Time To Say Goodbye

And Last Minute Random Thoughts. . .

Our time in Nicaragua is fast drawing to a close. Many memories were made here, both in the field while mist netting and around the villa and town.

El Mercado. One of my favorite places to visit with the smell of
cooking chorizo and the colorful fruits and vegetables.

The results of our mist netting surveys are still being compiled, but over the 2 months of the project 1,476 individual bats representing 45 species were captured. Our captures have resulted in expansions of the known ranges of several bat species and documented a species new to Nicaragua.

Range map after our capture of a Pale-Faced Bat.

Pale-Faced Bat (Phylloderma stenops).
This is the first individual of this species captured in Nicaragua!

The natural resources of Nicaragua are stunningly beautiful but extremely threatened. Conservation of these resources hinges on understanding the culture and economic hardships that a majority of Nicaraguans face on a daily basis. A “thou shall not destroy your resources approach” will fail here.

One of Nicaragua's many volcanoes, unfortunately I do not remember which one this is.

Communication was an exciting challenge as the U.S. bat biologists spoke little Spanish and our Nicaraguan crew spoke little English. Our conversations were a blend of the few words we knew of Spanish/English (depending on your native language), Spanglish, biological names, and Charades. Carol and Martin, in particular, were extremely good at Charades. Had we actually played the game, they would have served as our captains.

The game "Angry Birds" was a big hit with the kids.
Victor learned it within a few minutes and attained the advanced levels within one day.

I love the beginning of a journey. One never knows quite what to expect or how to completely prepare for it. I’ve found that it is best to let go at a certain point and let the experience take you wherever it may.

So many destinations, so little time.

The things I will miss most are not necessarily specific events, but the small moments that collectively created a backdrop for our time here. For instance, how the buildings naturally open to the sunshine and allow for a cross breeze while protecting you from the rain. I will miss the roar of the howler monkeys and the shrieks of the parrots. I will miss the colors that are so vividly displayed on every available surface. I will miss the smiles that come so quickly to the faces of Nicaraguans.

We drew many smiles from people as we transported our pinata home from the market.
 The pinata was stuffed with candy and sacrificed at our going away party.

Unfortunately it is time to say goodbye to Nicaragua, but I am comforted to know that the end of this journey means the beginning of another. And it’s possible that that new journey might just lead me back here.

Minutes after sunset on our last night in San Juan del Sur.
We toasted the sun and each other for a job well done.

A New Species for Nicaragua

Nicaragua now has 101 species of bats (or 100 if you accept the recent combination of 2 species into 1 based on a genetic study published by Simmons in 2005)!

Pale-Faced Bat (Phylloderma stenops). This is the first individual of this species captured in Nicaragua!
The white wing tips are characteristic of this species, there was no question about the identification.

 We had a record-breaking night mist netting last night. We captured 4 new species for the project. Three of these species were known to occur in Nicaragua, but had not been captured yet on this project. The fourth species, the Pale-faced Bat (Phylloderma stenops) is known to occur in Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south but had never been captured in Nicaragua. The current range map for this species had a question mark for the country.

The range map before the capture.

Our group is extremely proud and excited to say we have removed that question mark.

The range map after the capture.

The night started off slow with the only highlight being that we accidentally placed our mist nets below a group of trees where 3 howler monkeys were roosting. We had a great view of them and I managed to take a few photographs that showed they were howlers (as opposed to my previous attempts where they were dark blobs in a tree).

Mantled Howler (Alouatta palliata)

The show-stopping moment occurred around 8:50pm when our project leader, Carol, came back from checking the mist nets with a very large bat in her hands. As she keyed out the bat and relayed the species determination to Arnulfo (the leading Nicaraguan bat biologist who was working with us this past week) he shook his head no. As Carol extended the wing to point out a white patch at the tip that is the identifying characteristic for this species he jumped out of his chair and ran over to her. Carol was excited because she knew this was a new species for the project, but we didn’t realize this was a new record for the country until Arnulfo frantically showed us the range map that showed the question mark over Nicaragua!

Arnulfo Medina, Nicaragua's bat biologist, and Carol, our project leader
just after we determined the species.

