Sunrise in Sakaerat

A couple weeks ago, I did something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I watched the sunrise from the top of the evergreen tower. I wouldn't have done this though if it hadn't been for Mary Ruth. Since she was only visiting for a few weeks, she had an awesome attitude about trying to accomplish as much as possible while she was here. Even though the rest of us are really not here that much longer in the grand scheme of things (and it’s coming to an end way too quickly!) it is easy to get comfortable and think, “Ahh, I’ll do it some other time.” So I was excited after she and I were paired up for the dawn shift while she was here; not only was she a pleasure to work with… but whenever possible, she was seeking out adventure. Her adventures usually involved catching snakes. That turned out to be a real treat for all of us, since we are always happy to observe a snake if we happen to see one… but while settled into our work schedule, we rarely made time for night hikes. However, Mary Ruth went out “herping” almost every night… and many times I went with her, despite the necessary sleep sacrifice. It was always worth it.

MR with a green cat snake

During her visit, we captured tons of pictures of neat snakes that we hadn’t seen all season… thanks to her luck, and her handy-dandy snake bag that she never went without. One of the most attractive snakes she caught was a Sunbeam snake (Xenopeltis unicolor). She caught the snake while out one night in the pond with Mike on the night shift. On multiple nights, she went out both at 9 pm until midnight for the night shift, and then would take a nap and join me for the dawn shift at 2:45 am. The rest of us wouldn’t even consider that, but she did it with a smile. The night she caught the Sunbeam snake, it was apparently in the process of capturing his dinner, a large glyphoglossus molossus. These huge frogs are “explosive breeders” so all of them will flock to the pond as soon as the first big rain hits.

A pair of mating glyphos

Anyhow, as she tells the story… the snake was constricting a glypho when Mike alerted her about it. She saw the snake, and then… “I panicked. So I grabbed it. I didn't want it to get away.” She felt bad about disrupting his meal though. I had to laugh when she told me this, after all when most people mention panicking around snakes, they don’t usually follow that up with, “So I grabbed it.” But that’s Mary Ruth for ya. We are all very thankful that she did grab it, as the pictures we took later the next day were an excellent testament to how beautiful snakes can be, especially in this part of the world. 

Sunbeam Snake (Xenopeltis unicolor)

It’s easy to see how this snake gets its name! The colors reflecting off of him as the light hit his scales were absolutely gorgeous. Mother Nature truly is a talented artist. Anyhow, back to the sunrise. You get the idea, Mary Ruth is awesome. Well, the story starts with MR mentioning that she really wanted to be able to take the boat out on the Upper Dam Pond before she left. If she had mentioned this when she first arrived, we all would have laughed at her… since on that day, Sep. 11, the pond was completely dry. However, by the 20th, we were up to our necks in water... literally. It shocked us all how quickly the pond filled up.

Sept. 11 and Sept. 21. Can you spot the difference? 

Lots of water meant lots of frogs! On the 22nd, Mary Ruth and I caught the record number of pairs in one night, which is still yet to be broken: 17!

MR with our bucket o' frogs

The next morning, to celebrate our recent success… I proposed that we take the boat out and watch the sunrise from the middle of the pond. So we did! First we had to thoroughly drown all the ants that decided to nest in the gunnels of the boat… and then we set sail.

We're on a boat! (Almost)

The dawn was spectacular, and I was very happy that we took the extra time to watch the sunrise… instead of just heading straight back to the house after finishing our search. There’s something very special about watching the blackness of the night slowly disappear as the sky becomes a progressively lighter and lighter blue. The next morning, I suggested that we climb to the top of the evergreen tower to see the sunrise, since MR had yet to climb it and I was anxious to see the sunrise from that height. The result was absolutely stunning.

Sunrise above Sakaerat. Pictures don't really do it justice

I played around with the settings of my camera to try to capture the moment, but after a bunch of blurry shots… I just put it down and watched the sun do its thing. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy that morning, so we didn't see a “burst” but it was still cool watching how drastically our surroundings changed in such a short time. I believe watching the sunrise is much more significant than a sunset, since it takes dedication and a lack of glorious sleep to catch one. Totally worth it though! Since we were already awake and working at that hour anyhow, it wouldn't make sense to miss this breathtaking event.

Think Lion King intro song…. “AAAAHHHAaaa YAA bum yAA!”

