Thank you to all our members and guests for a fantastic 2009! We look forward to seeing you in 2010!
December 31, 2009
December 28, 2009
Panama Travel Journal II - Day 5
Day 5, December 12, 2009
Today Roberto and I went to the infamous second stream. To be honest, I did not want to go, but Roberto wanted to see it during the day as he did not experience that on the last trip. As for me, I had bad memories and was not at all excited.
The trip started out good enough. Very good in fact. We found a species we had not seen on this trip or on the last. It was on the knoll between our home creek and the second. It is a small frog called Dendrobatidae minutus. About the size of your thumbnail, it has yellow at the crooks of each leg, and a beautiful blue patterned belly. Its like many birds I see, “brown.” But upon closer inspection it is full of color and wonderful. We found several. Edgardo will be happy. He wants some for El Valle. The stream however was a different story, or in fact, the same old story. We found two frogs and that was it. Those were found right at the top when we first dropped in. Even Roberto was visibly disgusted. He reverted to the same behavior Edgardo had exhibited last trip. Taking pictures and notes and light readings. I guess when scientists get befuddled they revert to what they know. Data.
The day was not a loss though. Jeff and I went out a little before dark and between 6:00-6:40 p.m. we caught about eight frogs. I also found a Limosus! That is only the third one on this trip and the first two Jeff found in amplexis. Jeff also found a Hemiphractus, the frog that looks just like a leaf and is a marsupial frog like the Gastrotheca. I first saw it at El Valle as well and instantly fell in love. It was a great find.
I went to bed early, at about 10:30 p.m. My plan was to get up and hunt early as nobody does. I hoped to catch some Limosus by going early. Time for Limosus is running out.
Today Roberto and I went to the infamous second stream. To be honest, I did not want to go, but Roberto wanted to see it during the day as he did not experience that on the last trip. As for me, I had bad memories and was not at all excited.
The trip started out good enough. Very good in fact. We found a species we had not seen on this trip or on the last. It was on the knoll between our home creek and the second. It is a small frog called Dendrobatidae minutus. About the size of your thumbnail, it has yellow at the crooks of each leg, and a beautiful blue patterned belly. Its like many birds I see, “brown.” But upon closer inspection it is full of color and wonderful. We found several. Edgardo will be happy. He wants some for El Valle. The stream however was a different story, or in fact, the same old story. We found two frogs and that was it. Those were found right at the top when we first dropped in. Even Roberto was visibly disgusted. He reverted to the same behavior Edgardo had exhibited last trip. Taking pictures and notes and light readings. I guess when scientists get befuddled they revert to what they know. Data.
The day was not a loss though. Jeff and I went out a little before dark and between 6:00-6:40 p.m. we caught about eight frogs. I also found a Limosus! That is only the third one on this trip and the first two Jeff found in amplexis. Jeff also found a Hemiphractus, the frog that looks just like a leaf and is a marsupial frog like the Gastrotheca. I first saw it at El Valle as well and instantly fell in love. It was a great find.
I went to bed early, at about 10:30 p.m. My plan was to get up and hunt early as nobody does. I hoped to catch some Limosus by going early. Time for Limosus is running out.
December 27, 2009
Panama Travel Journal II - Day 4
Day 4, December 11, 2009
This morning started around 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. for most of the group. It was a slow morning after a long day. I brought pancake mix for the group with walnuts and Mountain House raspberry crumble sauce for syrup. By 9:30 – 10:00 a.m. we were all working. I was building shelves for the frogs. Della, Roberto and Edgardo were processing and treating frogs with an anti-fungicide called Itroconazole. Jeff and Adrian were lining coolers with cardboard for the ride home. We finished chores around 1:30 p.m. and headed out. Jeff went out first and me next. Jeff and I did manage to find a pair of Antelopus in amplexis. As Della said, that female could be the future of the species. All the females from the first collection trip died and one female is not a lot. Especially when there is only one in captivity in the world.
