TRINIBATS VISITS AWNCby Kimberly Chu Foon

Design and Layout courtesy Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Ltd, a friend of the Asa Wright Nature Centre

March 2014www.asawright.org Tel: (868) 667-4655 Email: asawright@tstt.net.tt

Many people are often afraid of bats and associate them with vampires, the terrifying creatures of the night! To the contrary, bats aren’t scary at all and are in fact integral species in ecosystems. They are the only mammals capable of true flight and play important roles in pollination and seed dispersal. When you see them up close they appear less intimidating and much cuter than you’d expect!

A few days ago several of our guests were given the opportunity to see them up close and personal when one of Trinidad and Tobago’s leading bat organisations, Trinibats, paid a visit to the Asa Wright Nature Centre. They gave a fantastic presentation on the types of bats found in the country and outlined their characteristics and importance. Guests began to “oohh and ahh” and were enthralled when they showcased several species of bats. Many were surprised to see what beautiful creatures they really are. It was quite a different experience for our guests and provided them with a unique night activity.

As the guests went off with their newly gained knowledge, Trinibats continued their time at the Centre and conducted some valuable research. They ventured onto the

trails in the dark of the night with only a torch light to show them the way. With their research, they were able to identify several species of bats found on the Asa Wright Nature Centre compound enabling them to get an idea of the species diversity in the area and provide AWNC with some highly valued information.

At the end of it all, Trinibats found approximately 20 different species of bats at AWNC. That’s quite a large number! Stay tuned for further information on the data in upcoming issues of the Bellbird Newsletter.

Special thanks go out to Trinibats for providing us with this great opportunity to learn more about the bats at our Centre.

Photos by Kimberly Chu Foon

One of the bat specimens found at Asa Wright Guests look at a bat

AWNC vistors viewing the Trinibats presentation

Design and Layout courtesy Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Ltd, a friend of the Asa Wright Nature Centre

M A R C H • PAGE 2 March 2014

OUR COMMITMENT TO CONSERVATIONAs we continue to highlight the people behind the on-going implementation of our Mission Statement, we introduce our Conservation Officer:

Kimberly Chu Foon is the Conservation Officer at the Asa Wright Nature Centre where she is responsible for environmental projects amongst a number of other things. She received a BSc degree in Environmental and Natural Resource Management with minors in Biology and Marine Biology from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine. Later, she received an MSc in Environmental Consultancy at Newcastle University, United Kingdom. Both degrees focused on wildlife conservation, land use management, environmental policies and field surveying techniques.

As the Conservation Officer, Kimberly represents that Centre at a variety of environmental symposiums, workshops and public consultations. She is also the Centre’s representative at the Council of Presidents of the Environment. She has worked on a number of projects including a butterfly garden and a plant rehabilitation area in close proximity to the verandah as well as the establishment of a weather station. She also manages the William Beebe Tropical Research Station (Simla) where researchers from all over the world come to study a wide range of topics from guppies to birds to plants. There have been a few workshops as well that she was responsible for coordinating including the cocoa rehabilitation workshop under the CDE and the guide training workshop.

Kimberly is also involved with the environmental volunteer programme and believes that volunteering is a huge benefit to both the Centre as well as the volunteer.

Volunteers in the past have ranged from large groups such as the Scouts to individuals who volunteer for their degree programme or simply because they want to spend time around nature.

When needed, she happily conducts nature tours for the Centre and especially enjoys when these tours involve school children as they always seem eager to learn. She also enjoys assisting the Education department in some of their activities such as school camps and the production of education materials. As she has an interest in writing, she gives monthly contributions to the AWNC Bellbird Newsletter and also writes articles on the Centre for the HSE quarterly magazine.

In the future she hopes to encourage a greater level of research at the Centre such as the Trinibats bat research that she arranged earlier on this year. This will provide the Centre with much needed information and increase public awareness of the importance of keeping ecosystems in its optimum state.

Photo by Denise Etienne

Kimberly Chu Foon at Asa Wright

Design and Layout courtesy Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Ltd, a friend of the Asa Wright Nature Centre

M A R C H • PAGE 3 March 2014

Photo by Vishnu Debie

Community members in actionDr. Sukha speaking to the group

ASA WRIGHT’S CONTINUED PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE COMMUNITIES

CHOCOLATE MAKING AT AWNC!