Arnulfo has been netting in Nicaragua for over 10 years, looking for this species in the types of habitat he thought it most likely to occur. He had tears welling up in his eyes and his arms were covered in goose bumps.

Our shouts of excitement had the unfortunate side effect of waking up the howler monkeys roosting above us. They showed us their displeasure by shaking the branches and attempting to pee on us (fortunately the offending monkey had bad aim).  

After documenting the capture with extensive photographs and video we sent the bat on her way wishing her a good life.

New species are extensively photographed. We refer to this as the "paparazzi moment".

Wishing her well and sending her on her way.

Lo que sea

What will be will be

Some locations for me are best described through music. The rhythm and beat of the music describes the energy and pace of a locale that transcends the spoken word. I hear steel drums in my head when I think of a Caribbean island, mariachi music for Mexico, and flamenco for Spain. Nicaragua had a strong voice that I heard clearly within a few days of my arrival. The sound has the laid back rhythm of a Caribbean island minus the steel drums with an added dash of the upbeat mariachi band of Mexico.

Sunset over the Pacific Ocean as seen from a beach side bar in San Juan del Sur.

El Mercado

El Mercado

The pace of Nicaragua is much more laid back than the US. Someone will not necessarily meet you at a pre-agreed upon time and the hardware store doesn’t always open at 1pm. The phrase “island time” came to our minds when trying to describe the attitude towards time, however this is a poor description for a country that is most certainly not an island. Jose, one of our Nicaraguan biologists, speaks excellent English and tends to function as our interpreter. When he was asked how we could translate “island time” to fit the Nicaraguan attitude he gave us the phrase “lo que sea” (pronounced lo-co-say-a). The literal translation is “that which may be” and is used in place of “whatever” or “whatever happens will happen”.

Nicaraguans are crack aces at taking the good with the bad. Hardship is a constant presence that is challenged by a people who are quick to smile and have an iron clad sense of community that we, as Americans, have lost. Your fellow town people are more than your neighbors; they are your family and share your laughter and your sorrows. Christian, one of our local guides, lost his cousin three days ago. The passing was not unexpected and occurred over a few days. As word spread of his decline people began arriving en masse via truck, taxi, motorcycle, bicycle, and foot. A vigil was maintained around the clock with singing, hand clapping, and prayers. We would return from the field, passing the house at 2am, to see hundreds of people crowding the yard of the house, spilling over onto the street. While the vigil was incredibly sad to witness it also served as a beautiful celebration of his life that moved us to tears.

The sense of community is further cemented by sports with the reigning favorite being soccer with baseball a close second. All of the villages have at least one flat, grassy area that serves as the playing field. Here in Escamaquita, soccer and baseball games are played on the weekends (assuming the chickens can be herded off the field long enough to hold a game) and the entire community gathers to watch. We have tried to catch a game but have not been able to do so because of our field schedule and the recent funeral mentioned above.

The local grassy area where chickens gather and the locals play soccer and football.

I wish that Americans could reconnect in this fashion. We have become so disconnected from each other even though we are increasingly connected via cell phones, e-mail, and social networking sites on the internet. I think we could all use a community soccer field with grazing chickens. . .or a front porch with a rocking chair.

Front porch of the villa. A lot of my blog posts are from this rocking chair.

You must be smarter than the bats

AKA – How we catch bats (or attempt to)

The goal of the Nicaraguan research project is to compare bat species diversity and activity between varying levels of fragmented forest (ex: highly fragmented such as near agricultural fields or homes, slightly fragmented such as a small tract of forest on the outskirts of town, and un-fragmented such as a contiguous tract of forest within a nature preserve).  Multiple sites have been selected within each fragmentation level for acoustic and mist-netting surveys.

The acoustic surveys are accomplished by placing Anabat microphones at the site. Anabats are able to record the echolocation calls of the bats and record them to compact flash (CF) cards. The CF cards are downloaded daily to computers and the echolocation calls are analyzed. Some bat species have unique echolocation calls while other species have such similar calls that it is difficult or impossible to make a species determination. Jose and Marlin are college students (undergraduate level) that have been hired to move the Anabats between survey points on a daily basis. They will continue the Anabat monitoring through this spring, even after our mist-netting surveys have been completed.

