Birds, Sea Turtles, Human Impacts, Incidentals, Jaguars...Yahtzee!

Defenders of Wildlife Carnivores Conference 2009
Denver, Colorado, USA.
Grand Hyatt Conference Centre
Central & South America
Longs Peak Room
Moderator: Gerald Zuercher



A common question from the volunteers that contribute their hard-earned cash and time to the expedition is "what happens to the data afterwards?".

Well in a little over two weeks, GVI Costa Rica has presented all of the research programs we are managing to some of the top scientists and researchers from around the world at international conferences in Belize and the USA.

Not only did the research and data receive some great responses and reactions, the diversity and quality of the programs were highlighted as a huge achievement for volunteer research.

As well as drawing a lot of attention to the work and research being carried out we were also pleasantly surprised by the number of researchers who announced that they would be looking into GVI further, not just in terms of potential collaborations or supporting our work, but in several cases as what they thought was a fantastic way to spend their future time-off from work!

We will be working closely with the Costa Rican Environment Ministry to look at the work we have been conducting and how that can be applied to the management of these two beautiful protected areas along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. With years of consistant data from these projects, the hard work of staff and volunteers, and such a range of projects to reflect the immense diversity of the area we are able to begin to build up a bigger picture of what is happening and where management is affective or may need re-evaluating.

You can read more about the work on the left-hand-side of this blog, in terms of reports, abstracts, posters and presentations and find out how you can get involved with GVI here

Birds, Sea Turtles, Human Impacts, Incidentals, Jaguars...Yahtzee!

Denver: The Mile High City

A little different to what we are used to in the tropical rainforest of Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast where we conduct our research. Denver, Colorado, is the setting for this year's conference on Carnivores held by the Defenders of Wildlife, and organisation established over 60 years ago and working with researchers and professionals around the globe. This year's theme is Carnivore Conservation in a Changing World, and is focusing on issues related to climate change around the world. It is being held in Denver - described in the program as being "at the forefront of so many carnivore conservation issues".

After over two-and-a-half years in the beautiful tropical climate, Country Director David Aneurin Jones is experiencing a bit of a climate change of his own! Here's some photos from the Mile High City to get you acclimatised to the happenings over the coming week.








This year's meet & greet was held at the Wildlife Experience centre - a museum of wildife and conservation combined with an interactive learning and animatronic displays. Below are some pictures featuring many of the animals we are lucky enough to see in real life almost every day on the expedition in Costa Rica (and some less so!)

Denver: The Mile High City

Defenders of Wildlife Carnivores Conference

GVI are presenting this week at the Defenders of Wildlife annual Carniovores Conference in Denver, Colorado.

Country Director, David Aneurin Jones is braving the cold of the Mile High City to present our latest piece on work on our jaguar predation of marine turtles study.

Today was the first day of the conference, with meet-and-greet sessions and registration being held, together with a behind the scenes tour of Denver Zoo. Several talks were given by the Zoo's staff, focusing on the carnivores in their collection and how the Zoo is involved in breeding and conservation programs around the world.

Here are just a few highlights from the tour:





Stay tuned over the week for updates from the conference

Defenders of Wildlife Carnivores Conference

Tree frog sighting!

A rare and spectacular sighting in San Fran this week provided a treat for several
lucky GVI team members: a red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas) showed off its astonishing colours for our cameras. (Thanks to Laura for the photos)

Tree frog sighting!

Ex-GVI Costa Rica Volunteer returns at the head of the Habitat Healers

When Bill Valaika was offered a job of a life-time back in August and had to make the heartbreaking decision to leave the expedition earlier than expected he told everyone that he would be back...I'm not sure anyone quite expected what happened next!

Bill left the expedition a changed man, with a drive and zest for life he feared he may never get back. His outlook on life was different and Bill was determined that he wanted to do something to make a difference and help out the place that had given him so much. So Bill did the only logical thing he could do back in his home town of Denver, near the Rocky Mountains...he set up an NGO, Habitat Healers, to clean up beaches(!)

Habitat Healers™ Mission Statement:

Habitat Healers is an international non-profit organization dedicated to saving not only critically endangered marine turtles, but also other species by implementing cleaning and recycling programs on beaches worldwide. By partnering with local businesses, community groups and volunteers, Habitat Healers fosters a safe and healthy habitat for all.

Bill was inundated with requests from an advert he placed on Craig's List, from people to come out to Costa Rica with him and help GVI with their beach cleaning efforts, now at the height of the green turtle hatchling season.

A huge effort was made by the Habitat Healer & GVI volunteers to clear as much of the garbage and debris from the beach as possible - filling more than five heavy duty building supplies bags with literally hundreds of pieces of plastic & human made garbage.

On the second day they spent the day in the Community of San Francisco, with help from Community Interns past & present Cassidy and Amelia. They cleaned up the beach in front of El Cerro and the kids and adults helped clean up around the village, where they helped to make a recycling area, before rounding off the day with some beach football!

A big thank you to everyone that helped make the event the success that it was in raising awareness about pollution, plastics and the effects they can have on our endangered marine turtles, together with many other kinds of wildlife, marine, coastal and terrestrial.

