[email protected] Tel: (868) 667-4655 March-April 2020 Discovering the outdoors

By Rebecca Boden In early March, just before COVID-19 turned the world into a standstill, four faculty members and ten students from Haverford College, enrolled in a semester-long course called Plants and People/Economic Botany, embarked on a 10-day eld study traversing, learning, and tasting their way through Trinidad and Tobago. With only two days at the Asa Wright Nature Centre, our schedule was packed. We took advantage of every moment we had in this hidden haven of biodiversity, serving as an outdoor laboratory to learn about botany and ecology. After settling in, we were led by Caleb Walker on a tour of the grounds, seeing the green house, co ee grove, and cocoa house where co ee beans are dried (yes, they make their own co ee from co ee trees down the road, providing a never-ending source of fresh robusta co ee in the dining hall every morning!). We then received an introduction and history of the centre by General Manager, June De Gale-Rampersad, followed by a talk with Conservationist/Researcher/Consultant, Darshan Narang. With a bit of free time before dinner, we decided to explore the natural pool down the road from our Waitress, Brittney Walker gives a birthday treat, AWNC house. Laughing as we doused ourselves under the style, to the youngest member of our group waterfall one by one, we were lost in time until the Photo by Rebecca Boden sun began to set and knew it was time to leave. After dinner, we took a night walk along the paved road to see what creepy crawly insects, plants, and animals came out after the sun went down. This included many tarantula sightings. After a good night’s rest, we started bright and early the next morning, making sure to drink some fresh co ee at breakfast, and went for a walk on the Discovery Trail with Caleb, learning about the symbiotic relationship between leaf cutter ants and fungi, the morbid way a tarantula hawk (a type of wasp) kills tarantulas, the dramatic mating dances among white bearded manakin males, and much more. In the late morning, we heard about the educational programming and monitoring led by AWNC from Conservation O cer, Johanne Ryan. Following lunch, we received a lecture Guide Supervisor, Caleb Walker, leads a walk on the on urban ecosystems from Samantha Chadee, an Discovery Trail Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies at the Photo by Stephanie Zukerman

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Discovering the outdoors (continued)

University of Trinidad and Tobago, and listened to Trinidadian folktales from the famed performer, Finbar Ryan. We nished the afternoon with a hike to the second, supposedly more secret, natural pool on the property. Later that evening, as we nished dinner, the kitchen sta surprised our table, bringing out a homemade birthday cake for the 19th birthday of the youngest member on our trip! Although the status of our semester seemed to be ripping at the seams, we were able to enjoy two full days of peace and serenity at AWNC, listening and watching from the veranda as the hummingbirds zipped from one feeder to the next, hiking various trails, consuming vast amounts of delicious Trinidadian foods, and most importantly, expanding our knowledge beyond our awkwardly con gured classroom back in Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies at the Pennsylvania. Thank you for everything! University of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Samantha Chadee, presents on environmental issues in T&T Photo by Jonathan Wilson

AWNC’s Conservation O cer, Johanne Ryan, shows a photo taken from a camera trap at Asa Wright Learning about the process of making co ee Photo by Jonathan Wilson Photo by Allison Carpenter

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The Goodnight Scholars on the veranda Photo courtesy Emma Elridge

By Emma Eldridge For many of us, it was our rst time visiting Trinidad, In March, a group of Goodnight Scholars from North Carolina and for some, their rst time leaving the United States. State University visited the Asa Wright Nature Centre as an Within minutes of stepping o the maxi, we saw dozens Alternative Service Break experience. This trip marked the of bird species, curious agoutis, and a massive Golden sixth consecutive year that Goodnight Scholars have visited Tegu lizard. As a zoology major, I was instantly drawn to Asa Wright, and it has been the experience of a lifetime for the rich tropical ecosystem that surrounds Asa Wright. so many of us. We spent a week in Trinidad, and two days at There were hundreds of species of plants and animals Asa Wright exploring the grounds, watching birds from the that I had never seen before, very di erent from the veranda, and helping design and construct a “cocoa shed” deciduous forests that I call home in North Carolina. that will contain educational signs about the Centre’s history My mental list of new species only grew as we did as a cocoa and citrus plantation, as well as the signi cance of maintenance on trail cameras and began construction today’s cocoa farms in Trinidad. on our cocoa shed. As a hobbyist herpetologist, the absolute highlight of my animal experience came in

