We have an exciting trip planned. We are currently in Bocas del Toro on Isla colon at the STRI marine station. Yesterday we visited a cave called La Gruta that is known for its bats. Dr. Maurice Thomas led the tour and then set up mist nets to trap bats in the evening near the station. Maurice also gave a talk about his bat research in the islands and showed some spectacular photos of bats pollinating flowers. We caught several bats in mist nets and recorded their calls. We also set up cameras to try to capture video of wooly opossums.
Today we did a comparison of the sea floor in areas of high disturbance and in relatively pristine areas. We used the glass-bottomed boat to view and identify several kinds of invertebrates. This afternoon we will see if we have any film of the wooly opossums. Tonight we hope to capture fishing bats.
In our spare time we have been snorkeling and watching caimans and frogs. We watched the dolphins in Dolphin Bay.
Tomorrow we will do more comparisons of invertebrates using the glass-bottom boat, try to catch some more bat to record their calls and in the evening we will hear a talk from Ray Gabriel about his tarantula research and maybe go tarantula hunting. We also hope to visit Hospital Point to see some tent-making bats and poison dart frogs.
Updates with photos are coming soon! Everyone is fine, except that 3 of us are without our luggage and have been wearing the same clothes since we got to Panama!
Vicki
I’m looking forward to the pictures!
Can you share the audio of the bats? Linus loves that sort of thing. At this point I’m pretty convinced that he’ll be a biologist when he grows up.