Tag Archives: Dr. Lilly Briggs

The Children’s Forest of Coto Brus, Part 3

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The Musical Arts of ‘Pest Network’

Pest Network performing as ‘Pajaros de Bobos’. Photo by Michael Olivieri

A big surprise was waiting at the end of each future forest tree planting day at Finca Cantaros for the Detectives de Aves students, as ‘Pajaros de Bobos’ popped out of the woods to sing and dance, as well as play percussion, guitar and recorder!

Integrating the arts with environmental and sustainability education is an idea that has taken hold over the past several decades and was in full ‘swing’ here recently, grabbing some gleeful attention from our student reforesters!

Sabalito students enjoy the performance organized by Carla Azofeifa in red at rear. Photo by Alison Olivieri

As Arts-in-Residency participants at the local Jaguar Luna Arts Collective in Copabuena, Sean Smith and Félix Prater entertained the students with great verve, color and flair.

As most SVBC members know well, Lesson’s Motmots “whoot” and “whoot” in gardens and forests throughout the country so these larger-than-life Bobos’ repeated multi-syllabic refrains, “Escucha! Escucha! El ritmo! El ritmo!” reverberated in our ears in quite a similarly tuneful way.

Sean? Or Felix? Thank you for your part of this exciting project. Photo by Michael Olivieri

We want to extend huge thanks to Sean and Félix for bringing each of the Childen’s Forest Tree Planting days to such exciting finales with their invigorating and unexpected performances.

 

The Children’s Forest of Coto Brus, Part 2

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Tree Sources

The first 50 trees for this future forest were donated by Finca Las Alturas de Coton. The tree species include roble (tropical oak), amarillon (a hardwood), aguacatillo (wild avocado) and inga (pollinator attractor). You can watch a short video about Las Alturas, narrated by the manager Fernando Castañeda, by clicking here.

Rod de Sousa at Las Cruces

The OTS Las Cruces Biological Station’s Native Tree Nursery, started and managed by Rodrigo de Sousa, contributed more trees and Rod helped with placement and reforestation expertise.

Maria Rosa Rodriguez Rodriguez also provided trees for the new forest. She has a highly regarded booth at the local Feria de Agriculturas on Saturday mornings at the Campo Ferial de San Vito from 7 am to noon. Many SVBC members consult with Dona Maria for flowering plants, shrubs and trees for their gardens.

More Collaborators

LSAMP Las Cruces 2019

A university student group from the OTS Las Cruces Biological Station’s program called the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) came to observe the program in action as well as help plant trees.

Coordinator Scott Walter.

The group’s Coordinator Scott Walter is a longtime OTS staff member and SVBC supporter.

All in, this is a great project with volunteers spanning generations from the 5th grade to senior citizens: SVBC-ers share the same curiosity, fascination and reverence for wildlife and natural history. From now on, ‘habitat restoration’ is our middle name.

The Children’s Forest of Coto Brus, Part 1

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Dr. Lilly Briggs is up to something very wild in her new digs at Finca Cantaros: she’s working to create The Children’s Forest of Coto Brus — or, perhaps a little more melodically speaking, El Bosque de los Ninos de Coto Brus.

We talk endlessly about our Detectives de Aves environmental education program from the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology. In fact, Lilly is one of the co-authors of this curriculum, Lesson 9 of which is a Community Project.

This Flows So Well

In the first two weeks of July, students from six participating schools chose to plant trees as their Community Project — so they, and we, are part of the reforestation effort that will ultimately create The Children’s Forest.

Alexandrina is all smiles with her ‘personal’ part of the future forest. Photo by Peter Wendell.

The staked out young trees have been GPS-ed by SVBC President Peter Wendell and every student was photographed with his/her planting. Lilly is encouraging them to come back whenever possible to check on the tree’s growth and — one day — to bring their children and grandchildren to see their trees in the future mature forest.

Each school heard a talk on the history of Finca Cantaros, given by former owner and reforestation leader Gail Hewson Hull, followed by a discussion of the importance of trees for healthy environments and habitats, and, lastly, a brief demonstration of tree planting techniques.

Escuela Copal from Concepcion; Director Jairo Murillo accompanied his students. Photo by Peter Wendell.

The students fanned out in the pasture directly east of F. Cantaros to find their own personal sapling that they then planted with shared shovels, big smiles and great vigor!

As of the end of July 2019, 110 trees were planted by an equal number of students.

To date, participating schools include Escuelas Santa Rita, San Marcos near Sereno, Copal in Concepcion, Los Angeles, Linda Vista and Gonzalo Acuña in Sabalito. We will update this list as the forest grows!

Hello and Goodbye: Please Welcome Dr. Lilly Briggs!

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Most of our readers are familiar with the beautiful Finca Cantaros, a public center of activity in San Vito that until recently was owned and operated by Gail Hewson Hull and Harry Hull. This magical place has hosted many of our bird walks, research projects by international scientists, educational opportunities and other events that SVBC-ers cherish and, yes, we all cried at the Hull’s Farewell Party.

In her element. Photo by Michael Olivieri

But please join us in welcoming the new owner of Cantaros, Dr. Lilly Briggs from the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology. With Jennifer Fee, of the Laboratory of Ornithology Education Department, Lilly is the co-author of the BirdSleuth-International (aka Detectives de Aves) curriculum with which SVBC members work daily and happily!

After earning her PhD in 2016 at the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell, Lilly now works as a Postdoctoral Associate in Education and Citizen Science Programs. To learn more about Lilly’s career and see her publication list, visit this page.

Their legacy lives on in San Vito; we send every good wish to the Hulls.

‘Goodbyes’ are hard — sob, sniff — we miss the Hulls and wish them well in their new desert habitat in New Mexico.

‘Hellos’ are fun — whoo hoo! — please join us in a warm welcome and a huge hello to Lilly!