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Goodnight Scholars at Asa Wright (continued)

Students proudly show the completed cocoa shed which stands on the Bamboo Valley trail Photo by Johanne Ryan the form of a Red-tailed boa crossing our path as we trekked surrounding COVID-19, I am forever grateful that I got to up for dinner. Not only did I get to see one of these amazing experience the Asa Wright Nature Centre when I did. The animals in the wild, I also got to hold her for a few minutes conversations I had during my two days there have forever before releasing her back into the jungle. shaped my thoughts on conservation and broadened my Afterwards I rejoined the group for an amazing dinner with perspective to a global scale. Although travel is halted all the Centre’s guests. As we ate, I enjoyed conversations for the time being, I know there is a huge community of with sta , students from other universities, and birdwatchers like-minded individuals out there, with fresh new ideas and from around the world. The community I discovered at Asa information to share. The people I met in Trinidad took an Wright stands out in my memories as clearly as the animals amazing trip and made it unforgettable, and I look forward I encountered. Especially with the current circumstances to returning next year as a trip leader.

YOUNG ENVIRONMENTALIST OF THE MONTH If you think your child, aged 5-16, has done something helpful to preserve the environment, please feel free to share it with us. Either write a short story or send a few pictures to [email protected]. He/she may be selected as our Young Environmentalist of the Month. Once your child is featured in our monthly newsletter, he/she and two adults will be given a complimentary day visit to Asa Wright Nature Centre, which includes viewing birds/animals on the verandah, a nature tour and use of the clear water pool.

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Members of the Adopt A River Implementation Unit Photos courtesy the Adopt a River Programme

The Adopt A River Programme Implementation Unit of and address by the Adopt A River Programme’s Youth hosted their 3rd River Conference on Friday March 6th, Ambassador, Luke Pounder. 2020, at the Trinidad Hilton and Conference Centre. Under The afternoon session featured the Cunupia Business the banner, “Connecting the Dots…Mentoring Towards Chamber’s Zaheer Ali o ering a Stakeholder’s Review Sustainability,” the one-day event was youth focused with and Dr. Ronald Roopnarine, Lecturer at the University of representatives from various Secondary Schools across the West Indies, presenting on ‘Water, the environment Trinidad and Tobago in attendance. The program began and sustainability’. Avril Alexander, Project Manager, with a welcome address by Mr. Rajindra Gosine, Head gave a projection of the future of the Adopt A River of the Water Resources Agency, with greetings from the Programme and prizes were distributed to winners of the Water and Sewerage Authority’s ( WASA) CEO (Ag.) Alan Programme’s Spoken Word Competition, “Riverspeak”. Dr. Poon King. Ms. Beverly Khan, Deputy Permanent Secretary Sharda Mahabir, who served as the Implementation Unit’s in the Ministry of Public Utilities delivered the feature rst Project Manager, was also acknowledged for her address, opening by acknowledging the young attendees contribution, and presented with a Legacy Award. and thanking them for showing an interest in becoming better stewards of their environment. During the day, the school students learned about the work of di erent environmental organisations at display booths. The youth commanded center stage on this occasion with Organisations who participated in these youth sessions presentations from the National Scout Association of Holy included Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Cross College, Match Me Project OJT, Jenelle Seepaul, Project, Asa Wright Nature Centre, the Adopt A River Youth Speaker, Curmira Gulston and the presentation Programme, Siel Environmental Services Limited, the

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Institute of Marine A airs and the Environmental Policy and Planning Division of Ministry of Planning and Development. The young persons in attendance were certainly inspired by the wealth of knowledge and experience in the room as they all pledged to accept their role in managing their precious water resource. We look forward to our continued partnerships with all attendees and other stakeholders that we are sure to encounter as we continue our work at the Adopt A River Programme. We look forward to another successful conference in 2021.

Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Utilities, Ms. Beverly Khan, addresses the conference

Dr. Sharda Mahabir receiving the Legacy Award from Mr. Rajindra Gosine, Head of the Water Resources Agency

Greetings by WASA’s Chief Executive O cer, Alan Poon King (Ag.)

