a ood evacu-

ation was never on the cards.The new base needed a bit of tinkering of course, and various construction

projects were ongoing through phase, along with exploring the use of garden

fruits, and painting the kitchen tables.

off survey There was plenty going on during down-time this phase, with long-weekend

trips to the towns of Porto Viejo and Cahuita, the volcanic slopes of Arenal, and

white water rafting in Turrialba.

On base we were once again treated to a visit from Ex-COTERC station man-ager Mario Rasta who provided a tour of the garden plants (more than 40

Mario dispenses wisdomin the forest

Above: Mammal data:

Juvenile porcupine, jag prints,

oppossum prints.



species) for volunteers, and took a handful of lucky people out in the

forest. As ever he shared his extensive understanding of forest plants

and their uses with us and even found us some tasy termites to snack

on.

Relaxation, and possibly some silliness, was of course also on the rota.

We had two Pub Quiz nights, with wine, cookies and of course glory,

to play for. Rich, Russell and Lydia did a ne job of coming up with

the questions. Tamandua Dorm laid on entertainment in the last week

in the form of ‘Capture the Flag’ and limbo dancing, and throughoutphase there was the usual card playing, scrabble and general chilling out during down time.

looking ahead End of phase saw the departure from the expedition of our second week interns, with the exception of Molly

who is staying on for just one more phase. Jo also headed back to the UK in search of a “proper job”...which is

not to say we won’t see her back some day.

Field Co-ordinator Sara will be passing on the mantle of responsibilty to Rich once phase 102 is underway, and-Country Director Dave will also be stepping down to make way for Stephan. There will be new staff coming in,

and of course a fresh-faced new batch of volunteers and interns.

Next phase will also bring turtles in abundance and our rst opportuity to work with them on night patrols on

Tortuguero Beach - an exciting prospect. And of course more jaguars on the doorstep, leaving their tantalising

footprints in the sand and mud of the Park.

So that’s it for Phase 101: the expedition is now rmly established at Jalova and we look forward to our rst full

turtle season here, starting soon....

Keep up to date with our progress via gvicostarica.blogspot.com



Tables pinted, courtesy of Jo, Lydia and

assorted expedition members.

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GVI Costa Rica Newsletter Jan - Mar 2010

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