This experience was so spectacular, that we decided to make it a tradition. This was partly driven by our hope that the next morning would be less cloudy, and that we would actually get to see the giant orange ball pop into the sky. So every morning afterwards, we’d hike through the forest in the dark, swiping spider-webs out of the way and then clamber up the stairs to watch the darkness disappear ever so sneakily. It happens so quickly and yet so gradually, especially when the sun is hiding behind clouds that it’s really tough to put your finger on when the sun rises. I tried to say 5:23 am exactly, but that was disproven in subsequent visits. But it was certainly lighter by that time. The coolest part about the sunrise for me is how drastic the difference is… it’s like night and day!

Panoramic Shot, just after 6 am

I could post a ton of these pictures, but I’ll do my best to keep it to half a ton. After a few visits, I was hardly bothering to take out my camera… after all this was an everyday occurrence. But, it was still special. The sun may rise every day, but too many of us take the beauty of it happening for granted. After all, one day you won’t be there to see it. I hope that day is a long way off for me and you… but that doesn't mean we should skip out on the joy of appreciating the little things that happen daily. Watching the sunrise is a perfect example of something that’s easy to do, yet so incredibly life-affirming! 

When in doubt, watch the sun come out

Before we knew it, Mary-Ruth’s last day at Sakaerat had arrived. J On the final dawn shift, Chia-Yi, another visiting student from Singapore joined us as well… since we had been telling her about how awesome it was to watch the sunrise from the tower. Not to mention how much fun we have in the pond! After our dawn shift, we were climbing up the tower as usual, when Chia-Yi calmly states, “Oh, here’s a snake.” Mary-Ruth and I both started rushing up the stairs hollering, “Where, where??” I was looking in the trees, but then she pointed to one of the support poles of the tower. There was a slender, grayish snake just hanging out… at approximately 30 meters up! Impressive climbing, dude. Mary-Ruth suddenly became ecstatic. “It’s a Boiga siamenis!!” She squealed. She had been looking for this particular snake the whole time she was here, and had pretty much given up on it… considering she was slated to leave in a few hours. So needless to say, this was a pleasant surprise for her.

A very happy Mary-Ruth, 100 feet in the air, with a new friend

I held the snake for a bit so Mary-Ruth could get out her snake bag. He was very relaxed, and quite curious about my camera… which helped me snag some pretty awesome shots. Boigas are commonly referred to as cat snakes, and one look at their eyes can tell you why. The real glamour shots were taken after we got him back to the house and had plenty of daylight.

Boiga Siamensis - Grey Cat Snake

We couldn't leave the tower without seeing the sunrise though, so we tied the bag to the support near where we found him and climbed the few remaining flights of stairs to the summit. This sunrise was unique, just like every other one. This time, the clouds had rolled in thick… which meant we would miss our hoped for orange ball again, but the sight of the white cloudy mists lingering about the tree tops was totally worth it. Chia-Yi was very impressed, as were we all. Again, lots of photos were taken. 

A misty morning

Next thing you know, the forest was bathed in light… and it was time to head back down.

Looking up at MR and Chia-Yi as we climb down the tower

Later that morning, we bid Mary-Ruth and Chia-Yi adieu as they headed back to Bangkok. Excitingly though, I will be heading down to Malaysia to visit Mary-Ruth in early November, so it wasn’t farewell forever. I always believe in saying “See ya later,” instead of goodbye and then making sure it actually happens. It’s important to make new friends, it’s even more important to keep (in touch with) the friends you have, and it’s most important to actually go visit your friends! I have a long list of places I need to go and people I need to visit, but I don’t need to get into specifics. The point is, go explore… make new friends, and then visit them! It makes traveling more fun, and potentially cheaper! J

Dawn shift buddies!

After Mary-Ruth left, the schedule was switched around so that Tesco and I would go out together for a few more days, and then I would switch to the night shift. So of course when our survey of the pond ended, I convinced Tesco to climb the tower with me so she too could partake in this glorious rite of passage.