The afternoon ended with me alone at the edge of a water hole, waiting for a Strabomanis bufoniformis to stick its head back out of the water. I missed it. It would be the first of our trip, and would be a good find. On the way back to camp I found a Centrolene ilex and H. colymba. C. ilex are a wonderful green leaf sitting frog. They have crazy white eyes and have left an impression on me since I saw them at El Valle a year and a half ago. The eyes bulge out and have lines through the whites. Nice! H. colymba, of course, is a target species, so that was a good find.
The night ended after a search with Edgardo, Roberto, Adrian and I. As the night went on, Roberto and I split up and headed back at the waterfall, as Edgardo took Adrian to find the prized Gastrotheca. The last thing I said to him was “Find my bufoniformis” and he did, too! Along with a male Gastrotheca. I went to bed (aka my hammock) between 12:00 and 1:00 a.m. and Della, Roberto, Adrian and Edgardo were up talking and winding down the night.
This morning started around 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. for most of the group. It was a slow morning after a long day. I brought pancake mix for the group with walnuts and Mountain House raspberry crumble sauce for syrup. By 9:30 – 10:00 a.m. we were all working. I was building shelves for the frogs. Della, Roberto and Edgardo were processing and treating frogs with an anti-fungicide called Itroconazole. Jeff and Adrian were lining coolers with cardboard for the ride home. We finished chores around 1:30 p.m. and headed out. Jeff went out first and me next. Jeff and I did manage to find a pair of Antelopus in amplexis. As Della said, that female could be the future of the species. All the females from the first collection trip died and one female is not a lot. Especially when there is only one in captivity in the world.
The afternoon ended with me alone at the edge of a water hole, waiting for a Strabomanis bufoniformis to stick its head back out of the water. I missed it. It would be the first of our trip, and would be a good find. On the way back to camp I found a Centrolene ilex and H. colymba. C. ilex are a wonderful green leaf sitting frog. They have crazy white eyes and have left an impression on me since I saw them at El Valle a year and a half ago. The eyes bulge out and have lines through the whites. Nice! H. colymba, of course, is a target species, so that was a good find.
The night ended after a search with Edgardo, Roberto, Adrian and I. As the night went on, Roberto and I split up and headed back at the waterfall, as Edgardo took Adrian to find the prized Gastrotheca. The last thing I said to him was “Find my bufoniformis” and he did, too! Along with a male Gastrotheca. I went to bed (aka my hammock) between 12:00 and 1:00 a.m. and Della, Roberto, Adrian and Edgardo were up talking and winding down the night.
December 26, 2009
Panama Travel Journal II - Day 3
After fixing our flat tire, we made the 1.5 hour drive to Chagres National Park. It was somewhat dryer this time, so we drove to the trail head. We got stuck twice and had to be pulled out by Edgardo. His SUV is much better suited to this terrain than the small STRI trucks with highway tires. The horses were at the trail head waiting for us by our 11:30 a.m. arrival. It takes a long time to load the gear of six people on horse back. We let part of the group start off sooner and Edgardo, Adrian and I stayed back. Soon after, I left, then Adrian, then Edgardo. Somehow he always gets (has to) leave last. I made the trip in about four hours this time with the last person making it in about six hours. It was still an epic journey of hill after hill after hill; but the drier conditions and shorter walk allowed most members to cut between two and four hours off the trip.
I asked Della, once on the walk, what she was thinking about, and the answer was typical Della. Frogs. Packing frogs, protocol for washing frogs, treatments for frogs, etc. For me, it was typical Bob. I thought about life; two things in particular. As much as the last trip was a pain, it was a bigger blessing and not because of the work, because of the unknown. With the language barrier and other communication issues we knew very little about the trip, the walk, the conditions, etc. Think about that for a second. In this day and age, in America, how many times does it happen that we don’t walk to the corner store without checking the weather on our Blackberry? In fact, we don’t walk to the corner store at all, we drive in a nicely maintained car. To have an unknown adventure is a true gift.
