Botanical Survey

This week there are specialists from all over the world coming to Statia to do a botanical survey. They arrived on Monday night, and I was able to hike the trails with them on Tuesday. Although the group walks very slow, collecting every plant with a fruit or flower, they were a wealth of information about plants as well as field work gone horribly wrong. My favorite story was from Bill, when he was working in Tanzania. The helicopter came to airlift two people down, then came for another two, then came for another two. Bill opted to keep the tent and the food, which was a good thing because the helicopter broke leaving him and one other person stranded at the top of the mountain. They ran out of food and about 6 days later, the military came to rescue them!
We found other things on the trails than just the plants, as you can see by this bug up above. We actually thought that the bugs were fruit on the ground, until they started moving! We also managed to see this Lesser Antillean Iguana. The iguanas have been protected on Statia since 1994, and a lot of older people remmber eating them in soup. Unfortunately, a lot of younger people also remmber eating iguana soup... The iguana population numbers are pretty low because they've been hunted for quite a while. Hannah, the trails ranger had never seen an iguana in the Quill before and she was quite pleased to find them there in their natural habitat. The iguanas turn a grey color when they get older. This one isn't an adult yet, but isn't quite a juvenille either. Even though you can't see the tail, it's about twice the size of the iguana's body!

This afternoon I'm helping with the Junior Rangers club and we'll be walking with the botanists to learn more about the plants in the Quill. It is a wonderful opportunity for the kids because specialists don't come to Statia very often. However, I have a feeling that their usual rambunctious behavior will not be welcome among the botanists! We shall see....