Bright-eyed and.... something else

Of course it was awesome as always, but still pretty cloudy. As I am writing this I have still yet to see the sun actually “burst.” After getting switched to night shift, I had to start missing the sunrise so that I could actually get some sleep, since it was not uncommon for us to work until 3 am or later. If we didn't have lots of data to enter, I wouldn't mind staying up all night and then sleeping most of the day… but since we've experienced such a jump in frogs, we have a ton of time-lapse camera clips to analyze, a very time-consuming process. HA! Sorry, that was terrible. But seriously, we have been working our butts off trying to input all of this data. That is part of the reason I have not been able to post anything recently… that, and general laziness.

"I'll hop right to it! ... Later."

The sun hasn't been the only thing rising every day. I could have also called this blog “Water rise in Sakaerat” but it doesn't have quite the same ring to it. Anyhow, the water level in the pond has been rising like crazy. That picture I showed you earlier of Sept. 21 is nothing! In fact, thanks to a big rain the water level jumped up a whole meter the very next day! It didn't slow down much after that. Soon taking the boat out was necessary for our pond searches, not just so that we would have a good excuse to sing “Row your boat.” This has been lots of fun, as well as helpful. The person in the back will paddle, while the person in the front scans the surrounding vegetation for frogs and katydids. In the shallow sections, the front person will hop out to walk for a bit, and then the boat will pick them back up where it gets deep.

Life is but a dream

Now I’ll try to give you a series of photos, so that you can visualize what the pond looked like as the water was rising, and why I was astounded almost every time we went out. Pay attention to the yellow measuring stick to get a better idea of exactly how much the water rises.

One meter higher than Sept 21!

It keeps coming...

Pond Panoramic

Oh yeah, and one time while we were pulling the boat up out of the dam, the rope suddenly broke… just after Sara and I had both commented that it would really stink if the boat floated out into the middle while we were unloading it. So of course, I had to swim out into the middle to get it. It was actually kinda fun! J

Happy Castaway

And still the water continued to rise everyday, just like the sun...

So peaceful

Here’s a buddy of mine that I found hiding out in his ever expanding home

Am I turtle-y enough for the turtle club?

On Oct. 6^th, things really got crazy. We had a huge downpour that lasted all day long and into the night and kept going the next day. It was dumping buckets when it was time for us to go out to search the pond. As I was heading down to the pond, I could hear water rushing. What’s going on? I ran down the hill to find out. The water was pouring over the dam!! Holy cow!! I never thought I’d see the day. The dam has drainage tunnels built into it, but the flow rushing through these wasn't fast enough to drain all of the water, and it was starting to flow over the top of the dam. I quickly rescued our boat from being washed away, or worse sinking… and then started yelling like a mad man in excitement. Here’s a quick clip of the water rushing through the drains, it reminded me of the scene in Titanic when the water starts suddenly gushing in. 

As we were paddling around, trees that were far away from the pond only a couple days ago were now surrounded by water. It felt kind of like what I imagine paddling the Amazon might be like, but not quite that awesome. Still pretty cool though. As we were paddling the boat, after about an hour I had to start bailing water out of the boat… it was coming down so heavily that we easily had 2-3 inches sloshing around our feet. Since it was dark obviously and I don’t have a super powerful flash, I wasn't able to capture an image of the entire pond… but I did snag this photo that is totally worth 1000 words. Remember the yellow measuring stick? Well here’s what’s left of it. The numbers covered up would tell you that’s just over 3.5 meters! (That's almost 12 feet for all you Americans)

Record height! Err.. depth

At this point, it was raining so hard for the next couple days that I never really felt completely dry. There’s no roof between our bathroom and the bedroom, so I would either make a mad dash for it or use an umbrella for about 3 feet. Finally after 2 days of drenching us, the rain took a break to let the sun have a turn. The warm sunlight felt so good after lots and lots of cold rain, and it was thoroughly needed to help dry out my completely soaked shoes. That afternoon, we decided to make a trip to place called “Cobra cave” which is downstream from the Upper Dam Pond. Sheila told us that last year her field assistants discovered that after a significant rain, a waterfall would form there. She didn't get to see it for herself, and obviously we weren't here last year… so we were all anxious to check it out for ourselves. Boy am I glad we did! The waterfall was in full glory, and the place looked completely different from when we first hiked there in July.

Tesco and Sara at Cobra Cave

We clambered around the rocks, taking lots of shots of places that had no running water only a few weeks ago but were now rushing like a healthy mountain stream. We all agreed, this felt like “The Jungle.”

