I am really sorry, but I just could not help myself! Anyone ever hear of an "Earthworm Cable-car"? Well, here is Doug's solution to covering the weekend Grallaria guatimalensis feeding routine for a guy with a double-limp! You can hear the bump at the bottom; although the imapct is padded, the worms get dumped right out when the little car hits the tree at the bottom!

Main lodge on the left. Buying both ways to expand that patch of forest. the new trail going right from the cabins has been productive. In front, we now have regular observations and probably breeding of both Grallaria guatimalensis and Picumnus granadensis. Fotos soon of the feeding set-up for the latter. People will be able to sit under a roof and observe or photograph both G. guatimalensis and G. ruficapilla.

Just love looking at La Esperanza from the ridge in front; I live in the house on the left and the right one has 3 doubles for guests. The view of the "Farellones de Citará" is awesome! Got a cool deck over the Toyota parking spot where you can just see a railing peak out. In the upper right there is an upland Ceiba tree, a very important one to me, having a history in the neotropics. Ceiba pentandra is the lowland version, which is also "Kapok" in asia. Both have a large brown capsule full of cotton, frequently used on several continents as pillow stuffing. This one is Spirotheca rosea; I promise a better picture soon...

HA! I returned to this image because it reminded me of Donald Trump: a worm with a strange haircut . . . The idea came from an image on a website making the same comparison, so I guess it isn't original! OK - OK, Tom Horton ! Tecnically it's not a worm , but the torm fits the worm, eh?

Can you find La Esperanza?

Just imagine! Everything NOT in trees, in TREES! Aw hell! Bananas are great. CIlantro is great. Coffee is FANTASTIC! Just not in our forest! The Management

A QUICK UPDATE! Just a few of the things happening right now at La Esperanza: > The International Congress of Conservation Biology was a great success for us. Clara Bohorquez, board member, and I were in Cartagena for 5 days and learned much about the academics of field conservation, networked with others working in Colombia and made contacts for funding and the corridor project. > The 2 new trails have been tremendously productive, both on new purchases in front and next to the upper cabins. The Grallaria guatimalensis feeder is now ready, we have had intimate experiences with Picumnus granadensis. Both are important to the business and indicative of habitat changes here at La Esperanza. > We have a visitor who will be doing some fund raising for the foundation, another contact from the ICCB. > Our first Bushnell camera trap is under experimentation. If it works out, we will will buy more for our routine monitoring work. > Both the "Instituto Humboldt" and the "Universidad del Valle" in Cali will be conducting monitoring work in the near future. Their roles will be more important as time goes on and we establish the scientific research center. > Meanwhile more logistical work goes on, such as the development of our relationship with the environmental ministry and working out of construction permits, etc. KEEP YOUR EYE ON LA ESPERANZA! Doug Knapp Executvie Director

WOW! The ICCB 2017 was fantastic! Thanks to the whole crew at the Society for Conservation Biology for their efforts. I was frustrated by speedy talk, limitations on booth set-up and oppressive weather but fascinated by what's going on in genetics and monitoring technology. LOTS of what I learned will be applied here at La Esperanza in short order. Boy was it great to see some colleagues and friends I have not seen for YEARS! All are doing something new and interesting. Several will become colleagues again. Good luck to all I met who are reading this, and expect an email contact real soon. Doug Knapp Executive Director Fundación reserva La Esperanza

Well! Thought I had some incriminating evidence on local stray dogs invading and: LO & BEHOLD! Last night a fox pack! Recently we've had a dozen different strays here, all causing trouble one way or another, and I have been monitoring a trap I have set both for them and a cat which I think did away with our resident family of Water Opposums. Long term, I hope to see the traps and cameras used almost exclusively for native fauna, so that we can tag and monitor their populations. Meanwhile, the security and fauna purposes get mixed up ocasionally! The Director