Day 0 - 21st September 2022
The journey began the night before with the 11:00 pm coach to Heathrow. My flight wasn’t until 6:00 am the following morning, but the early coaches only started running at 3:00 am which would have been pushing things a bit. The coach was empty apart from one other passenger. It was a quiet, sleepy trip.
I met Paddy (postdoc) at the airport. He'd already been there for an hour for similar logistical reasons involving train timetables. It turned out that we needn’t have bothered getting in early as the baggage drop didn’t open until 4:00 am anyway, around the time the 3:00 am coach from Reading would have arrived. I attempted an uncomfortable nap on the airport floor to make up for some of the lost sleep but was unsuccessful.
Sofia (my boss) and El (PhD student) arrived at 3:00 am and joined us waiting to check in. The journey from that point went smoothly and we touched down in Panama a mere 25 hours after I had left Reading.
Day 1 - 22nd September 2022
The humidity hit me like a solid wall as soon as I stepped out of the air-conditioned airport buildings. The air was so thick I could have sliced it and spread it evenly on toast, but fortunately, we had other options for dinner. We took a taxi to our hotel, dumped our bags and headed out to find something to eat. Three of us were still quite full from the food on the plane, but El was starving because the University travel agents had neglected to tell the airline that she was a vegan, so all she'd had over the past 15 hours was a packet of mixed nuts. Afterwards, we returned to the hotel where I managed about ten hours of much-needed sleep.
Day 2 - 23rd September 2022
We walked to a small bakery for breakfast where El chose the least dairy or egg-based-looking item to eat. Biting into it, she found it was indeed dairy-free, but stuffed with chicken. Not a great start to the day for her. I had a lovely pastry.
We took a taxi to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI ) building in Tupper, Panama City. This was one of the scarier experiences in my life and we suddenly understood why most of the taxis in the city are missing bumpers, mirrors, or are covered in dents. Once there we met Sofia’s old research assistant, Marlene, who showed us around one of the insect collections. If you're an insect nerd, which I happen to be, then the STRI insect collection is a place of wonder. The cabinets are filled with samples collected from countless research projects over the years. It gives a taste of the staggering biodiversity and abundance of insects in the tropics, not to mention a small sample of the kaleidoscope of colours and different forms of species here. We then met Yves Basset, a STRI staff scientist with whom Sofia has worked extensively during her previous stints in Panama. He showed us another insect collection, this one filled with butterflies.
Yves then took us all for lunch at a local café. He ordered a tamarind juice and we all copied him. All of us apart from Marlene, who explained that there was a chance it could have a laxative effect. It was now too late for us to change the order but Yves said we’d probably be fine. It tasted good and fortunately, there were no ill effects.
We spent the afternoon shopping for equipment and supplies that we’d need on the island, before heading back to the hotel to freshen up. Another terrifying taxi ride (think Mario Kart come to life) took us to Casco Viejo, the old and very touristy part of the city. After wandering around for a while we settled upon a Mexican bar for dinner, where we were seated outside at a table in the road. From a dark side street about thirty meters away, a man emerged from the shadows with a guitar slung across his back. He spotted us and slowly began his approach. At 25 meters away he swung the guitar round to his front. At 20 he checked the tuning, applying a capo at 15. At ten meters he slowed his walk and began plucking, a tune slowly emerging as he came towards us. With only five meters to go, he got into his rhythm, bursting into song as he arrived at the table. We ignored him and he quickly moved on. A final taxi ride took us back to the hotel and we turned in for the night.
The phrase 'the streets are paved with gold' doesn’t quite apply to Panama City because it’s not the streets but the buildings themselves are golden. The skyline is dominated by skyscrapers, many of them banks and hotels, ranging in colour from silver to black to gold. According to the information video on the flight, none of these skyscrapers are more than ten years old. This is either a lie or the video is a few years out of date. The splendour of the skyline is contrasted with many of the lower-level buildings in the city which have seen better days. The most common birds in the city are Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus), hundreds of which circle around in between the high-rise buildings and Great-tailed Grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus), which seem to fill a similar niche to Magpies or Feral Pigeons back home.
Day 3 – 24th September 2022
The alarm went off at six o’clock, waking us for a six-thirty taxi which took us the forty-five-minute drive from Panama City to the dock at Gamboa. From there we would take a boat to the Barro Colorado Island (BCI). Fortunately, this taxi driver was one that Sofia knew and was used regularly by Smithsonian staff. This, reassuringly, meant that he didn’t drive like a maniac and we arrived at the dock in one piece.
We were greeted at the dock by a small swarm of little, black sweat bees, which can’t sting but do bite. At 8:30 am we boarded a motorboat which had a capacity for about 20 people. A much larger boat lay moored at the dock, but as it was Saturday and we were the only people sailing that day the smaller boat was in action. The trip took us down Gatun Lake, following the route of the Panama Canal. During this 20-minute trip, we cruised past small islands and giant cargo ships. Magnificent Frigatebirds (Fregata magnificens) flew overhead and fed from the water as we sped past, whilst large vultures flew over the canopy of the forest which grew either side, right up to the banks of the lake.
When we disembarked on BCI it was quiet, as, it being a Saturday, there was only a skeleton staff about. We lugged our kit up to the canteen where we found some breakfast. Sofia then went to the office and collected our room keys which had been left ready for us the day before. We found our rooms in one of the accommodation buildings, unpacked and relaxed for a couple of hours before Sofia gave us a tour of the labs and facilities. The rooms are nice enough. I've a bed, a shower, a desk, and a fan to keep me cool during the night. The room opens onto a balcony which backs right into the forest and from there monkeys and birds can easily be spotted. Hopefully, my animal neighbours aren't going to be too noisy, but otherwise, considering this is a field station in the middle of the rainforest on an island, it seems pretty luxurious.
