DAY 3: From rain and wind to sun and bees

Day 3 started as usual, with Errol practicing his Spanish and sweetly addressing everyone and some amazing desayuna tipico. Everyone filled up on delicious fruit and eggs, aside from Diana A whom has never met a papaya she's liked - not for lack of trying. 



Although it had only been a few days, we conversed as old friends sharing stories of our lives back home and our initial impressions attempting to net tiny bees.

The sky was quite dark, filled with clouds and wind from rain the night before. As we drove down into town to reach our bee plots for the day, the clouds cleared giving way to a beautiful rainbow over the valley. The weather continued to improve rising from chilly tropical temps to nice warm t-shirt weather. 

We all waived goodbye to our driver Alex and separated out into our plot teams following the lead of either Frannie, Evie, or Sergio. 

The three plots each team surveyed produced a diverse array of bees, as well as wildlife in general. It is incredible just how much life there is in Costa Rica and today provided a fantastic example. 

To quote our fearless research heads, Cesar was "locked in," collecting more bees than the researchers themselves. Some of us improved slightly from our first collection day, but Cesar's improvement was exponential and he may have to switch careers now. 

Collecting bee specimens:

Cesar relaxing after catching more bees than every other group combined, ever.


Orchid Bee of the Euglossini genus

After we finished plots for the day, we all were greeted back at Monteverde by a white-nosed coati (Nasua narica), four howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata), and a family of four crested guan (Penelope purpurascens). A small troop of white-faced capuchin's (Cebus imitator) even made an appearance after the howler monkeys wandered off. We all took a well-earned reprieve from the sun and bee collecting to shower, relax, and enjoy the lodge at Monteverde before dinner.  We could finally take the snake gaiters off for the day. 
White-faced capuchin
Crested Guan (adult and yearling)
White-nosed Coati

Although a giant cockroach Derek spent a lot of work capturing (it was deceased already) may have garnered the biggest reactions, some charismatic pollinators highlighted the day. Wasps, flies, butterflies, frogs, caterpillars, and numerous other insects helped to fill the gaps between catching bees and kept our attention. 



Despite the innumerable bees today, all avoided being slapped by an overenthusiastic Chem teacher. 

Notes: 

- All captured bees were harmed in the making of this blog

- Arroz con atún may be Costa Rica's new national dish 

- Pollinator plots need to be moved to flat land





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