Marlon and Jose, the two undergraduate Nicaraguan employees running the Anabat surveys.

Mist netting involves placing nets in flyways such as streams and roads. A mist net is similar to a volleyball net but is taller (about 2.6 meters) and has much smaller holes. Mist nets range in length between 2.6m and 18m. The length of net we use is determined by the habitat in which we’re placing the nets.

The mist nets are strung between 2 poles and vary in height between “single high” nets and “triple-high” nets. Single highs are simply 1 net strung between 2 poles and triple highs are 3 nets stacked on top of each other strung between 2 poles that have a pulley-like system allowing the nets to be raised and lowered to remove captured bats.

Single-high mist net being deployed by one of our awesome US bat biologists.

Triple-high mist net. The white pvc rings have carabiners on them that the nets clip on to.
The rings are on a pulley system so the nets can be raised and lowered to remove bats.

The mist nets are placed in flyways (areas where bats fly - comparable to a human “highway”) where overhanging vegetation creates a small space through which the bats fly (called a funnel). Many bats are able to avoid the nets by pulling u-turns or going over the nets, however bats that aren’t paying close attention or can’t correct their flight path in time are captured in the nets.

The captured bats are removed from the mist nets and identified to species. We also determine the sex, reproductive status (if the females pregnant, lactating, or post-lactating, and if the males are non-reproductive or actively reproductive), and basic measurements such as weight, forearm (from elbow to wrist), thumb, ear, and foot are taken. If the bat is unusual or a new species for us we’ll usually take photographs of the bat (and us with the bat) and marvel over it before releasing it.

Removing a bat from the mist net.

Measuring a bats forearm (from their elbow to wrist). Several species that are
look identical are split into different species based on this measurement.

All of the mist netting surveys are conducted by bat biologists from the US that have volunteered for the project. These surveys began around the beginning of December and will continue through the end of January.

The acoustic and mist netting techniques don’t vary much between countries. Once the sun goes down and netting begins it is easy to forget we are in a foreign country thousands of miles away from whichever place each of us calls home. The night sounds that serve as our backdrop vary between the familiar such as the hooting of owls and the chirping of the frogs and insects and the unfamiliar such as the roar of the howler monkeys. We haven’t had any close encounters with the howlers (which is good since they’re known to fling objects ranging from tree branches to their own poo at unsuspecting people) but I enjoy their noises and tend to smile when I hear their husky voices.

There are security precautions we take in the field for the sake of our equipment and our own safety. The field trucks are always locked with all items removed from the truck beds. In high-risk areas a guard is left to watch over them. We also have a local field guide with us each night. The guide ensures we are on the correct property, interacts with landowners and local people, and watches over the group alert for any possible problems. We are surveying field sites farther away from our villa (about an hour and a half drive), close to the Costa Rican border. Drug runners are common, so Don Miguel is our guide for that locale. Don Miguel is known as “el jefe” in the area and is very respected by the locals.

“Don” and “Dona” are titles used here to denote men and women who are very well respected; they are often heads of their households and have a high social ranking within a community.

Time is running short as we are approaching the end of January. I am trying to not let thoughts of home intrude on my time and experience here but I know this will be harder as it gets closer to the time I need to leave. In the meantime, we are busy netting with an occasional night off. We are hoping for an arribada tonight or the following night.

Bats, bats everywhere

Staying busy is not a problem here. Between our field schedule and running errands in town and at the market, there is little down time in which I am able to write. Here is a post in pictures of the latest bats and scenery.

One of the many turtle beaches we have visited. Costa Rica can be seen in the background.
An arribada (when sea turtles arrive en masse to lay eggs) of 3,000 sea turtles might be happening
this next week. Sea turtle tours are a major tourist attraction and generate a lot of revenue. There is
also a lot of egg poaching with the poachers eating the eggs themselves (free source of protein) and selling
them for $1 per dozen. Daily salaries range from $2 to $5 so this can be a major source of income.
Wildlife conservation here depends on understanding the society, culture and economic hardships.

Our "laundry line". As bats are removed from the nets, we hang them on the line until we can process them (this involves taking specific measurements, identifying the sex and reproductive status as well as the species).