Ever heard of pommecythere earrings? Judith Gomez from our neighboring Community of Morne La Croix specializes in local hand-made jewelry. She utilizes a variety of natural materials including dried pommecythere seeds, coconut shells, bamboo, donkey eyes, jumbie beads and many more local resources. She proudly displayed her beautiful selection of jewellery, to a wide audience of both guests and visitors at the Nature Centre. From the Community of Blanchisseuse we had representation from a member of the Blanchisseuse Environmental Arts Trust (BEAT), Mr. Iwrin Glaude who grew up in the Lady Hochoy Home. His medium of choice is acrylic on paper and he has been painting for over 30 years. His work reflects landscapes, beach scenes,

Collection of Irwin Glaude’s paintings

forest settings and one piece in particular which was sold to a visitor had a combination of the national flag, a steelpan and coconut trees. Irwin finds great joy in teaching kids in his village to draw and paint. Last but not least, we had the Community of Brasso Seco Paria Tourism Action Committee displaying their Morne Bleu products. They showcased their brand of coffee, cocoa balls and roucou which is also known as Annatto a popular food colouring. We would like to thank each of the communities that participated in our Outreach Table Display, which was part of a collaboration between Asa Wright Nature Centre and the GEF Small Grants Programme.Photo by Denise Etienne

Have you ever wondered how to turn cocoa beans into chocolate bars? Recently Asa Wright Nature Centre in collaboration with the Cocoa Research Centre, U.W.I., hosted a Chocolate-Making Workshop. This workshop incorporated all the processes involved from “Bean to Bar”, as well as an introduction to chocolate tasting. A number of the participants came from the neighboring Communities of Brasso Seco, Morne La Croix and Lopinot where they own cocoa plantations. The course was thorough including topics such as harvesting, fermenting, drying, roasting and de-shelling of the cocoa beans. Next they went on to formulations, calculations, conching, tempering, packaging and branding. The overall consensus was that the workshop was enriching,

informative and interactive. We are really looking forward to having a chocolate product from these communities in our gift shop!

Photos by Denise Etienne

By Denise Etienne

By Denise Etienne

Design and Layout courtesy Lonsdale Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Ltd, a friend of the Asa Wright Nature Centre

M A R C H • PAGE 4

Young EnvironmEntalist of thE monthIf you think your child 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 dinetienne44@gmail.com

He/she may be selected as our Young Environmentalist for 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 Center, which includes viewing birds/animals on the verandah, a nature tour and use of the clear-water pool. Ages 5-16.

March 2014

BLUE MORPHO(Morpho peleides insularis)

These beautiful, flying insects bring the blue of a bright sky to the dim forest understory. Spotting a Blue Morpho, locally known as the Emperor butterfly, is awe-inspiring. Its distinctive bright blue upper wings are easily seen. The bright blue is edged in black with white dots. In contrast, its brown underside, easily camouflages it against the forest background. Females of this species are larger than males. The males are the more flashy sex, with a penchant for flying near mountains to display themselves in the sunlight. Females, on the other hand, may stay among the foliage and spend most of their time resting and feeding.

The Blue Morpho, which is often seen fluttering alongside a river or gully, inhabits a range from Central to South America. The subspecies Morpho peleides insularis, is the only member of this family that is found in Trinidad and Tobago.

Adult Morpho butterflies are fond of rotting fruit and in Trinidad, the caterpillars usually feed on Paragonia pyramidata, a member of the Bigoniaceae family. There have also been occasional records of females laying eggs on Water Immortelle (Erythrina glauca) and Mountain Immortelle, (Erythrina micropteryx) plants. The caterpillars are reddish-brown with green patches.

The Blue Morpho, with a wingspan of between 3 ¾ to 4 ¾ inches, is just one of the fascinating insects found in our property of tropical rainforest at The Asa Wright Nature Centre.

Photo by Courtney Van Beek

References: Barcant, Micheal. Butterflies of Trinidad and Tobago. Collins .1970.

Urich, F. Clive and Emmel, Thomas C.. 1991. Life Histories of Neotropical Butterflies from Trinidad-3. Morpho Peleides Insularis ( Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Morphinae). Trop. Lepid. (Gainesville).

By Johanne Ryan