For Whom The Bellbird Tolls

We are definitely not letting the grass grow under our feet in the Women In STEM program. We started yesterday morning bright and early milking cows. The students have the option to sign up to help milk cows at the farm here on campus. This has been a fun and new experience for a majority of our students. 

Then we moved on to class yesterday where we discussed protected areas in Monteverde, their importance to environmental protection, and their impact on the surrounding human communities. As part of this discussion we watched "El Dorado: En Busca del Sapo Dorado", a documentary filmed in Monteverde that introduced the students to the now extinct Golden Toad which was once abundant in the Cloud Forest Reserve. Following this the students learned about camera traps and how they are used. They then got to set their own camera traps to see what they could discover on the trails around the CIEE campus.

This morning we took a short bus ride to the Children's Eternal Rainforest (BEN). While there the students learned about the history of BEN, how it came to be, and the importance of the work done there. They then had the opportunity to take a hike through BEN to see some of the wildlife found there. Some of the highlights included seeing the endangered Bellbird, a glass butterfly, and a Toucan. The Three-Wattled Bellbird has a very loud, distinctive, bell-like call which is very unique and interesting to hear.