Intermediate Fruit-eating Bat (Artibeus intermedius). One of the larger bats we catch frequently. 

Thomas' Fruit-eating bat (Artibeus watsoni). Cute little buggers that are fairly easy to
remove from the nets as long as you watch their mouths - they love to bite!

Wrinkle-faced bat (Centurio senex). Out of 1,000 bats captured on this project, only 2 have
been this species.  They are so ugly they're cute. These bats have a wrinkled face with no fur.
They have a skin flap under their chin that is raised over their face (the flap has 2 slits for the eyes)
during courtship. . .this, of course, has created many jokes about paper bags over heads.
We were very, very excited to catch this guy!

Settling In

After a 2 hour drive south from Managua, we arrived at our field house located 20 minutes out of San Juan del Sur in the Rivas province. The “field house” is a villa owned by an American. The villa is square in shape, with the house opening onto an inner courtyard with an open roof. The kitchen, living room, and bedrooms all open onto the inner courtyard. The rooms have screened windows on the outer and inner walls that allow for cross breezes but help keep out flying insects.

Villa courtyard, all the bedrooms, kitchen, and living room open onto the courtyard.

Estella, the villa burro, lives in the north paddock, and the rooster and hen roam on the south side of the house. We chose our bedrooms based on which animal we thought least likely to wake us up (my bedroom window faces north, ironically the rooster, not the burro, woke me up this morning). A pack of three dogs roam the villa providing alternating services as guard dogs (they’re trained to bark at unfamiliar people) and garbage disposals. A piece of watermelon rind will win you the undying devotion of Estella while the dog’s affections can be earned with meat scraps or ear scratches.

Estella, the villa burro that loves watermelon (sandia).

The Lopez family lives in a small house to the side of the villa. They have been hired to assist the field crew for the duration of our project. Martin, the husband, is the villa handyman and security detail. Virginia, the wife, cooks us one meal per day (usually lunch) and does basic cleaning such as sweeping and laundry. The young boy, Victor, age 9, is bright-eyed and extremely intelligent. He is an ever-present shadow hovering on the edge of conversations, soaking up the conversations, the tasks we’re completing, and the pictures in the field books we’re looking through. Jessica, age 11, is extremely shy so she flits in and out.

The field crew is led by Carol, the visiting professor on sabbatical, and is composed of rotating volunteers and three full-time Nicaraguan employees, Christian, Jose, and Marlin. They are responsible for moving un-manned (passive) acoustic microphones between sites during the day, collecting acoustic call files from the bats at night, and serving as our interpreters/security/local guides. The volunteers are mostly American biologists experienced in bat work that have flown in to help for a short period of time ranging from a few days to a few weeks.

About 100 species of bats are known in Nicaragua as opposed to around 45 species in the United States. We joke that a bad night netting down here is better than the best night in the United States. Our second night out has been the best so far with 81 bats representing 17 species. I will be able to post higher quality photographs soon, but in the meantime here are some of the species captured so far:

Common vampire bat

Greater fishing bat, a piscivorous (fish-eating) species

Greater White-lined Bat, The white tissue on the bat's wing is a special sac that contains pheromones.
The male bats will wave their wings towards a female to woo her.

You are Here. . .

Today began in the dark, wee hours of the morning (2am to be precise) when I peeled myself out of bed to face my bleary eyed self in the mirror. As I was zipping my suitcase, I happened to look down at my hiking boot clad feet, and the thought “You are Here” crossed my mind. You know the type of map you see in a mall or airport that shows your current location as a big red x?  That was my thought. It made me smile, because in a few hours that red x would be a few thousand miles away.

My red x is currently positioned over Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua. Our plane arrived around 2:30pm.

View of Lake Nicaragua as our plane was on final approach.

We quickly cleared immigration and customs and found Jose, our non-English speaking driver. I attempted to speak with Jose, but my Spanish was exhausted after the usual greetings and asking him if he lived in Managua.

After touring the local volcano (yes, it’s a tourist attraction, and yes, it’s still active) we were taken to a local hotel, where we will spend the night. Jose will be back to pick us up at 8am to drive us to San Juan del Sur, a town about 3 hours to the south where our rental house is located. In the meantime, we are on the back porch; enjoying some Nicaraguan beer, swinging in the hammocks, and watching the bats drink from the pool.

