Another beautiful (and dry) morning. It was so dry that we contemplated not bringing our ponchos with us on our trip to the school at the bottom of the mountain. We decided that ponchos are always a good idea here. So at 0845 we headed down to Escuela Rio Tumbez with our presents and binoculars for the kids to use on our nature hike. The school children range in age from 4-13 and there are about 30 children attending. This primary schooling is required but the children Kati closely examines a can go on to the next grades at another school in a nearby town. When we neared the school (5km away from RLG) the children came poring out of the class screaming "Senor Tim!". They are always happy to see him. On this trip we brought butterfly nets in addition to the donated binoculars.

Children Run to Greet Senor Tim	Kati Closely Examines a Butterfly	Young man shows us a “cabello de palo”

Angel bird watches while the younger children catch insects

Anne Wilkins, a volunteer at Rocky River Nature Center, had donated hundreds of beads and string for the class to make necklaces and bracelets. The children are very creative and create very nice jewelry, especially Jessica whom I asked to teach the rest of the class how to make these items. Jessica is one of four girls whose mother Hilda works at RLG. All of Hilda's children were practicing their English with us and helping to translate Spanish. They are learning the new language much faster than we are!

Hilda's Girls

Dairy cattle farming next to RLG

Santa Rosa River Waterfall

After saying our goodbyes, we headed back up the long road to the reserve. Along the way we pass several cattle farms whose milk is sold to the Nestle Corporation for our beloved chocolate. These cattle ranches do so much damage to the land and the species within, but as long as there is a demand for the products which come from the farms, the rapid deforestation will continue. I've given up the "carne" or meat, but dairy, that would be very difficult, especially the chocolate. Lots to think about on the way back up.

Tonight we traveled the Waterfall Trail for our amphibian survey. We had dinner down at the river right next to the falls. It is a beautiful place. During our dinner (which featured banana cake) we were pleasantly surprised by a female Cock-ofthe-Rock. I had never seen the female of this species. We also saw a pair of White-capped Dippers hunting for food that we assume they were feeding their young in the nest Charley found on the ledges of the waterfall's canyon. We had planned to explore the river searching for frogs on this night, but because of the recent constant rain, the river was much too treacherous for climbing. Slipping and falling could mean serious injury and hypothermia if you fall into the river. This trek will have to wait until a DRY, dry season. The hike back up proved to be confusing with unmarked trails coming from adjacent property. Tim and Charley seemed to know where we were however. It was another slow night for frog hunting. Again very quiet and dry, but when the rain started up, the frog songs surrounded us. Hearing these songs reminded me how special these sounds are to me. In the regions of Panama where I had worked with Project Golden Frog, the forest is now void of all frog songs. The silence there is excruciating. I haven't been back since the extinction of the wild golden frogs. Much of the demise of the amphibians in Panama and in many places globally has been due to a fungus called "Chytrid". I hope that this never reaches this area. We have made informational signage to explain this problem to tourists in hopes that protocols are followed to minimize the risk of spreading the deadly moisture loving fungus. Then again, maybe this fungus has already run its course here. Maybe these species are highly resistant? I'd really like to believe that. The eleutherodactylus of Panama weren't resistant, but maybe these frogs here on RLG are. We will need to answer this question with additional studies here on RLG. There is so much to learn. Even though the night started out a little slow, we did end up finding several frog species including the Large-snouted Cutin Frog, the Pinchincha Robber frog, and our unknown Eleutherodactylus spp. #1.

Dead Man's Fingers

We also had fun watching Ed and his insect quest. He found all kinds of cool beetles bearing club antennae, walking sticks with regenerated legs, and also florescent fungus, which I regret not seeing. I did however have to opportunity to take a photo of a fungus descriptively called "Dead man's fingers". It was very creepy how much it resembles zombie hands reaching out of the grave!

Upon our return to the house, Tim and I wanted to take a closer look at our unknown species and we think that we might have a definitive identification on this frog E. pteridophilus, whose name means "Fern-loving". This species is supposed to perch primarily on ferns, but that we have not seen here on RLG, but the description and elevation data seems to fit. We'll have to collect a specimen to key out tomorrow night.