The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary offered all of its many gifts and blessings to us during our week of Forest Ecology. Professor Vern Peters made the trip down from Canada to teach us about seed dispersal, light competition, disturbances, and the impact that birds have on the composition of the forest.
Our days were filled with early morning bird walks, morning lectures, field lectures, tubing, night hikes, the monitoring of leaf cutter ants, watching Nick perform 10 acrobatic stunts, run-ins with bats, delicious meals, and Motmot sounding hammers.
On the drive down to Cockscomb a special stop was made to investigate a rather large, dead snake that had been spotted on the side of the road. Looking at the dead boa was not enough for some in the group and a knife was quickly retrieved to examine the contents of the snake's belly. Autumn and Kandice are visibly disturbed. 
It is hard not to enjoy a class where owl butterflies, white-necked jacobins, sprawling ceibas, and picturesque waterfalls are all active and encouraged members of your class. The students came away with, other than a load of bug bites, a deeper understanding of tropical forests and the many processes involved to maintain and preserve their health.
1 comment:
Hhhhhmmmm, I remember a python Jesse brought home that proceeded to vomit up 3 intact birds on my porch. That was, um, interesting too.
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