I am loving this.

The Road to Nicaragua

One of my biggest dreams for many, many years has been to do international bat work. It didn’t really matter where or what I would be doing, I just wanted to cross over the US border. The other side of that international line was so tantalizing . . .a new group of bat species, new ways to catch them, a land foreign to me with a dizzying array of new people, languages, sights, foods, colors, and smells.

I had been searching for a few years for an opportunity and, a little over a year ago, finally found the perfect one. A colleague and friend from my days in the southwestern desert let me know that she would be taking a sabbatical from her university position beginning in December 2011 and continuing through January 2012. Her country of choice? Nicaragua. What would she be doing on her sabbatical? Studying bats of course! I had the pleasure of working with her in 2005 on a study she conducted on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Spotted bats (Euderma maculatum) (I hope to tell the tale of that adventure one day).

Spotted bat (Euderma maculatum). Check out the ears!

To this date, her Spotted bat study had been my favorite field project. It had the requisite amount of craziness and danger combined with a phenomenal field crew, all with the stunning Grand Canyon serving as a backdrop.

On the north rim of the Grand Canyon. We had just finished a night of mist netting and decided to
check if any of our tagged Spotted bats were roosting in the Canyon itself. We found one bat and came nose to beak with a California Condor that was riding a thermal up the canyon wall.

I had absolutely no reservations in telling her I wanted to volunteer on her Nicaragua project, I knew that I not only would be in good hands but would have the adventure of a lifetime.

In early October I booked my plane tickets to Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua. After booking the flight, my life quickly became consumed with the details of international travel; brushing up on my Spanish, creating packing lists for personal items and the things I would need in the field, surfing the web for specialty items such as mosquito netting, researching the local currency, food and customs, and also determining if I needed any special vaccinations.

Luckily I found a nearby hospital with a Travel Clinic that specializes in the specific needs of people that travel internationally. I was able to work with the nurse practitioner to determine which vaccinations would be needed based on my personal history and the country and time of year I would be travelling. While most of my vaccinations were up to date, we decided that I would complete the vaccination series for Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Flu, Typhoid, and Malaria. These vaccinations were to be completed over a period of 3 visits to the travel clinic and 1 visit to my local pharmacist (who seemed rather perplexed as to why he was dispensing Typhoid medication to me).  Each vaccination varies in how many doses are needed, how it is administered, efficacy, and side effects. Here’s the summary:

Hepatitis A/Hepatitis B: Given together in a combination drug known as Twinrix, it is an intramuscular injection given in 3 doses. Efficacy: Vaccination is good for my lifetime. Side effect: Feels like you were in a bar fight with the injection site being the only place where the leather clad biker decided to pummel you.

Flu shot: Given as an injection in 1 dose. Efficacy: Vaccination is good for one year. Side effects: Mild fever and headache (hello Excedrin, you are my friend).

Typhoid: Given as an oral medication in 3 doses. Efficacy: A 70% resistance to Typhoid for 5 years. Side effect: Intestinal pain that ensured I walked in a hunched position resembling that lovable Disney character who lived in that famous Parisian cathedral. After the 1^st dose I realized that diuretics such as caffeine and alcohol magnified the pain. This was truly unfortunate as coffee and red wine are two of my vices. However, given the level of pain I was in I chose to skip the wine and coffee for the remainder of my dosing schedule (which put me into caffeine withdrawal, complete with headaches – it is fair to say my coworkers suffered with me through this one). 

Malaria: Given as an oral medication on a weekly basis beginning one week prior to your travels and ending four weeks after your travelling is complete. Efficacy: Only while undergoing treatment. Side Effects: Unknown. Given my troubles with the Typhoid medication, I would appreciate you crossing any spare fingers for me (and how about tossing some toes in there too?).

