Attention!

snow-shovelling ! :)
Very white and nice Christmas, in front of my parents´ house.

Winter has come! It´s a bit annoying if you have to drive a car, but on the other hand it´s incredibly beautiful and I love the seasons here - from minus 15 to plus 35 !

rose ("cool water") in my employers show-garden - nice and warm on a cold winters day

More Photos

Since I´ve been home I´ve been sorting my pictures from Utila and am now waiting for the result to arrive , a photo-book.
If you want to, you can get a glimpse here : online-preview
Otherwise Life has gone back to normal, 7 hour shifts give me the chance to settle in nicely :).

Back home

After some great weeks "off" on Utila, which got better and better the longer I´ve been there, I´m now back home. It´s been really nice to see my family and friends again and to be back in my apartment, which feels like the first real home after my parents house.
Tomorrow is the first day back at work, I´ll see how that goes...

Open Water

Finished my open water dive course today, just sat the exam.

Diving course!

Hola,
I've moved - from a small island (Utila) to a tiny island (Jewel cay).
I'm doing a diving course (open water, Padi - if I make it...) and did my first dive today. Not in a pool but in the sea....it's too windy to practice in shallow waters.
Such a weird feeling!!!!
I'm the only one on the course, pity my poor (and apparently very good) instructor.
And though i guess I did everything wrong I'm a bit proud of myself course I didn't panic, though we practiced stuff like flooding your mask, being out of air...
Well, I' m a bit afraid I will never be able to remember all the stuff you need but I'm very happy that I could remain calm under water today, in spite of the waves and everything.
See how it goes...

bat rush hour

us, walking (or stumbling) through the mangroves - the habitat of the Iguanas this project is about. Moskitos also think it´s a great place to live!

Just when the rain starts - at least once a day now - there´s an invasion of flying termites

this is how Utila deals with the growing waste problem:
Well, who am I to judge? How much Carbon dioxide dit it take to get me here?

Some more pictures of "our" nectarivorous bats at the station

Day off

Today the four of us hiked to Pumpkin Hill (74 m, highest elevation on Utila), tried to find some freshwater caves along the beach (and didn´t) and managed to get a glimpse of the bat caves!

View from Pumpkin hill over the north (mainly uninhabited) side of the island

Entrance to the bat caves - it´s a bit of a climb!

Inside- it's pretty big but hard to fotograph (and squeeze into)

Saccopteryx bilineata, I´m pretty sure

hiking along the "beach" over the old coral reef, trying to find some freshwater caves

the long way home - this is Utilas main road, by the way.

P.s.: There´s a baby gecko running over the keyboard right now, a bit larger than a key :)

First pics

Here they are, the first impressions from Utila, Honduras.
Maybe you get an impression of what I´m up to at the moment.

I like this tree and its bark

My Hibiscus cuttings. Done voluntarily. And they are thriving. Believe it or not. (I can´t either)

Bat at our hummingbirdfeeder - my guess: Glossophaga soricina ?

and the hummingbirds like the feeder too:

Juvenile Green Iguana (Iguana iguana) at Pumkin hill beach
Cnemidoporus lemniscatus at Pumpkin hill beach

Ctenosaura bakeri (Spiny tailed Iguana) hatchling on my hand
Terry, the stations dog, at the public beach in Utila town
Me, cutting hibiscus flowers and preparing Iguana Food

And the not so nice sides of this carribean island, still got to take a picture of the trash which is everywhere and spoils everything :

I´ve seen lots of dogs like this in Thailand and Greece, luckily here are only a few in that state, most are fine . And they are everywhere.
Private signs wherever you go...and dogs chasing after you if you chosse to ignore them

Greetings from Utila

Hello from Utila, arrived at the Iguana station yesterday and am just about to settle in...guess I´m getting a bit (too ?) old fo this :).

After some challenging weeks I´m off to my two months holiday on Sunday.
Please keep your fingers crossed that getting to Utila (4 flights in two days) will be as uneventful as possible - I´m getting old and am not feeling that adventurous anymore.
Did I ever? :)
Wish me luck for the travels, hope you´re doing fine!

Honduras

Looks as if I´m off to Central America again :) .

Whoohoo!

It´s (almost) official, I´ll be having a 7-8 week holiday this year, starting on September the 6th!

So, now I´m trying to find something worthwhile and affordable to do.
Does anybody know of any projects (preferably with animals) needing help? Asia or Madagascar would be great, but I´ll consider anywhere. I´m a 33 yr old german biologist with a lot of experience in animal care/zookeeping , also wildlife, esp. bats.
I don´t expect to paid and will cover my travel expenses, but free accomodation would be nice…
Please drop me a line if you know of anywhere or a place to ask.

So far I´ve worked as a Trainee for the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (aka “Jersey Zoo”), for a monk seal project in Turkey, with sea turtles in Greece twice, Gibbons in Thailand, tropical research station in Australia (flying foxes), research on bats in Costa Rica and I´ve volunteered at local zoos and animal shelters – CV on request.

Recently I´ve also become interested in biological pest control, so if anyone knows of a place working on that ...

I´m on the telly

at my workplace (at 1:24, that´s me at the sowing machine)

Just too hot

Pictures from the Zoo Ruesselsheim - spent a short vacation in Frankfurt with a friend

Trip to the Zoo Nordhorn with "Doglove Lingen"

Zoo Nordhorn: www.tierpark-nordhorn.de/
Doglove Lingen: www.doglove-lingen.de/

Give me Five!

Luna

Jack and Agouti

Emma (Dogo Canario)

Porcupines!

Fee & Jack

Murphy, Jack Russel, and a german shepherd

Carla?

Aramis

Adventure Zoo Metelen

Racoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) offspring

Black and white ruffed Lemur (Varecia variegata)
Endangered, like most endemic mammals from Madagascar

Spent my Saturday off in "Metelen Adventure Zoo" and was pleasantly surprised by the enclosures. After the bad press I had expected worse. Hope to post some more pics and info soonish.