See more pictures of the Habitat Healers here

Ex-GVI Costa Rica Volunteer returns at the head of the Habitat Healers

Late comer to Turtle Beach Lodge

Helen continued her run of good luck on Saturday when she was on surely the best Morning Census of phase, with Russell (and Jo leading). With NRC from the night before and no hatchling watches, the team were on for a pretty quiet survey and saw nothing of interest up to mile 2.

Then,just before Turtle Beach Lodge they saw a turtle track and a small group of tourists sat on a log nearby. The team walked up to the track.

I was just thinking ‘hmm, I don’t see a down-track.’, when I saw a spray of sand flicked up from the vegetation and realised the turtle was still on the beach.

There were three tourists sitting quietly nearby who said they had been there for ten minutes or so. I could hardly believe our luck as I went up to see what the turtle was doing - she appeared to be disguising.

This is a very lucky sighting, especially on Playa Norte, and so late in the season. The team read the turtle’s tags and Russell took some great photos - see right - and video footage.
Jo said,

It was amazing to get a good look at a turtle in daylight, to observe the way they move and what they’re doing when ususally all you get is a grey shape and an eye full of sand. Shame we couldn’t work her too, but that would have been a little too lucky.

Late comer to Turtle Beach Lodge

Jaguars 0 - 12 Coatis

The jaguar camera-trapping team were out this week changing cameras in the National Park when they came upon a group of 12 coatis in the forest. The group moved quickly past the GVI team, but one coati became separated from the rest of them. He stood his ground, eyeing up the camera team before making a break for it to join the others. “It was great to see so many together, and at such close quarters,” said scholar Jess, who was leading the team.

Coati belong to the raccoon family and generally travel in family groups. GVI volunteers should have no trouble empathising with these particular forest inhabitants: bands of coati are active during the day, omnivorous, forage for a variety of foods, and move in groups lead by females. Sound familiar? (with apologies to Rich!).

An ocelot and red brocket deer previously captured on camera traps

Jaguars 0 - 12 Coatis

Digging deep

Sea turtle nest-fate surveys, or "excavations" drew a blank on Saturday, but no one can say the team didn’t try. Despite determined effort from Tucker, Russell and Tom (see photo below), who between them dug half way to Sri Lanka, the only thing the team recovered was the nest ID tag. Night patrols on the beach this week have yielded few results too, as the season inevitably tails off.


However, patrol leader Sarah finally got to work a green turtle this week, thus completing the set (leatherback, hawksbill and green). Having had months of bad luck with green turtle opportunities, she returned to base in the early hours with a big smile.

Night walks will continue a little longer yet, with the final date determined by the number of records on successive days.

Digging deep

Is it an agouti? Is it a tapir? No, it's a JAGUAR!

“New Brand of Ketchup on Base”.... “Jack Barks at Howlers”...in the end this week’s top story needed little consideration. It's the one you've all been waiting for...the jag photos. When we said a jaguar was spotted swimming across the canal we weren't kidding!


Three teams were present for the jaguar sighting of the year, also caught on camera by Sam. The jag walkers had finished their survey, met up with the boat pick-up team and the jag camera team, and all were headed back on Iriria when they saw something in the main canal...some discussion ensued as to what it could be, as with collective jaws dropping they realised what they were looking at was a swimming jaguar.

Is it an agouti? Is it a tapir? No, it's a JAGUAR!

Jaguar symposium at the Meso Conference

This year's conference included a day of special presentations and workshops entitled Felid status, ecology and conservation in Mesoamerica, hosted by Howard Quigley for Panthera.

The talks brought people from all around the world, presenting their work from throughout Latin America. Country Director, David Aneurin Jones, accepted the invitation to attend on behalf of GVI Costa Rica and was able to take notes on everything from camera-trapping to the use of felid latrines - right through to information on proposed biological corridors to aid in the conservation of species, with jaguars used as the flagship umbrella species to push the plans forward.

With an upcoming talk in Denver, Colorado next month, Dave was keen to make some contacts and get some feedback on the work GVI Costa Rica is doing with Jaguars in Tortuguero National Park (TNP). After talking to some participants after one of the sessions, Dave was invited to lunch by Roberto Salom of Panthera and John Polisar of WCS to discuss the unique situation with jaguars in TNP and the potential for collaborations in the future.

Que bueno!

Jaguar symposium at the Meso Conference

A picture paints a thousand words...

...so they say - but we took to explaining the work presented by GVI Costa Rica too!

The poster session went very will, with around two hours of explaining the work presented in the posters, about GVI, our priceless volunteers and dedicated staff and networking with other professionals and organisations.

Many people went away with copies of the posters and contact addresses for the program.

Thanks to everyone who made it possible and all staff and volunteers for their continued dedication and tireless good work.

A picture paints a thousand words...

The Big Day!

Thanks for all the good wishes and interest we have received from friends, family, past and present volunteers and staff. The news from the field was that they had a Minute's Applause at 09:30 yesterday as Stephanny was taking the stage in Belize. We know everyone is anxious to know how things went so we writing here every spare minute I have this week - a blog-athon for conference week!

The talk ran through all aspects of the past three years, from management decisions to the introduction of the volunteer workforce; some basic results and information, including the decreasing in poaching; the community work we do and the future directions for the program.

The presentation was well attended and received some interest from projects in other countries, including a project in Nicaragua, including questions about beach erosion and community involvement.

Well done to Steph and and huge thanks to all staff and volunteers from GVI and COTERC who have been involved.

The Big Day!