After lunch, we entered the forest for a recce of where some of our focal trees could be found. Under the canopy and in the failing mid-afternoon light, the forest was dark and gloomy, but alive with noise emanating from a range of almost impossible to see animals. Occasionally, where a tree had fallen, the subsequent gap in the canopy allowed some views to be had. On our way back, Paddy spotted a crocodile swimming around the dock. I’d really wanted to see one but hadn’t expected it to be so soon into the trip.
Day 4 – 25th September 2022
Instead of going straight into the forest after breakfast, we headed to the library. 'Library' is perhaps an overly grand term. It’s a room with a few old desktop computers and a couple of bookshelves filled with ID guides and ecological textbooks in English, Spanish, and occasionally, for reasons unknown, German. Back in the lab, I put together some images of our focal tree species so that we’d have some visual reference to go off of when we went into the forest later in the day. Whilst I did this Paddy and El put together some maps of previously recorded Jacaranda copaia trees that we were hoping to find.
We entered the forest at 10:00 am and returned to base around 3:00 pm. Although we had been out for five hours we only covered 7km in distance. This was partly due to stopping and trying to ID saplings to see if they could be viable for the project, but mostly because we were constantly stopping to look at birds and monkeys.
Back at base, we had the rest of the afternoon free, so after a shower and a rest we went for a stroll. As we passed one of the slips at the dock I mentioned in a passing comment how a crocodile could be anywhere underwater nearby and we’d have no idea. About thirty seconds later we heard a slither, turned around and saw that a crocodile had emerged from between the moored boats we’d just walked past and entered the water. We decided from that point on we would be more observant around the water’s edge.
We sat with Kane and Elsa at dinner, two of the other residents here at the moment. Afterwards, Paddy, El and I headed to the lounge and chatted for an hour or so, covering topics from the tropical infection lechmaniasis (which sounds absolutely horrendous - I'd recommend not Googling it), to the inadequacies of the university system. I’m writing this just before bed to the sound of cicadas and the odd rumble of thunder in the distance.
Day 5 - 26th September 2022
We were supposed to meet Hilda, the person in charge of the day-to-day running of BCI, today. Unfortunately, she was ill, so we met a member of her team instead whose answer to many of our questions was to ask Hilda when she got back.
Sofia had a brief chat with one of Joe Wright’s field assistants, Sebastian. Joe is the big dog of tree data here and a key member of the project team. Sebastian agreed to help us ID any saplings if we brought them back from the forest. With this in mind, we went on a short walk that ended up taking us to the other side of the island and lasted about four hours.
The heat and humidity sap the strength, meaning a 5km walk is exhausting. The terrain undulated more on this route than the previous one, as we crossed a couple of small gulleys and streams. The highlight of the walk was a trio of Collared Peccaries (Dicotyles tajacu) – a small pig-type animal.
Back at the base, we showed our collections to Sebastian who confirmed a few of our identifications, and politely informed us that we were completely wrong about the others. I had the rest of the afternoon off, whilst the others had bits of work to do. I took my camera for a wander around, adding a few species to the species list, including a Common Basilisk (Basiliscus basiliscus) - or Jesus Christ Lizard because it can run on water - and an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), which is always a nice surprise anywhere in the world.
The main dinner this evening was a canned seafood medley. The vegetarian option smelt considerably better. Both were served with rice and plantain.
Day 6 - 27th September 2022
No forest walk today. Instead, we sorted through Sofia’s old equipment that she’d been keeping in the long-term storage building. We found a few useful bits that we moved into our lab, then got on with some work.
Over lunch, we briefly met Joe Wright, before he had to dash to a 12:30 meeting. We reconvened at 1:30 and chatted over project ideas. In summary, it looks like our plans are going to change. I’m still not sure what I’ll actually be doing here, but I should know soon enough.
After the meeting there was no project work for me to do, so I went bird-watching again. I had a very enjoyable hour seeing some birds and then an intensely frustrating half hour completely failing to ID any of them. There are worse problems to have I suppose. This is largely the reason my species list isn’t growing as much as I thought it might. I’m seeing lots of things, but have absolutely no idea what they are.
Day 7 - 28th September 2022
Howler monkeys make highly efficient alarm clocks. I was awoken by their awful screams at 5:55 am, five minutes before my alarm was due to go off. I rolled out of bed straight into a 6:00 am online meeting with some colleagues back home to discuss an ongoing trophy-hunting project.
We went into the forest, but it was a struggle today. I don’t know if it was hotter than usual, but we all found it hard going. The walk was spent looking for Jacaranda trees and testing the seed surveying methods. We also collected seeds for a potential rearing experiment. I spotted a fleeting glimpse of a Geoffry’s Tamarin (Saguinus geoffroyi). This leaves one monkey, the Night Monkey, left to see. But it sounds like it will be a challenge to complete the set as no one ever sees them on the island, if they're even here.
Back at base in the afternoon, I read the proofs for a manuscript I’d just received. I also sorted through the seeds we’d collected earlier and made a couple of quadrats out of PVC pipe. Everyone is tired this evening, so after watching some TV in the lounge, we all turned in for an early night.