Dear readers,
It has been a while since I last had anything to write here. I have been busy examining the data we gathered during round 1. Exciting news, we have detected both of the target species on camera and audio from a relatively small amount of data, too!
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| View from the hostel in Quito |
For anyone new to the blog, I have added a page where I will be adding my field entries in chronological order. I've named it 'Chronological Narrative', so give it a look if you want to read about the journey from start to end.
Finally, I wanted to extend my thanks to the Explorer's Club. Their financial support has allowed for this project to resume. Now onto the bulk of content - a guide to our tree names.
One of the daily distractions for how sore our bodies were was coming up with the tree names. Typically in research, when you name a site or station, you go with a coded number (example cloudforest01 or CF01). In all fairness, all of our sites are named using a coded system. However, we do also have names that reflect their 'personality', or more aptly, how we were feeling at each tree. Shawn suggested that having names that tell the story of the tree is fun for outreach, so Becca and I took that in stride.
While we are in the interim between field seasons, I thought it would be fun to share the names of our trees and why they were so named.
Whomping Willow: our first tree - in all honesty, it had a temporary name of 'medium jerk tree' for the longest time. Setting up was a bit of a nightmare. Shooting the line took a substantial amount of time (largely due to my lacking aim), but the side we were aiming for was a tangled mess. When someone had to go retrieve the weight bag, they were dealing with bamboo thorns at a steep angle. Shawn and Ryan agreed on the scale from 'nice' trees, to 'jerky' trees, this tree was a medium jerk.
While we are in the interim between field seasons, I thought it would be fun to share the names of our trees and why they were so named.
Whomping Willow: our first tree - in all honesty, it had a temporary name of 'medium jerk tree' for the longest time. Setting up was a bit of a nightmare. Shooting the line took a substantial amount of time (largely due to my lacking aim), but the side we were aiming for was a tangled mess. When someone had to go retrieve the weight bag, they were dealing with bamboo thorns at a steep angle. Shawn and Ryan agreed on the scale from 'nice' trees, to 'jerky' trees, this tree was a medium jerk.
Halfway through the field season, Becca and I realized that none of our tree names remotely reflected our love of Harry Potter, and what greater tree to represent a 'medium jerk' than the Whomping Willow.
Segundo: this tree was the second tree we visited. During our tree 'scope out', where we hike and look for the safest trees with the most canopy connectivity to climb, it was the second one we found. Not particularly exciting, but we were still early in the naming game. This tree was also named after the fact.
Epiphany: first tree we named on site. The most notable thing about the tree was how loaded the branches were with all sorts of epiphytes (plants that can grow on others and don't need to lay roots in the ground). We thought of words that be punny, and we had an epiphany ;)
Bamboozled: My distaste for bamboo was first birthed at this tree. The beautiful tree we wanted to climb was amidst a grotto of bamboo. One of the stocks was leaning against and pushing the branch we planned to place the camera on. We all had to take turns hacking into the trunk of the bamboo so the leaves of bamboo wouldn't constantly be caught on camera.
Gentle Tree: of all of the trees to this point, has been a bit of a challenge to set, whether it be shooting a line multiple times, or whatnot, but this was the first experience that was very smooth. The climb also went smoothly, there was no vegetation that had to be cut out of the way, it was just nice and easy.
Destiny: as we neared the predetermined coordinate for this tree, we came upon a tree right in the middle of the trail. It seemed a little too easy, so we looked around for other trees, but this one really seemed like the best option. And because of its location, it seemed like climbing it was our destiny.
Willpower: it was coming up on the end of an incredibly long day of getting lost along the Tree Forests Trail and hitting bamboo thickets when we finally arrived at this tree. It was nearly 4 pm, meaning we only had two more hours of light. We debated just setting the line and returning in the morning to finish the job, but with enough determination, we pulled offsetting the camera before dark. Willpower felt an apt name to describe what it took to push through that day.
Perseverance: this was the third tree we tried to set a line in for this specific, pre-generated point. It took us nearly three days to get this station up between losing the shot bag, getting up in a tree and realizing the point we needed to get to was impossible to reach, and so on. This is all to so, it took a lot of persistence to get this station up and running.
Fingers Crossed: The main tree branches leaned together near the top, to make it look as though the fingers were crossed. We also needed luck to ensure we could finish installing two stations in one day.
Jaguarundi Tracks: The name of this tree was another example of a lack of creativity. Just a few meters from the tree, there was a sign that showed how to identify jaguarundi tracks. Since we were running low on ideas for tree names, we transferred the name to this tree.
Hot Tuna: The night before, Becca and I had been talking about odd food combinations, and we got on the topic of tuna - how it was always served cold. Well, she wanted to experiment and try it hot, so she cooked it for dinner (definitely a weird taste, in my opinion). Anyways, the next day, the tree we climbed was by the river and it was a hot day, so we thought it would be an apt name to commemorate our culinary adventures.
Terminator: This tree was supposed to be the last station we set in 2019 (it wasn't, given our ambition), but we wanted the name to reflect our progress and the end of the year.
Verizon: right near the tree, we kept finding flags indicating that there were Verizon cables installed underneath. It all seemed very out of place, and we couldn't think of anything more creative at the time for a name.
New Year, New Tree: the first tree of 2020, a play on 'New year, new me', and to reflect our confidence in our abilities now that we had climbed and set lines several trees ourselves.
Pleasantly Surprised: we were concerned about finding a tree in this location that would be good for climbing given the hassle we'd gone through to find previous trees. However, as we walked upstream, we came across this beautiful tree. We were concerned that we were nowhere near the GPS coordinate. Becca and I were both surprised to find that this nice tree was almost exactly at the target location.
Why Can't It Be Flat? (by the Clay Pit): reflected how we felt after all of the uphill hiking with heavy gear and due there being clay licks beside the tree. The appearance of the name was an extension of a running joke Becca and I had about an imaginary band.
Bad Hair Day: this tree had bunches of short, interesting looking branches that made it appear as though it was having a bad hair day.
Staples: just like their slogan, it was super easy. There were no tall trees in the area so we climbed solely using the lanyard. Plus, we staged a silly, commercial-like photo of myself enjoying a thermos of tea from the side of the tree.
Mischief Managed: As this was the last tree we set any stations in, we thought 'mischief managed' as an apt statement to reflect the sense of completion and pride in all we had accomplished.
