Day 3 (May 14) On Site at Ara

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Birds spotted today: blue-crowned motmot, cinnamon hummingbirds, white-throated magpie-jay, more macaws, plus: geckos, an iguana, and howler monkeys!

My day started off with some early visitors - Sam (head of the Ara Project) and two of his team members came knocking on my door first thing - glad I was already up and eating breakfast and not still in bed! I finished up getting ready to go and then drove over to the Ara site to get started. Spent my morning learning all about the history and inner workings of the project, and the afternoon looking at their record keeping. I was then able to join in on one of their daily tours, joining some tourists in learning about scarlet macaws, great green macaws, and the work of the Ara Project in helping these two bird populations within Costa Rica. Sam had let me know there was a scarlet macaw nest just outside my cabin, so when I got back home, I took a peak and managed to see the nest and one of the parents peeking out! I guess they have one chick in there about 3 weeks old. Hoping I get to see some babies at the project in the coming weeks! I spent my evening reviewing records and researching accounting software so that we could get started on implementing a new system right away…and then called it a night - information overload!

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Photos

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It's not every day I get to watch a praying mantis eat an ant while I work...

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Scarlet macaws while on the tour

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Their dog Sarin likes to escape the heat by joining us in the air conditioned office

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On the way out for the day, I watched a troupe of howler monkeys moving from tree to tree. 2 in this picture plus bonus points for anyone who can spot the iguana!!

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Howler monkey