Roaring rapids

Sheila was the first of the group to hop into the water and experience the waterfall up close and personal. I quickly followed suit, and the persuaded Sara to join me. It was pretty cold, but so refreshing!

She's thinking about killing me... "It's sooo cold!!"

 To make this experience even better, we gathered under the waterfall to take some group shots. First I had to make sure to thoroughly drench myself in the falling water though. Another one of those little moments that make you feel truly alive. Thank goodness for waterproof cameras making it possible to capture the moment!

WOOOO HOOOO!

Here we are all huddled together under the falls. 

Field trip to the falls

This was an incredible afternoon break from our normal pressing duties of sitting behind our laptops and analyzing data. Thanks to Sheila being so awesome and not a ruthless dictator, she was all for this little excursion… despite the fact that we have a ton of work to get done between now and when we leave on the 26th. It’s coming up way too soon!!

Lovely ladies at the jungle spa

After we were all thoroughly waterlogged (I was starting to shiver a bit) we hiked back up the hill to the car, and then decided to cruise up to the Upper Dam Pond to soak up some sun (Notice the girls sprawled out below). I was also looking forward to capturing a photo of the pond in its full glory during the day light. It had already dropped quite a few centimeters, but it was still massive. Behold!

Upper Dam Pond in full glory

 Well, now it’s time for me to get back to work… but I promise you’ll hear from me again soon. Until then, Peace Out!

Welcome to the Jungle...

We have officially arrived and are settling in at Sakaerat Environmental Research Station in Northeast Thailand. The trip here took about 4 hours from Bangkok, with all of us traveling in a mid-sized SUV fully loaded down with gear. Our crew consists of four volunteers along with Sheila (our boss) and Taksin, the station manager at Sakaerat… who drove us to the station. Taksin is a very nice guy, always smiling, and he speaks English quite well thankfully.

Taksin loading up the SUV

We met at the “Meeting Point” in the Bangkok airport, and then headed out to the car to squeeze in all of our bags (we all brought a LOT of stuff) and then piled in for the long car ride to the station. 

"The Meeting Point"

The car ride there we got to know each other a little better, and then spent a decent chunk of the ride silently reflecting while watching the countryside pass by. There’s something special about looking out the window while in a foreign country… watching the occasional roadside vendors selling random meats or tiny knick-knacks and military-style trucks whiz by. The four of us each represent a different state… Mike is from New Jersey, Francesca is from Wisconsin, and Sara is from Massachusetts. Each of us has at least some experience in a foreign country, so we should all be able to handle a little time in the jungle. 

Beer truck

In fact, the jungle could more accurately be described as a Dipterocarp forest.. which means it is dry part of the year, and then receives a bunch of precipitation at one time. That’s what we’re here for… the rain, and the frogs that use that rain to time their reproduction.

Our home for the next four months

When we arrived at the station, we drove the winding road through the forest and then arrived at our research station. As was described by a previous field tech… "it really is pretty posh!" Our room (Mike and mine) is downstairs, while Sheila has a room upstairs and so do the girls. One of the ponds we’ll be studying is right behind our house and the other one is just a bit up the road. 

Resident Gecko

That evening we went up to the dining area of the station and had dinner with Taksin and some other volunteers that have been here since February working on a project tracking King Cobras. They welcomed us to Sakaerat and told us some stuff about which snakes to watch out for while we were working in the ponds. In addition to trying lots of new foods… we drank out of recycled coke cans, which was pretty neat.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The Sakaerat Environmental Research Station has been in existence since 1967, and it is a government funded research station. Sakaerat is the only research station in Thailand that welcomes school groups to come and learn about their natural habitat. This is mostly due to Taksin and his attitude towards the importance of education, which is really commendable. That being said, there were tons of little kids running around while were eating. Their artwork decorates almost every empty space in the dining room, including the ceiling. 

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children"

After dinner, we headed home to bed… and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out! We were warned to make sure to check under our bed before we settled down.. for scorpions, centipedes, or any other lovely creepy crawly that might be hanging out. So we did that, saw nothing and promptly launched into dreamland.

Our room... it's much dirtier now

The next morning after breakfast we got a more thorough tour from Sheila of the station and learned a  bit more of its history, as well as the different species we were likely to encounter.

