Sea Turtles / 11.12.2019

Blog by: Diego Argueta, Sea Turtle Research Field Assistant I am not a morning person. Yet, I have dedicated 6 months to waking up before dawn. What gets me and the rest of our small team out of bed is perhaps one of the most magnificent creatures to live amongst us - the sea turtle. As soon as the dark winding trail through the forest opens up to Playa Piro and the rising sun, thoughts of exhaustion leave the mind. Soft sand replaces thick mud underfoot as billowing waves...

Sea Turtles, Volunteers and Visitors / 26.06.2019

Blogpost by Nicole Ross, 1-month Volunteer Before Osa Conservation, I had never volunteered anywhere for longer than a day. I had never been away from home longer than a week. I had never travelled alone. That all changed after volunteering at Osa Conservation. Knowing I would be travelling alone this summer, I wanted to make sure wherever I went was safe enough for a young woman on her own. I had heard really good things about Costa Rica, and how friendly the locals were. I also knew...

Birds, Community Outreach, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration, Science and Research, Sea Turtles, Volunteers and Visitors / 20.03.2019

Blogpost by Robin Morris and Steve Pearce, General Volunteers It seems like yesterday when we walked through the gate to the Osa Verde BioStation (Piro) for the first time in January 2017 and were greeted by a group scarlet macaws in the trees snacking and squawking.  We’re here now for our third winter excursion, and I have to admit we’ve done some cool things the last couple years.   Robin enjoying a two-year-old balsa forest. During Robin and Steve's 2018 visit, they helped clear plants around the small balsa saplings,...

Sea Turtles, Volunteers and Visitors, Wildcats / 31.01.2019

Blogpost by Thomas Kao, Volunteer, Age 14 In this modern day and age, we often forget there is more on this planet than just your home. As a young student with a love for maps, I have always set my eyes on this little corner of the world, an untouched paradise: Osa Peninsula. As I mentioned, I absolutely love maps. I have laid my eyeballs over thousands of them, hungry for locations and searching for something new. However, maps can only tell you so much, and in reality they...

Marine Conservation, Sea Turtles / 05.07.2017

Blogpost written by Marina Garrido, Sea Turtle Volunteer As a sea turtle volunteer, I have spent the last few weeks here in the Osa constructing the turtle hatchery for the upcoming nesting season. Each year, the hatchery is moved to a new location along the beach in order to relocate nests in an area with "clean" sand which was not used in the previous nesting season.  The process is long and tough and requires many hours and many hands, but the end product is so rewarding that the work...

Sea Turtles / 21.06.2017

Blogpost written by Marina Garrido, Sea Turtle Volunteer   World Sea Turtle Day was just last week and the sea turtle team at Osa Conservation was super excited. Why? Because to us, it is not just a day, but a day in which we hope the whole world can remember and think about, even if just for a moment, these amazing animals. Sea turtles are one of the most ancient animals alive. They belong to the family Quelonidae, which  also encompasses terrestrial turtles. One interesting fact about sea turtles, is...

Sea Turtles, Volunteers and Visitors / 08.01.2016

Sea Turtles Galore! We just wrapped up the peak sea turtle season here in Osa and are proud to announce that this year we released over 20,000 baby sea turtles! The hatchlings were from nests relocated to our hatchery because they were vulnerable to predation or to the whims of the river that runs along and often through the beach OC monitors. Since these nests were likely to have been lost altogether, our hard working volunteers and staff have given 20,000 more sea turtles a chance to make it in this...

Marine Conservation, Science and Research, Sea Turtles / 11.12.2015

Written by: Sukee Bennett There’s something about measuring squirming sea turtle hatchlings that automatically puts a smile on my face. But this batch of babies was extra special. They were from a nest that I relocated on my very first patrol on Piro, way back in the beginning of September. A little over fifty days later, and the ping-pong shaped eggs I once placed in a bucket and buried in the hatchery had resulted in one hundred flipper-flapping babies. I was enthralled. Flash-forward two hours later, when my fellow Research...

Marine Conservation, Sea Turtles, Volunteers and Visitors, Wildcats / 23.10.2015

Hello my name is Kenroy and I am a student at the Professional Technical College Sabalito (Costa Rica), a school in which students can study rural tourism. Over the past three years of studying in this program, I have learned the importance of tourism in Costa Rica. At the end of our three year program, students choose a place for supervised practice, in my case I chose Osa Conservation. This organization carries out projects related to volunteerism and research, in addition to the monitoring and conservation of wildlife. Osa Conservation...

Aquatic Health, Environmental Education, Marine Conservation, Sea Turtles, Volunteers and Visitors / 16.10.2015

The fluttering of papery wings; back and forth, back and forth. They open and close their tiny mouths. Nocturnal hungry bats, paired with the incessant whir of cicada wings and the low, ominous drone of Howler monkeys are the evening calls of the Osa. These sounds signify the awakening of all things that dwell in the night. Usually, it also signifies our bedtime; unless it’s an evening of turtle patrol. When I took herpetology as a senior in college three years ago, my professor used to joke that, “Herpetologists...