Wow, I can hardly believe another month has gone by! I spent the 4th of July with some friends, playing music and watching fire works. It was a really wonderful break after returning from our first survey in Idaho. Since then, I have conducted two more week-long surveys. Our second survey was in and around the southwest area because my work partner Tim injured his spine and had to be within a 45 minute-or-less drive from the local hospital. We were fairly unsuccessful with finding bats during that week. We ended up spending night after night bored out of our minds [View Full Entry]

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Just for a quick recap, I spent the first three months of 2008 in Panama working on a project for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. After a month-and-a-half-long break I am back in the field, but this time in Montana, on a project with the U.S. Forest Service. The USFS has put together a group of people with bat-related work experience to do an inventory of the different bat species in one of its largest forests. There are 4 of us and a 5th crew member coming soon to work on the nearly 3.5 million acres of forest. The results of [View Full Entry]

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End of the Field Season As three willing and able assistants, we finished our field season with a bang. We captured and studied 23 bats (the record from past years was about 14 bats) and finished all the data entry and analysis for each individual. Our last bat was named El Ultimo .. you may remember from my first blog entry that our very first bat was El Primero, so it seemed fitting to give our last bat a similar name. Ultimo was quite a character and needed a lot of coaxing and tender loving care before giving us any results! [View Full Entry]

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Up to the Highest Height! On the 25th of Feb, the Katies, some friends and I went to the Chiriqui Province of Panama to climb Volcan Baru. The summit is at about 11,400 feet and about a 7 mile upward hike from the base of the volcano. We spent the first two days in Boquete, a tiny town nestled in the foothills of the volcano and surrounding mountains. On our journey from Panama City to Boquete, we stopped by a bus-station foodstand to get some lunch and apparently all ate something there that didn't agree with us. As soon as [View Full Entry]

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Riots in Panama City As some of you may have heard, on Feb 13th, a construction worker was shot and killed during a demonstration in Panama City. The union to which this worker belonged became outraged at the act and promptly turned violent. Riots began and several roads were closed, bonfires burned in the middle of streets, stones were thrown at cars and buildings and property was damaged. Police fired tear gas into the crowds to control them, but I think it backfired. Apparently they became more angry. I am not quite sure why the demonstrator was shot in the [View Full Entry]

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Birds of the Avocado Tree I might have mentioned in my last entry that I have a huge avocado tree outside my bedroom window. I must say, it is an incredible source of entertainment and excitement during my time off (among other things, of course!) I have seen so many beautiful birds in that tree. I have also taken to waiting quietly with my camera until a bird comes close enough to get a good photo. My rate of success with good shots is low, (bird-brains have more to them than meets the eye) but I do manage to get some [View Full Entry]

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Week 1 I didn't realize that I would be back in the lush jungles of Panama so soon after my last visit. But here I am, a field assistant at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute working with my favorite frog-eating bat. It is the dry season (Jan-May) and I've noticed that there are a lot more animals about. Just in my first week, I saw a family of coatis (raccoon-like animals), myriad birds and an two anteaters! Incidentally, I spent my first three-month field season in Panama searching for this elusive anteater so I could take a photo--so two anteat [View Full Entry]

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