The Limbo Project

The LIMBO Project (Long-term, Intensive Mist-netting and Behavioral Observations) centers around the oldest and longest-running avian mist-netting project in the Neotropics. Past and current work focuses on understanding long-term demographic change in multiple bird species in response to environmental change.

The original project was established in the late 1960s by James Karr (now Emeritus Professor at University of Washington) on a 2-hectare study plot at the site of the former Limbo Hunt Club in Central Panama (named after the Limbo bridge one crosses to get there). Mist-netting has been conducted intensively at the site since 1977. In the mid-1980s, the efforts were taken over by Dr. Jeff Brawn (Professor, University of Illinois) and, in 2018, passed on to Dr. Corey Tarwater. Many have contributed to the Limbo Project over the years, including Dr. Doug Robinson, Dr. Jennifer Nesbitt Styrsky, Mike Libsch, and Dr. Henry Pollock.

Funding sources:

Ph.D. student Dan Albrecht-Mallinger examining a red-capped manakin (Ceratopipra mentalis)
The Limbo Hunt Club station in 1983 (courtesy of Ellen Snyder)
The Limbo Hunt Club station in 1983 (courtesy of Ellen Snyder)
The Limbo Hunt Club station in 1983 (courtesy of Ellen Snyder)
Male Thamnophilus atrinucha
Cellecting data on mass, molt, parasites, and age during the long-term mist-netting efforts.
A young male Thamnophilus atrinucha