The second thing I thought about was time and the passing of time. I thought how different this trip was. How already, things are becoming familiar. Less fresh, more scripted. Sure, we still have the Panamanian time delay for everything. Sure, we get up at 4:30 a.m. only to have a flat tire, but much of the adventure is gone. I thought about how hard it is to keep life fresh; and more importantly, how little we try. If we were truthful, we like routine. Starbucks coffee in the morning with this but not too much of that, or iced tea with ½ water since I like my tea weak. The list goes on and on. I think about my kids and how we think when they are raised our job is done. The trouble with this thinking is when there is an end you tend to focus on it and miss the creamy, sweet inner bits. As I am encouraging myself now, I will encourage you. Slow down, look around, enjoy the bits in between the end points in life. The drive to work, the kids’ basketball game, the meeting at work, the bad lunch. You never know what you might find.
“The average man looks at extraordinary things and says ‘wow.’ The wise man looks as the ordinary things and is inspired.”
We finished the night with a two-hour collection trip. Della, Jeff and I found a frog early on. Della ended up finding about three more throughout the night with one Colymba in the group. As a target species, it was a good find. We did find a very sick Rana. It barely jumped at all. Last time they were crazy in the bag. This time, nothing. It was a long day but good as we went to bed around 11 p.m.
I asked Della, once on the walk, what she was thinking about, and the answer was typical Della. Frogs. Packing frogs, protocol for washing frogs, treatments for frogs, etc. For me, it was typical Bob. I thought about life; two things in particular. As much as the last trip was a pain, it was a bigger blessing and not because of the work, because of the unknown. With the language barrier and other communication issues we knew very little about the trip, the walk, the conditions, etc. Think about that for a second. In this day and age, in America, how many times does it happen that we don’t walk to the corner store without checking the weather on our Blackberry? In fact, we don’t walk to the corner store at all, we drive in a nicely maintained car. To have an unknown adventure is a true gift.
The second thing I thought about was time and the passing of time. I thought how different this trip was. How already, things are becoming familiar. Less fresh, more scripted. Sure, we still have the Panamanian time delay for everything. Sure, we get up at 4:30 a.m. only to have a flat tire, but much of the adventure is gone. I thought about how hard it is to keep life fresh; and more importantly, how little we try. If we were truthful, we like routine. Starbucks coffee in the morning with this but not too much of that, or iced tea with ½ water since I like my tea weak. The list goes on and on. I think about my kids and how we think when they are raised our job is done. The trouble with this thinking is when there is an end you tend to focus on it and miss the creamy, sweet inner bits. As I am encouraging myself now, I will encourage you. Slow down, look around, enjoy the bits in between the end points in life. The drive to work, the kids’ basketball game, the meeting at work, the bad lunch. You never know what you might find.
“The average man looks at extraordinary things and says ‘wow.’ The wise man looks as the ordinary things and is inspired.”
We finished the night with a two-hour collection trip. Della, Jeff and I found a frog early on. Della ended up finding about three more throughout the night with one Colymba in the group. As a target species, it was a good find. We did find a very sick Rana. It barely jumped at all. Last time they were crazy in the bag. This time, nothing. It was a long day but good as we went to bed around 11 p.m.
December 24, 2009
Reindeer in Training
Every reindeer would like to be chosen to join Santa at the North Pole. Older reindeer tell wonderful stories about the places they visited when they flew around the world as part of Santa’s Sleigh Team.
Reindeer, you see, only fly with Santa for two or three Christmases before they return to their herds. The Christmas Eve journey is utterly exhausting, so Santa sends them home with his love and thanks for a job well done. The elves throw a huge party before a reindeer leaves, and another to welcome the new team member. The new reindeer is officially given his or her team name: Dasher, Vixen, Prancer, Dancer, Donnner, Blitzen, Comet, or Cupid. The names are like titles that are passed on from one reindeer to another. The new team member will be similar in size, strength, and temperament to the one he or she is replacing so the sleigh will be perfectly balanced.
For most new arrivals at the North Pole, however, the honor of actually joining the Sleigh Team is still a long way off. When they first arrive, they have a long period of training to look forward to. But first, Santa offers them a warm welcome, showing them to the cozy stables for the new arrivals.
- Adapted from Santa’s Reindeer by Rod Green
Meet two very special “Reindeer in Training” at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo this holiday season. Santa's "Reindeer in Training" will be at the Zoo until January 3, 2010.
All of us at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo would like to wish you a safe and happy holiday season filled with all the magic that is Christmas!
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