Our bird watching hike began with a brisk 5:30 AM wake up call from Bruce. We all grouped up in the center of camp and headed out to the trail. Bruce explained that this was the best time for bird watching since the birds are just beginning to awaken. As the sun began to rise we could hear the beginnings of bird calls emerging from the foliage. One of the first birds heard and seen was a close relative to the Dove. It was seen strutting on the trail in front of us. It made a rapid departure as we approached.	Bruce Byers, our ornithologist, honing our awareness of the subtle sights and sounds associated with the world of birds.
The class encounters a large termite nest	As we walked along Bruce would point out birds which were flitting around in the surrounding brush. Besides birds we also saw some other interesting creatures on the trail. We came across several land crabs which were making their way up the trail. They were large crabs in shells and bore a strong resemblance to hermit crabs. As we moved along further we came across a large termite nest. The nest was massive and the number of termites it could hold was staggering. We could see many covered trails originating from the nest and spreading outward to find more potential wood sources for the colony.
Probably the most dramatic bird sighting I saw was in VIERS itself. There are flowers which grow by the mess hall which are frequented by Humming Birds. I really found these birds amazing in their ability to fly with such precision. I was lucky enough for one to stay still long enough for me to catch a picture of it. There were a couple of humming birds, and they seemed to be in competition with one another over the flowers. Since flowers are a scarce resource on the island they are fiercely defended by their owners. After watching the humming birds for a while we headed into breakfast and got ready for our Mangrove Hike	One of VIERS resident hummingbirds