Those of us volunteering for the Nicaragua project were also required to complete an on-line training course that reviews the ethical implications of working with animals. Any time you work with vertebrate animals you are required to take a refresher course in this topic. Our field work falls into this requirement since we physically handle the bats. The training is composed of several modules that I completed over the course of a few days. While not much of the information applies to the type of work we will be doing, I was highly entertained by a golden nugget of information: Rodents and rabbits cannot vomit. Why this entertains me, I cannot say, it simply does. Can’t you envision this as an answer on Final Jeopardy? It seems to fit in the topic of “Random Pieces Of Information That Are Likely To Be Useful Only On Jeopardy”. I have yet to find out if the other project volunteers found this as entertaining as I did.

As the countdown clock is ticking ever closer to my departure time I am scrambling to do last minute errands: buying sunscreen, finding the batteries for my headlamp, and obsessively checking that I haven’t misplaced my passport. The pile of things to pack is slowly growing in the corner of my bedroom and the excitement, oh how the excitement and anticipation are building!

Bats 101, Facts You Never Knew

If you’re a bat neophyte, here are some basic facts. I’ve linked to some wonderful organizations at the bottom of this post should you be interested in more in-depth information.

There are over 1,200 species of bats in the world. They represent over 20% of all known mammals.

The smallest bat (and mammal) in the world is the bumblebee bat. It weighs less than half a penny and has a 3 inch wingspan.

The largest bats in the world are the giant flying foxes. They weigh around 3 pounds and have 6 foot wingspans. They are fruit eaters.

Bats are mammals. All mammals have fur, are warm-blooded, give birth to live young, and nourish those young with milk.

Bats are the only mammals that can fly. Flying squirrels glide, they are not capable of true powered flight.

Bat species have a wide variety of diets. A quick list from the most to least common: insects, fruit, nectar, carnivorous, fish, and blood.

Most bats eat insects. Insectivorous bats account for over 2/3rds of all known species and feed on insects such as mosquitos, moths, and crop pests such as the corn earworm and cotton bollworm. A little brown bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquito-sized insects in one hour! Collectively, insectivorous bats save U.S. farmers over $1 billion annually.

Hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus). These guys eat insects.

Over 200 species eat fruit (frugivorous bats). These bats live in the tropics where fruit can be found year round. Fruit eating bats play a critical role in rainforest regeneration by dispersing seeds. They also pollinate crops such as bananas, avocados, cashews, and figs.

More than 50 species feed on nectar and pollen (nectarivorous). These species are important pollinators for columnar cacti such as the saguaro and organ pipe as well as agaves. If you like margaritas thank this type of bat as they pollinate the agave that tequila is made from, the blue agave.

Mexican long-tongued bat (Choeronycteris mexicana).
These guys feed on nectar from flowering columnar cacti.

Around 7 species of bats eat small vertebrates such as frogs, birds, lizards, rodents, and even other bats (but not their own kind). These bats have a carnivorous diet.

About 5 species catch fish and aquatic insects (piscivorous). These bats have elongated hind feet they drag through the water to scoop up fish. Their echolocation is so fine they can detect a ripple on the water as fine as a human hair.

The vampire bats are by far the most famous bats, however their diet is the least common. There are only 3 species of bats that drink blood (a sanguivorous diet). These species are only found in Central and South America. Two of these species feed only on birds and 1 feeds on mammals. Vampire bats do not suck blood, they actually lap up the blood with their tongues like kittens. An anticoagulant in their saliva is being adapted for the treatment of stroke patients.

Bats are found on all continents except Antarctica. There are 45 species of bats found in the United States. Texas has the most species at 32, but Arizona is a close second with 28 species.

The largest known bat colony in the world is Bracken Cave in Central Texas. Over 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) roost in the cave and collectively eat over 200 tons of insects EACH NIGHT (200 tons is approximately equal to 2 – 737 Boeing jets filled with fuel, baggage, and passengers). Impressive isn’t it? This colony is visible on Doppler radar.

Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis).
These guys are insect eaters, especially insects that are considered crop pests.

Congress Avenue bridge in Austin, Texas houses the largest urban bat colony of 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats. The emergences draw over 100,000 visitors a year and bring over $8 million dollars to the Austin economy.

Bats are involved in the production of over 450 commercial products including fibers, dyes, tannins, timber, fuel, human food and beverages and 80 types of medicines.

For more information:

Bat Conservation International

Organization for Bat Conservation

Lubee Bat Conservancy

Bat World Sanctuary