A few of the critters at Sakaerat

 We then spent the rest of the day shopping at what can be best described as an Asian costco, gathering up the food and supplies we’d need to be comfortable and well fed for the next month. We also rented a truck there for getting around, and each of us got to practice driving on the opposite side of the road for a bit. The steering wheel is on the right side of the car which is probably the hardest part to get used to… especially when you’re backing up and go to look over your right shoulder.

Buying in Bulk, Asian-style

We had lunch at a sushi place in The Mall (It’s literally called “The Mall”) in Khorat, which is the nearest big city… about an hour away. There is also a closer town called Pak Thong Chai, which is about 20 minutes away, where we can get most of the little things we need. That’s where we bought the meats and other things that would spoil on the long ride back from Khorat. In addition to the food and renting the truck, we picked up 10 aquariums for housing frogs as part of Sheila’s research. That meant we got to go to a Thai fish store, which meant lots of pictures... of course.

Stingrays for sale

Coming back, we unloaded all of our purchases… had dinner, and then headed up to the dining area of the main station to get on the internet for the first time since arriving. I tried to get this blog published then, but due to the slow speeds… which are also hindering me right now, I had to stop half-way through to head out into the field for the first time! I was pretty excited. 

Crikey! Got a wild one here

This was a really cool learning experience, and only the first of many trips to this little pond that we would soon become very familiar with. The trip down the trail was short, only about a minute or two… but we took our time, slowly scanning the trees for pit vipers that might be hanging out waiting for something warm to pass by. When we got down, Sheila spotted a tree frog right away… and grabbed it so that we could observe it closer. This particular frog was one of the larger treefrogs that we can expect to see commonly... but not the particular species that Sheila is focused on studying.

Polypedates leucomystax or "Polly"

The species that Sheila is studying is known as Chiromantis hansanae and it’s very small... about 2.5 cm. We didn’t see any that night, but we did hear a couple males calling. The pond is very low, so they are probably still wandering around throughout the forest… waiting for the rains to come so the time will be right to lay their eggs.

A millipede found by the pond

Sheila and I walked around through the pond and practiced searching the pond grasses for egg clutches, looking up, down, and under to make sure we covered every angle. Although we didn’t see many frogs, there were tons of big spiders around which was pretty neat to see. We even caught a glimpse of one spider eating another spider, wicked stuff!

These guys are everywhere!

 We completed our survey of the pond in about an hour and a half, which was a bit quick considering we didn’t really have many clutches to look for… we were just getting familiar with the territory. She pointed out a few juvenile katydids that would also be involved in the study, as the adults have been shown to prey on hansanae egg clutches. We also saw a Checkered Keelback snake along the banks slither into its hole, which was pretty neat. This is one of the many species that we will encounter frequently around the ponds.

Checkered Keelback - One of the numerous snakes around

After the survey I slept excellently again, all that tromping through the ponds wore me out! Today we spent the morning setting up the shed where Sheila will house some of the frogs for experiments, and learning more about the experiments themselves. A lot of time was spent cleaning out aquariums, which was something I got plenty of experience with at the zoo, so I felt right at home. 

Setting up the lab for frogs

We took a break for lunch and then rested for a little while and I seized this opportunity to set up my hammock and catch some extra Zzz’s since I knew I’d be up working on this blog later. All in the name of science!

Hammocks are good for the soul

 After our nap we took a trip up to the Upper Dam Pond, which is the other site that we will be surveying… to check on the water levels and generally familiarize ourselves with the area. The trip up there was a bit longer… it would take about 5 minutes by vehicle, but still pretty close. The water level here was also low, but there was at least some water.

By the end of the season... all the grass will be underwater

 We went down to the water’s edge and observed a few species of tadpoles. Sheila explained the different species, and how they have adapted different survival strategies. Then we headed back down to our house to practice riding around on the scooter a bit!

Learning about tadpoles

This was definitely a first for me… I have riden a bike many times, but never a motorized one. It came pretty quickly though, just had to get the hang of applying the gas at a steady rate and I was off! A bit jerky of a ride, and I still don’t quite have turning mastered… but I know a lot more than I did before, and the rest will come with practice. It’s really not too hard… but I will be very careful Mom, I promise!

Like riding a bike...

Speaking of Mom, I would like this opportunity to officially wish her a Happy Birthday! And to the rest of you, have a goodnight (or good morning)... be on the lookout for pictures to come soon. Peace Out!