Greetings from Caño Palma Biological Station!

Well it has been a very busy last few months here at Caño Palma and many exciting things have been happening. With help from former COTERC board member Josh Feltham and his family, who arrived in September, the boardwalk on the Colibrí trail has been completed and we now have an elevated, sturdy boardwalk covering the entire 200m of the trail. This will enable us to conduct research in the wettest times of year while allowing the forest to regenerate by reducing the trampling effect on vegetation and wildlife around the trail, helping to lessen our footprint on the forest. It will also allow the tourists that come to visit the station a chance to walk through the forest and learn more about the area. This project could not have been possible without a
generous donation from Dr Steve Furino of the University of Waterloo. Thanks again for your support.

The boardwalk has been used almost daily since its completion. Josh has been bringing tourists, CCC bird banders and both GVI and COTERC volunteers out on night walks looking for anything and everything they can find. They have had quite a bit of luck and have found such things as tarantulas, small opossums, many species of frogs and such snakes as the Northern Cat-eyed Snake (Leptodeira septentrionalis), Common Snaileater (Sibon nebulatus) and the always popular Blunt-headed Vine Snake (Imantodes cenchoa). It has also been used by visiting researcher Liam Fahley. Liam has been continuing the study that was started a few years ago by Todd Lewis and is searching the trail and station grounds nightly looking for Annulated Tree Boas (Corallus annulatus) and Ringed Snaileaters (Sibon annulatus). The heavy rains and flood waters came and went, but due to the boardwalk (and a canoe needed to get to it!), the research continued.

We also had visiting researchers come to the station that were part of a project involving 3 international universities. Dr Juan Monros and his research team from the University of Valencia in Spain, along with researchers from the University of Leon in Nicaragua and the University of Costa Rica came to the station to study the Manacari forest of the area. They were here identifying the bird, plant and reptile life that live in this forest and they are looking to compare these findings with other Manacari forests in Costa Rica.

So as you can see, there have been some exciting things going on at Caño Palma. Add to this the sighting of a Boa constrictor (Boa constrictor), Bromeliad boa (Ungaliophis panamensis) an Eyelash viper (Bothriechis schlegelii) and the release of 97 Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricate) hatchlings into the sea from an excavated nest and you can see why this place is so special.

March will be here soon enough and with it will bring COTERC Chair Tom Mason and his group’s annual visit to the station. It is a great way to come and experience the station, see some amazing wildlife and help out with the sea turtle and mammal monitoring programs.

I invite you all to come down to Costa Rica and visit the station and find out for yourself why people fall in love with the area.

All the best for a happy 2009,

Jonathan Willans,
Manager, Caño Palma Biological Station

Originally published in Raphia Winter 2009

Originally published in Raphia Winter 2009, Letter from the Chair:

It is the last month of the year and I have been looking back to what we have done over the year. It is a long list that we have accomplished. None of this could have happened without the dedication of many volunteers and the active members of the board of directors. Thank you for giving COTERC another year.

We began with the knowledge that we had lost our most steady source of income. Bingo was gone. We had only 90 days to utilize the remaining cash and we had to think of ways to replace this resource. We also knew how much we needed to find to cover
our annual budget.

Fund raising events included our first art show at Reptilia; we attended four reptile swaps and we had a raffle for a herping trip to Costa Rica. (Thanks for buying and selling so many tickets and thanks Grant Crossman for making it possible). We also upgraded and improved our website. We developed a teachers’ guideline to the rainforest for the grade eleven curriculum. With our partners in Costa Rica, we developed and printed a sea turtle education brochure for tourists visiting the beach. Through some solid effort from the board we also managed to secure a $30,000 grant for our sea turtle conservation program. This will enable us to broaden our work beyond the intern program with York University. York also had an MES student, Sami Abdelmalik, travel to the station to work on an environmental program for the school in the local community of San Francisco. We also continued our large mammal survey and our two bird surveys. The region now boasts records of close to 200 bird species nesting in the area. And we also finished with a very successful Fiesta Verde. We can now look forward to next year.

The grant has allowed us to develop a relationship with McMaster University Biology department. A PhD student, April Stevens will be at the station for 7 months studying the sea turtles. A work party headed by board members Greg Mayne and Kym Snarr has headed down to rebuild the showers and laundry room and work on expanding the mammal survey program. In March we will be running a silent auction for the Canadian Museum Association. We welcome any quality items that could be used. We also plan on running a second art show in April, another Fiesta Verde in the fall and we will continue to visit the Reptile Expo’s and other information events across Ontario. If any one has ideas for fundraising, we would love to hear about it.

At Cańo Palma we are again heading into a busy year. Global Vision International is still working through the station. They are busy with the turtle walks and their jaguar predation study. The bird studies will continue and we plan on increasing the mammal study by increasing the number of transects. We are also working on increasing our nursery of native plants for reforestation programs.

