If a picture is worth a thousand words then…..

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Regua Sum Up

My time at Regua  has been trully amazing.  I highly commend Nicholas and Raquel for what  they have done with / are doing with the land at Regua. Its amazing to think that it used to be a Cattle Ranch, considering the enormous diversity there is at Regua. It is also of high importance  as less than 9% of the Atlantic Rainforest exists.  Everyone from the staff and locals are very friendly most do not speak any english but its easy to get by.  My time was spent mostly  wandering  the trails day and night looking for cool  Insects and animals  which was easy considering the diversity. It helps having  a good  trained  eye for detail as some of the insects  and tiny or well camouflaged,  And as Nicholas  will happily but very jealously tell you.  He thinks I have a natural  born talent.

I also  involved  myself with the guests and created  a photo álbum  of a selection  of my best photos, as a welcome  pack  for guests up at the lodge. During my time there  was  some very lovely  guests that joined us for lunches  as they were interested  in what we we we’re doing,  and although they were primarily Birder’s they had  keen passion in all nature  as they understood the symbiosis everything has in nature.

I had the opportunity  of  doing some conservation education  and gameawith the local  school( recommended)  due to being involed with the Bader family who  came to Regua  with their two boys.

All in all it was a fantastic  experience  and I will be going back semi longterm thanks to Nicholas who just to give you a word of warning is a bit of a character  lol, and try not too make him too  jealous  of any skill or talent you have.  He does play a mean ping pong.

( Left to Right :-  Leading the Trail Walk,  Collecting  Papaya,  Fun Rides,  Teaching  Class,  Teaching a New Game,  Thumbu Hug)

Primary Visit

Over the last few days myself and Davie spent time at the Research Station at the bottom of the green  trail. It’s  Primary Rainforest  so was able to see and hear a lot of amazing wildlife while on walks. But my highlight  has to be from the 1st night,  while out on a walk at night i spotted something  about an inch long flying  near  the ground it was well camouflaged with the leaf litter. I thought it was a Preying Mantis, which on closer inspection it was so I was really happy and not bad going for Identification  done at night via headlamp  of something over 5 feet away from you which is only an inch long and camouflaged. This brings up the total 5 species  I’ve  found at Regua  and a total of 9 species in South America  to date. On the last morning I cut down a nice big bunch of bananas to take back.

Frog Invasion

Yesterday a new volunteer researcher arrived from the USA, Davie Rolnick is here studying Moths. In the evening I took him on a night walk around part of the trail round the lagoons. Part of the trail path was covered in a swarm of large Froglets with varied tail lengths, seeing this was rather cool. As we continued we kept on finding other cool things, the highlights for me was having a tree frog on my thumb in a rather cute position. And finally after 6 years of being interested in Dragonflies we came across a couple of emerging Dragonflies so I was very happy.

Busy Busy

Its been an amazing  but busy 2 weeks. Firstly I’ve been able to see and photograph some amazing cool Insects  etc and I would say I have taken some of my best photos too date which are worthy of being entered into serious Photography  Competition. Nicholas is loving my photos and is always telling  people and asking me too show my photos,  he says (rather jealously) I have an amazing talent and passion for my photography. I’m not letting it go to my  head (hehe) although I do know I am ;).

There have been some really lovely guests  staying here for the USA and the UK. They have teached me as well as me teaching them about things. While they were waiting for a presentation I showed  them a selection of my  best photos taken at Regua,  they all appreciated it and loved the photos and Nicholas  was thrilled. I decided to make a nice photo album using a selection of my best shots, Showcasing the wildlife diversity here at Regua.  Also explaining a bit about myself and advertising as I hope to raise some money for Regua  through my photography. Both Nicholas and Raquel love it and so far the guests  have  been raving about.   A selection  of my photos are being used for talks to schools communities and I’m making a photo video  slide show for an Arts festival which  Regua  has be asked to be involved in too showcase the wildlife There are also blogs been written not by me) showcasing  my findings and photos

New Visitors and Training

After a very quiet week, today firstly Lee Dyer came for weekend. He is the Lead Investigator for the Caterpillar Project (Caterpillars.org) which is all over North and South America, funded  by The National Science Foundation. He was kind enough to give me some tips  and advice,  As  helping  with  the Caterpillar Project is one of my main duties here. Which is becoming easier as there is now currently  only 50 Caterpillars to feed as others have, died or mostly  become Chrysalis or  are affected the Parasitiods(Parasites). So now it’s a case of checking and recording  what happens and collecting the hatched adults for specimens.

Also  Guinevere  Jones another Wyominite  has come for 2 months to do research for her PhD with the help of her Boyfriend  David who is also a PhD  Student

New Group

Its been a quiet few days,I have been doing my caterpillar feeding etc as well as some painting, path repairing and ditch digging. Yesterday I was asked to hang around base as there was a group coming at some point from Virginia Tech for 3 days. When they arrived with Rudy the Sasquatch(A 6″7 inch beast of a guide who moved to Ecuador from America and is a friend to the Station).I helped them get settled in. In the evening I ended up being a DJ for them. Today I explained to them what I was doing with my work for the Caterpillar Project etc. Tomorrow I’m off to Tena for 2 day break.

Oh So Quiet

Its so quiet now without my new friends form Wyoming Uni, but its nice and laid back can get up when I want eat when I want and what I want depending whats availiable too cook. Loren the Volunteer has gone down to Cosanga for the night so its basically me here. Am not reallybothered as just curled up watching movie and blogging on my Samsung Galaxy tablet, too tired to go on a Night Walk myself around my Personal Playground. Its so peacefull here that is what it feels like :),You can really connect with nature all you want and alone here.The only thing worry about is running out of battery power for your head torch at night and failing branches in the forrest you may have to dive out of the way you just never know.

Skills part 2 and Party

Today myself  and Selena  pinned  beetles, it was like doing a model  plane kit. But much more technical, artistic and enjoyable we even lifted up the Elytra (Hard Wing Casing) and outstretched the wings. This is a very tricky and technical thing to do, Selena had not really  done it before so we both learnt. At the end of the class presentation I showed  my pinning  and Professor Scott Shaw said that my pinning is some of  the best amateur pinning he has seen.

This evening  its the leaving party, am going to miss the Wyoming University  guys(New Friends).  Hopefully see them back here next year in the 2013 group. A few of them plan to visit Scotland  so hopefully will be their guide, I’ve also been  invited  to Wyoming which I’d like to do sometime.

Yanayacu Views and Wildlife

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