Lesser Sac-winged Bat (Saccopteryx leptura)
This is a Lesser Sac-winged Bat (Saccopteryx leptura), very commonly found in the bathrooms and facilities at Cocobolo Nature Reserve! This individual started to call a bit after having been netted, and a few more bats quickly came to investigate. Sean was surprised how close some of them got to him on his way out of the bathroom with his new friend, but it sounds like it was a friendly mammal meeting nonetheless. Photographed by RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser for the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project in Panama while on assignment for the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural...
Read MoreRuddy-tailed Flycatcher (Terenotriccus erythrurus)
Here’s the Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher (Terenotriccus erythrurus), a very small flycatcher and the only member of its genus. Sean has observed it in a wide variety of habitats in Panama though never in any great number. He noted that on this last trip they were more abundant when he was above 500 meters in elevation. This was also during the beginning of the breeding season for the species, and thus they were very active catching insects. Sean said it was amazing watching them zip out and back from feeding perches, wondering what kind of truly high definition vision these tiny flycatchers...
Read MoreCocobolo Nature Reserve Education
Our tropical field season is coming to an end and, even though it is snowing outside in Jamestown right now, we are gearing up for field work here. The latest findings from our work in Panama and Costa Rica will be revealed soon as we work through data. but I can tell you already that there is all sorts of exciting news to report on. In the mean time, I wanted to share this picture, taken by Laurie Doss, during a February trip to Cocobolo Nature Reserve with students and staff of the Marvelwood School in Connecticut. Not only were the students actively involved in monitoring and banding...
Read MoreNew CLICK Program in Panama
With this storm settling down, Twan and I are preparing for our return to Panama tomorrow (hopefully). We are assisting with a new program this year called CLICK, and its goal is to assist rural villages in Panama to protect the biodiversity around them. High school students from the Marvelwood School in Kent, Connecticut will work with children from the rural village of La Zahina in eastern Panama along with Lauren Bowers (daughter of Marvelwood Alum Chuck Bowers) to document the wildlife in their “backyards” and around the Cocobolo Nature Reserve in order to better understand and help...
Read MoreWhite-whiskered Puffbird (Malacoptila panamensis) by Twan Leenders.
Somehow the facial expression of a White-whiskered Puffbird (Malacoptila panamensis) seems to perfectly capture that Monday morning feeling! This female puffbird was netted during a recent joint research project by the Marvelwood School and RTPI in Cocobolo Nature Reserve in Panama. Shot for the Meet Your Neighbours Global Biodiversity Project.
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