Monday, September 5, 2011

Leading a Biodiversity Assessment Survey!

This week was exciting for the interns at Jalova as we have started to lead our first surveys, BASS and nest checks. The first survey I lead was a BASS down the South Trail, which is a good trail for a spotting a large range of animals and birds on the edge of the canal. With a mixture of nervousness and excitement we headed out in the afternoon and got off to a somewhat slow start but this shortly changed to a more comfortable pace. Our first sighting was a Central American Spider Monkey, a mother with a small baby clinging to her stomach and as we watched the mother lifted the tiny baby off to play in the high branches of the trees. Other animals we recorded included a two-toed sloth, more monkeys and numerous birds, including shore birds, herons and a male and female Barred Antshrike, which have never been seen at Jalova before. Although I had some trepidation about leading my first BASS, it was actually a really good experience and I was surprised to find that I enjoyed myself and am looking forward to the next time. Indeed all the interns were similarly successful in their surveys and despite our somewhat nervous starts we feel we will soon be confident and will enjoy ourselves as we lead more of the various surveys on offer at Jalova.

By Sam Dawson


Share/Save/Bookmark

0 comments: