fieldfare

Cusuco National Park

In the summer of 2023 I spent 2 weeks camping in Cusuco National Park, Honduras, working as a research assistant with Operation Wallacea.

satellite camp

My first few days in Cusuco were spent hiking to the higher altitude section of the park and setting up a satellite camp before visiting the dwarf forest at the summit.

base camp

The majority of my first week in Cusuco was spent at base camp taking part in a variety of biodiversity surveys including herpetofauna and mammal transects, conducting habitat surveys to collect data on soil and tree density, and learning a variety of invertebrate trapping methods such as sweep netting, malaise traps, using a pooter and light trapping.

guanales camp

My second week in Cusuco was spent in Guanales, the parks lower altitude camp. I continued carrying out invert sweep net and malaise trap surveys and preparing the specimens we collected to be sent to museum collections, although our generator only had enough power for one night of light trapping. I had my first experience with bird mist netting where I got to observe and assist with recording biometrics and fitting birds with rings.