Asa Wright Conservation O cer, Johanne Ryan (left), teaches about wildlife and its conservation

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Photo Tips One Word...BACKUP

By Hugh Simmons There are many external hard drives di erence is somewhat justi ed on the market and the standard by the fact that these are not just If you cherish the photos you take ones are really inexpensive but passive devices. They have a built in while traveling, backing up your I recommend paying more for a SD card reader and USB ports and memory cards is imperative. Memory solid state drive. A standard hard will copy your memory card with the cards can fail, a bag or camera can drive contains a spinning disk and push of a button, no laptop or tablet be lost or stolen and your once in even the most robust ones can fail needed. You can also connect via the a lifetime shot of that Resplendent if they get a solid knock while they device’s own wi to a tablet or smart Quetzal is gone. are running. While this may seem phone to view and even download At a minimum you should always unlikely, it happened to me when and edit les. On the downside it is have two copies of your photos and someone bumped the table I was physically quite a bit larger, the user you should back up your photos working on and the hard drive fell o interface is a bit cumbersome and every evening. The easiest way while it was running. The drive was there is no way to con rm that the to achieve that is to take enough ruined. Solid state drives contain no le copy worked unless you connect memory cards that you never have moving parts and so a failure is far to a tablet or smartphone to view to erase one and then copy your less likely. I use a Samsung T5 that is the les. But if you do not want to photos (did I say every evening?) tiny. It is 3 inches by 2 inches (7.5x5.5 carry a laptop there isn’t another to an external drive. You could cm) and weighs only 2 ounces (56 good option except the Gnarbox but use your laptop if it has enough gm). Similar drives are also made by it costs nearly three times as much as memory but consider that a laptop Western Digital and SanDisk which I it is designed to withstand extreme is more of a target for a thief than am sure are just as good. conditions. If you are going back to a nondescript little box that can be I only use my Samsung for travel so a hotel every evening then you do stored separately from your laptop. I nd 500GB to be enough. It will not need to spend the extra money Some pros go a step further and hold 5,000 46 megapixel RAW les or on something that is practically copy to two external drives keeping 50,000 full size 24 megapixel JPG’s. bulletproof. them in separate locations. Keep If you shoot video, go bigger. Adjust your memory cards with you and size for your shooting style and trip keep your backup drive in another length. location such as locked in the safe in I would like to know what topics you your hotel room. If you are between If you do not want to carry a like to see covered in this column? hotels store your memory cards and laptop, Western Digital makes the Please write to lensonnature@gmail. your backup in di erent bags in case My Passport Wireless SSD. These com with your questions or topic ideas. one gets stolen. more than double the cost but the

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Remembering Tom Bearss By Johanne Ryan weekly blog sharing beautiful photos, information on birds and other news of Tom Bearss was Canadian born but had the Delta Naturalists. lived and travelled all over the globe, including Trinidad and Tobago. He had Tom was an avid reader of the Bellbird served on the Board of Management and showed a true love for birding of Asa Wright Nature Centre and was a when he wrote to AWNC on 29th retired Canadian Trade Commissioner/ March 2020: “ I still enjoy very much diplomat. Tom was an enthusiastic reading about the Centre in your naturalist and birdwatcher for monthly newsletters, especially now decades and was President of the from my 5th  oor room in the Surrey Delta Naturalists Society. He was an Oncology Hospital. It was a beautiful active participant in the group and Sunday in “lockdowned” BC, but I had an excellent record of recruiting enjoyed seeing a Peregrine Falcon volunteers. Tom participated in chasing the Pigeons and a Red-tailed Christmas bird counts and launched Hawk mobbed by Crows as I birded a Casual Birders group which led over the Surrey trees through my weekly birdwatching outings to areas window.” mainly in the British Columbia Lower We pay tribute to Tom Bearss, a leader Photo credit: Mainland. The birding group grew and cheerful spirit, who passed away https://dncb.wordpress.com/ to be quite popular as many wanted on April 10th, 2020. May he rest in to join in the fun. He also wrote a peace. Share your sightings on iNaturalist

Connect with Asa Wright Nature Centre wherever you are! Submit photos of animals and plants you have photographed at the Centre to our project called Asa Wright Nature Centre Biodiversity at iNaturlaist.org Simply visit the website and register, select the location of your sighting(s) as Asa Wright Nature Centre, and your observation(s) will be added to our project. So far, we have recorded 306 species on our project.

Mania lunus, a Corkscrew moth, belonging to the family Sematuridae. This moth was photographed at the Centre. Photo by Johanne Ryan

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