New 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 MoreRTPI Educational Presentation
Local friends! Check out this great program by RTPI Educator Tina Scherman for ages 8 and up based on a children’s book, For the Birds, The Life of Roger Tory Peterson written by Peggy Thomas and illustrated by Laura Jacques, at the James Prendergast Library at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays January 14 and 28. You’ll learn more about Roger Tory Peterson and his famous Peterson System of nature identification. You can find more information on the presentation here: http://rtpi.org/education/
Read MoreSurveying grassland birds
Here’s RTPI Conservation Technician Elyse Henshaw with JCC interns Kurt and Andrew in the wind and rain today working at the Chautauqua County Jamestown Airport looking for grassland birds and ground truthing point count locations. No matter the weather we’re outside now!
Read MoreSpring projects accelerating
We are about to hit the busiest time of our year as spring and summer field work and active conservation projects go into full swing on the ground in Western New York and nearby areas of Pennsylvania. We are working seven days a week nonstop during these seasons to collect data, conduct research, educate the public and train the next generation of scientists. Here are only some of the major initiatives that are underway at the moment: In 2001 RTPI published a Natural History Atlas to the Chautauqua-Allegheny Region, culminating several years of environmental education work through a matching...
Read MoreGhost Glass Frog (Sachatamia ilex) by Twan Leenders
We’re back from a successful research trip to the Rara Avis Rainforest Reserve in Costa Rica with a group of hard-working and dedicated high school students from Litchfield, CT. There are many stories to tell and highlights to relay: we banded neotropical migrants, discovered rare frogs, tracked exotic mammals, extracted many miles of spider silk. Details will follow soon. For the time being, here is a picture of one of my personal favorite denizens of the Rara Avis forest, the Ghost Glass Frog (Sachatamia ilex), to give you a taste of some of the amazing animals we work with.
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