News + Stories

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...

Uncategorized / 17.01.2019

Blog por Marco Hidalgo, coordinador del programa de resiliencia del ecosistema y alcance comunitario La cacería de animales silvestres, en el caso de la Península de Osa, tiene claras características para ser considerada como un elemento cultural de las personas que la practican. Estas características se cumplen mayormente con quienes practican el monteo y con quienes cazan exclusivamente para consumir la carne. La gran mayoría de estos casos ya no se considera una práctica, sino una costumbre o tradición. Pero esta valoración de elemento cultural no es válido para...

Aves, Birds, Community Outreach, Science and Research / 10.01.2019

Blogpost por Arlet Quiros-Calvo, ganador de la Beca Alvaro Ugalde y estudiante de maestría en la Universidad de Costa Rica Macho y hembra de izquierda a derecha de tangara hormiguera carinegra (H. atrimaxillaris). Fotos: Arlet Quiros-Calvo  Me llamo Arlet, trabajo con una especie en peligro de extinción, especial porque se encuentra en un único lugar del mundo. La tangara hormiguera carinegra, Habia atrimaxillaris, habita solamente en la Península de Osa y en el Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Golfito-Parque Nacional Piedras Blancas en Costa Rica.  Se cree que su población está disminuyendo...

Land Conservation and Forest Restoration, Science and Research, Uncategorized / 19.12.2018

Blogpost by Elene Haave Audet, Restoration & Rewilding Research Field Assistant This October, I ventured out of the sanctity of the jungle to present at the 48thNorth American Symposium on Bat Research (NASBR) in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Over 300 researchers from across the globe gathered to share bat stories, communicate their research, and further our understanding of this hugely diverse mammalian group. Because of its location, the conference offered many opportunities to discuss the conservation of bats in the tropics, presenting a great opportunity to share Osa Conservation’s work...

Aquatic Health, Volunteers and Visitors / 12.12.2018

Blog por Lucía Vargas Araya, Coordinadora de Experiencia de Conservación. La autora Lucía Vargas Araya disfruta de la búsqueda de vida silvestre en el sendero. Photo: Laurien Dwars “Hay dos pumas en el sendero”- me dijo mi compañero Leiner por un mensaje que recibí estando sentada en mi oficina en la Estación Biológica Osa Verde el otro día. Emocionada, le avisé a los compañeros que estaban cerca mío, nos pusimos zapatos y salimos rápidamente hacia El Sendero Las Tortugas, donde esperábamos encontrar a los felinos. La entrada del sendero está justo...

Land Conservation and Forest Restoration, Science and Research, Uncategorized / 05.12.2018

Blogpost by Alice Connell, Restoration and Rewilding Research Field Assistant [caption id="attachment_12037" align="aligncenter" width="421"] Alice monitoring the effectiveness of log piles in attracting amphibian and reptile species to the restoration and rewilding plots. Photo: Sophie Blow[/caption] My work is never the same from one day to the next on the Restoration and Rewilding Program, which encompasses many diverse projects that require frequent monitoring. There is plenty to do, I always arrive at lunch hungry and satisfied after mornings of hard work. I want to give you an insight into my...

Community Outreach, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration, Sustainable agriculture / 28.11.2018

Blogpost by Charlotte Watteyn, doctoral researcher at KU Leuven (Belgium) and the University of Costa Rica, collaborating with Osa Conservation If you think about vanilla, you immediately start to imagine delicious ice creams, cakes and other yummy sweets. But where does this vanilla come from? Well, it is extracted from the fruits (beans or pods) of orchid vines, producing an intense aroma resulting from a complex of molecules. These orchids belong to the genus Vanilla (Orchidaceae), a diverse group of climbing hemi-epiphytes growing around trees with their aerial roots. The...

Science and Research / 21.11.2018

Blog Post by Brandon André Güell, NSF Pre-doctoral Fellow and Ph.D. Student, Warkentin Lab, Boston University [caption id="attachment_11992" align="aligncenter" width="522"] Brandon Güell observing a breeding aggregation at Shampoo Pond. Photo: Brandon Güell[/caption] It was about 06:00 after night-long heavy rains ended a short dry spell, and already you could hear a deafening chorus of creatures gathering at the pond. Though sleepless and mosquito-ridden, we trudged chest-deep through the murky swamp waters with notebook and camera in hand to reach the source of the chaos. That’s when we saw it: One...

Land Conservation and Forest Restoration, Science and Research / 14.11.2018

Blog Post by Elène Haave Audet, Restoration and Rewilding Research Field Assistant   [caption id="attachment_11964" align="aligncenter" width="448"] Elène holding a Noctilio leporinus, the Greater bulldog bat, which fishes from streams. Photo: Doris Audet[/caption] For many of us, the creatures of the tropical forest that dare venture at night remain elusive and mysterious beings, their ways of life foreign to us daytime dwellers. Among these enigmatic animals are bats, the group of mammals with the second largest number of species in the world, whose charismatic presence in the tropics will not go...

Uncategorized / 07.11.2018

Blog Post by Marco Hidalgo, Coordinator for Prevention of Ecosystem Collapse Our tropical forests, including the extensions of mangroves that slope down the south pacific, suffer a constant threat from different man-made factors. One of the most significant threats is the lack of predators and their prey, which have decreased due to recreational and cultural hunting in the Osa Peninsula. In the search for practical solutions on the ecosystem-level, Osa Conservation’s Prevention of Ecosystem Collapse project hopes to increase the resilience of ecosystems in the Osa Peninsula through the use...