Former COTERC director, Josh Feltham has moved to the Tortuguero region for a year
and has a huge list of jobs to accomplish including: producing brochures, virtual tours of the site for our website, info panels, multimedia programs for education, a guide to the herpetofauna, workshops and other activities to help us in our mandate to conserve. Josh has already been down there for two months and our manager Jonathan praises the work he has already accomplished. (Thanks Josh). Josh and hopefully I will be going down in March to run a reptile survey. The trip will cater to botanists and herpetologists, but birds and fish will also be identified. The trip is scheduled from March 24 to March 31. Feel free to call if you are interested in joining us.

I look forward to seeing what we can do and hopefully how we can bring positive changes to this fabulous corner of our natural world. I invite you all to join us in making these programs work.

As one of the fundraisers that COTERC held this past year, we sold raffle tickets for a free trip to the Costa Rican Rainforest, to be guided by COTERC chair Tom Mason, who is Curator of Invertebrates and Birds at the Toronto Zoo, as well as being a renowned herpetologist. He has led several groups down to Costa Rica in previous years and has been praised for his extensive knowledge of the flora and fauna.

The winner is David Andrew of Port Hope Ontario. David his shown here holding his winning ticket. The draw was conducted at 820 Jomar Ave in Pickering Ontario on January 1, 2009 at 8:oop.m. and drawn by Tom Mason.

Congratulations. The winning ticket was sold by Joanna Romani. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Grant Crossman of National Reptile supply for donating this prize.

June Enright

COTERC is organizing a trip to Costa Rica specifically to search for reptiles and amphibians – A camera safari. It is a trip for both beginners and experts. Unless you’re a constant visitor to the Costa Rican bush it is a guarantee you’ll see new species. Tom Mason had this to say "After sixteen years I still find something new every time".

The following is the tentative itinerary for this guided tour of the Costa Rican tour.

DAY ONE: Depart Toronto for San Jose, Costa Rica. You will be met at the airport and head up the Central Valley to make a stop or two in the Braulio Carillo National Park. The first evening will be spent in Siquirres. After a meal and settling in, there will be an option to go for a night cruise or prepare for the next morning.

DAY TWO & DAY THREE: Two days of exploring the Guayacan de Siquirres. This is the forest that is famous for the bushmaster, one of the most elusive and sought after herps in the Americas. The area is also good habitat for species that are known from the Limon region. At the optimum times of day you will travel into areas of this unique forest to hunt the elusive herps. Meals will be taken at local restaurants.

DAY FOUR: You are up early and on the way to Tortuguero and Cano Palma. You will drive through Guapiles to Caño Blanco. On the way you pass through banana plantations and cattle ranches. You will get the chance to see a population of Ctenonotus, an introduced anoline lizard from Puerto Rico and associated islands. At Caño Blanco you will take a boat ride through Tortuguero Park and onwards to Caño Palma at the southern end of the Baro de Colorado Wildlife Refuge. On the way, one can see many shore birds but with a quick eye the possibilities abound to see caiman, crocodiles, iguana, plumed basilisk and a couple species of basking turtles. After a mid afternoon arrival, you will be given an orientation session about staying in the rainforest. It then is time to see some of the diversity of Caño Palma Biological Station.

DAY FIVE & SIX: Your time will be spent exploring the trails and canals of Caño Palma and the surrounding area. The property alone has produced over 100 species of reptiles and amphibians. In the evening, night walks will be conducted into the forest or you can join the nightly search for the leatherback sea turtle. Ranking as one of the world’s largest reptiles makes it a true thrill to see one. If you are tired, you can spend the evening checking out the compound. By just checking out the local vegetation there is the possibility to see up to three boa species, over 20 species of lizards, many snake species, 5 freshwater turtles and a myriad of frog species.

DAY SEVEN: We say goodbye to Caño Palma and hop on the boat back to Caño Blanco and San Jose. There we return to the Cacts and you have a free afternoon in the city. Taxi’s will take you to souvenir shops or to the zoo or museum. There is a good book shop downtown or if you want there are travel buses that would take you up to the local volcano.

DAY EIGHT: It’s back to the airport and back to Toronto. This trip is designed to look for herps but I guarantee that there will be many more things to see. Orchids, bromeliads, palms and ferns are everywhere, flowers never stop blooming and of course birds, butterflies and oddball bugs are everywhere. Birders will even recognize species from there own backyard. Often you get a chance to see sloth, peccary, tamandua or opossums. Otter swim by the dock and five species of wild cats have been recognized living on the property.

At this time, the approximate cost of the trip is $2,800 - $3,000 per person. If you are interested, contact the COTERC office at (905) 831-8809 or email us. If your wish is only to visit the Cano Palma Research Station, please drop us a note for details.

For photos of the region please check out the COTERC website at: www.COTERC.org. It would be great to show you the animals you love in their natural setting. Come and see why so many people continue to go back.

** Personal items, alcoholic beverages and the cost of a passport not included **