Ursinus in Costa Rica
Every other winter break, Ursinus biology students have the opportunity to travel throughout Costa Rica over winter break, pursuing research projects at four biological field stations in a diverse array of tropical habitats. View photos of January 2023 trip below.
This course heads to Costa Rica every other winter organized by the Study Abroad Association. Sixteen students have joined Professors Denise Finney and Triston Ashcroft for the 2022-23 trip. The students from BIO/ENV-320 (Biology of the Neotropics) conduct research at four research stations throughout Costa Rica:
- Palo Verde Biological Station features extensive wetlands adjacent to one the best patches of dry forest remaining in Central America.
- Tirimbina Biological Station consists of 345 Hectares of protected nature in the Northern Region of Costa Rica.
- Quetzal Education Research Center (QERC) located in the Talamanca Mountains in the valley of San Gerardo, known for high-altitude bird species.
- Las Cruces Biological Station, at 1200 m elevation, is home to the Wilson Botanical Garden plus 300 hectares of mid-elevation wet forest.
Costa Rica Gallery 1
Touched down in Liberia
The group and their guide Marvin off to the first hotel
Arrived at Hotel Boyeros
First day on the steps in front of the central church or Liberia, Costa Rica
Liberia, Costa Rica
Costa Rica Gallery 2
Gallery 2: Costa Rica Study Abroad Trip 2022-2023
Gallery 2: Arrived in Palo Verde National Park
Gallery 2: Boat ride to encounter crocodiles
Gallery 2: Intense birdwatching taking place
Gallery 2: Overlooking marsh wildlife
Gallery 2: Sunset on our drive home
Gallery 2: White faced capuchin
Costa Rica Gallery 3
Gallery 3: Downtime after a long day
Gallery 3: First stop Santa Rosa National Park
Gallery 3: Group photo in front of the volcano we hike tomorrow
Gallery 3: Katydid
Gallery 3: Mangroves on the Bach in Las Cruces County
Gallery 3: Overlook
Gallery 3: Lunch at a local canteena
Costa Rica Gallery 4
Gallery 4: Arrived at Rincon de la Vieja National Park
Gallery 4: End of our hike at a volcano
Gallery 4: Sights on the hike back
Gallery 4: Making traditional plantain chips with naturalist guide Andreas
Gallery 4: In Andreass homemade food forest
Gallery 4: Stopped at Pops for ice cream
Costa Rica Gallery 5
Turquoise waterfall
Tenorio Volcano National Park
Marvin buying traditional snacks
Learning native history
Anole
Costa Rica Gallery 6
Gallery 6: Learning Tirimbinas history
Gallery 6: Hike sights
Gallery 6: Night hike sights
Gallery 6: Three toed sloth
Gallery 6: Preparing-for-our-night-hike
Gallery 6: Conducting-observational-research
Costa Rica Gallery 7
Gallery 7: Data Collection
Gallery 7: Thomas-Fruit-Bat
Gallery 7: Seba-short-tailed-bat
Gallery 7: Setting-up-bat-nets
Gallery 7: Morning-plant-quiz
Gallery 7: Up the spiral staircase after setting mammal traps
Gallery 7: Night-hike-searching-for-bats
Gallery 7: White-tent-making-bats
Costa Rica Gallery 8
Gallery 8: On-the-road-to-QERC
Gallery 8: Local-fruit-stand-on-the-road
Gallery 8: Made-it-to-the-cloud-forest
Gallery 8: Quetzal-Education-Research-Center
Costa Rica Gallery 9
Gallery 9: Bird-watching
Gallery 9: First-night-at-QERC
Gallery 9: Overlook
Gallery 9: Resplendent Quetzal
Gallery 9: Scaling-rocks-to-the-falls
Gallery 9: Waterfalls-in-cloud-forest
Costa Rica Gallery 10
Gallery 10:White nosed coati foraging
Gallery 10:Viewing-tower-sights
Gallery 10:Overlook-in-a-cloud
Gallery 10:Lessens-motmot
Gallery 10:Leaving-QERC
Gallery 10: Crested Oropendola
Costa Rica Gallery 11
Gallery 11: Friend-along-the-trails
Gallery 11: Las-Alturas-trail
Gallery 11: Post-hike-group-photo
Gallery 11: Rainbow-across-the-Panama-border
Costa Rica Gallery 12
Gallery 12: Ceiba-pentandra
Gallery 12: Coffee-tasting
Gallery 12: Coffee-beans drying
Gallery 12: Fiery billed aracari
Gallery 12: History-of-Las-Cruces-Biological-Station
Gallery 12: Touring-coffee-plantation
Costa Rica Gallery 13
Gallery 13: Beach-day
Gallery 13: Loading-the-bus
Gallery 13: Learning-natural-history-on-our-drive
Gallery 13: Sunset watching at the end of the day
Costa Rica Gallery 14
Gallery 14: Crocodiles
Gallery 14: Headed out of Dominical
Gallery 14: Nauyaca waterfalls