Happy New Year everyone, from the Mountain Chicken Project team here in Montserrat!!!
We have had a very hectic couple of weeks here on the island as we are right in the thick of radio-tracking the release frogs, making sure they don’t go bouncing off on us, but it also happens to be the 50th anniversary of Montserrat’s annual Christmas festival. It is at this time of year that our sleepy island pops alive with Calypso shows, Steel Pan concerts and parades and this year it has been one of the biggest celebrations the island has ever seen. With Montserratians long moved away from the island either due to hurricanes or volcanic crises returning and the ferry bringing in 100’s of passengers at a time the roads have been busy, the shops full and the party’s loud.
The mountain chickens also decided to celebrate by putting on their own spectacular performances. We have had disappearing and reappearing acts, one frog even turned up over 270m from where it was released in a whole new area where we have never seen our release frogs reach before. One mountain chicken treated us with something that has only been photographed with this species once in the wild before: eating a tarantula. So with the frogs eating big wholesome meals and since there are no signs of chytridiomycosis seen in the release population yet, we move on and into 2013 excited, energised and encouraged to continue our work with this fascinating species.
By Sarah-Louise Adams, Project Coordinator