In early August, part of Finca Cántaros Environmental Association’s BirdSleuth environmental education team had the pleasure of working with families in the community of Los Mogos of the Osa Peninsula,
at the Swarovski Optik Rainforest property!

(Important sidenote: many people think of crystal figures when they hear the name Swarovski, but nature enthusiasts–especially birders–salivate over the high-quality binoculars and spotting scopes produced by this company. The Swarovski Optik Rainforest property refers to a conservation initiative spearheaded by Swarovski Optik in Costa Rica, part of Swarovski’s commitment to environmental sustainability and conservation.)

BirdSleuth is a curriculum created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that aims to engage elementary students in learning about birds and conservation. Our group of BirdSleuth-instructors-in-training (María Sandí, Alisson Vargas and Marcel Esquivel), along with our summer intern Jamie Wood, led activities from the curriculum with local elementary students in the community, both at the Swarovski Optik Rainforest property as well as in the school of Los Mogos, which has 12 very enthusiastic students of many different ages.

Thank you, Swarovski Optik team (Dale Forbes, Terri Peterson, Gary Strehlow, Lesmes Molina Parajeles, and Zaida Quirós Solís) and the director of the Mogos school, Mailyn Seguiera Rosales, for supporting this collaboration and outreach with Finca Cántaros!