Quarter in Review – July/September 2014

JULY
The 10th of July 2014 marked the 123rd anniversary of the Trinidad & Tobago Field Naturalists’ Club.

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As is tradition, the July general meeting was our members’ evening with presentations by:

Art Group-A slideshow of the various activities of the Art Group for the past year was shown.

Kris Sookdeo-Report on his Cat’s Hill camera trap project.

Jalaludin Khan-Presentation on his trip to China.

Viewing of an old natural history documentary-The documentary “The Old Plantation” produced by the Anglia Film Company highlighted the animal life that could be found in an abandoned agricultural estate in the Northern Range of Trinidad.

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The July field trip was to Brasso Venado in central Trinidad where members visited the Doppler Radar Station and a waterfall.

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Waterfall at Brasso Venado

The June field trip to Tobago also took place in early July with members over-nighting in Charlotteville.

AUGUST
The August lecture was by Darshan Narang who highlighted recent work on the  seabirds in Tobago. A supplementary lecture on bird viruses was also given by Arianne Jordan.

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The bird group visited Pt. Gourde in August in search of the characteristic dry forest species present in the area.

The Club participated in the Rio Claro End Hunger Committee’s celebration of the UN International Youth Day 2014.

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August’s field trip was the traditional overnight stay on Grand Tacaribe. Members has fantastic trip and surveys on moths, butterflies and arthropods of significance to human health were conducted (a report will be presented in QB3 2014).

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Sunrise on Grand Tacaribe

Giant red-winged grasshoper (Tropidacris cristata)

Giant red-winged grasshoper (Tropidacris cristata)

SEPTEMBER
In September, Mike Rutherford of the UWI Zoology Museum delivered a lecture entitled “Recording the biodiversity of T&T” which gave a summary of the history and future of species documentation in T&T.

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Mike Rutherford of the UWI Zoology Museum

The bird group visited the Caroni wetlands in September while the main field trip was to the Aripo Savannas where a range of unique plants and animals were observed.

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The Aripo Savannas