Birds, Butterflies and Coffee of Costa Rica..... and those Potholes !

[Chakra]

Some more creatures. Ground level, eye level, canopy level and sky level. Sadly many many photos did not turn out well.

What bird is this please ?

[xelas]

Lucky You, @@Chakra , only one bird you have not Id. For the rest of the readers, let me try with other birds posted (and where are the promised # ??!!).

 

Post #126, top to bottom:

 

1. Pizote (not a bird)

2. & 3. Boat-billed Heron

4. Mangrove Black-Hawk

5. Great Currasow

6. Turkey Vulture

7. & 8. & 10. Black-throated Trogon - male

9. Black-throated Trogon - female

11. Pale-billed Woodpecker

12. Whimbrel

13. Snowy Egret

14. & 15. Yellow-headed Caracara

16. Scarlet Macaw

17. Laughing Falcon

18. Great Tinamou - female

19. Spotted Sandpiper - this one is much more of a challenge than #18. so another expert should look and correct me if needed

20. Anole - different subspecies so do your own research

21. & 22. Ctenosaur

 

Butterflies are not (yet) my thing . Hope it is helpful. Back to the game.

Edited December 18, 2016 by xelas

[Atravelynn]

Thanks for the flight info. Good job on the tapir and the blockbuster film.

 

Nice jumping daughter.

 

I think the photos turned out very well. Jungle is not a forgiving environment.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Atravelynn

[Chakra]

Lucky You, @@Chakra , only one bird you have not Id. For the rest of the readers, let me try with other birds posted (and where are the promised # ??!!).

Post #126, top to bottom:

1. Pizote (not a bird)

2. & 3. Boat-billed Heron

4. Mangrove Black-Hawk

5. Great Currasow

6. Turkey Vulture

7. & 8. & 10. Black-throated Trogon - male

9. Black-throated Trogon - female

11. Pale-billed Woodpecker

12. Whimbrel

13. Snowy Egret

14. & 15. Yellow-headed Caracara

16. Scarlet Macaw

17. Laughing Falcon

18. Great Tinamou - female

19. Spotted Sandpiper - this one is much more of a challenge than #18. so another expert should look and correct me if needed

20. Anole - different subspecies so do your own research

21. & 22. Ctenosaur

Butterflies are not (yet) my thing . Hope it is helpful. Back to the game.

Wow, you are getting better every day ! I just wanted the tinamou so did not bother numbering them. But will do now.

Thanks for the flight info. Good job on the tapir and the blockbuster film.

Nice jumping daughter.

I think the photos turned out very well. Jungle is not a forgiving environment.

Thanks. See you at the Oscars !

Several shots I had to discard simply because I did not get the exposure right and focus was affected by long exposure time and my tiring arms, despite good vibration reduction from the lens.

But as I told before several birds came really close. The Trogon in the above post was very happy to pose for me and also came out of the shadows later.

This ant piita was happy to stay close and show his unique puffing skills. Nito told me it was not usual to see pittas in Corcovado. Sadly Coatis have eaten their eggs recently.

Puffed up Pitta

Another classic example was this manakin. I think this is the female version of the famous "Michael Jackson" Long-tailed manakin which performs the "moon-walk". This one did not do the moon-walk but came and sat in the middle of the trail. Had a good look at me, was clearly reassured and then decided to have a bath in the puddle. I slowly crept in and she still was happy to enjoy her bath. when I was within the range of my in-built flash I took a few pics and she did not fly away, even with the flash firing.

Enjoying her bath

Feeling refreshed

What I really liked about Nito that he soon realised that I was more interested in the biodiversity and the little creatures. And he took great trouble to show me the little ones. I absolutely adored this massive Red winged grasshopper and please listen to his commentary carefully.

Hello There !!

Nito explaining the difference between biting and non-biting grasshoppers

Number 1. ID please ? Finch, Thrush, Wren : what's in a name ?

# 2 : I guess this is a white Ibis

# 3 : Some one who is really puffed up. Beautiful bird. Tiger Heron. ? Bare throated , not seen from this angle.

Anyway, my friends, I'll take a short break from the report now. Becaue of festivities and work. Unfortunately I have drawn the short straw this year and I'll be working on the Christmas day and hope to return soon after that.

Till then.........

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Prospero Ano y Felicidad

[xelas]

#2 and # 3 correct. #1 looks more like a flycatcher to me. Which one I will need to consult Garrigues.

[xelas]

#2 and # 3 correct. #1 looks more like a flycatcher to me. Which one I will need to consult Garrigues.

 

Nope, not even a Flycatcher, but a very wet and scruffy White-throated Shrike-Tanager!

[Alexander33]

@@Chakra

 

Wow, you really saw some great things! And I think I may sell my "Birds of Costa Rica" book and just lean on @@xelas for the IDs -- impeccable job.

[Chakra]

Thanks very much @@Alexander33 and other friends !! I've returned after the excesses of the festivities, sufficiently recovered from the stupor induced by food and drink !

After an eventful and successful day we returned to Sirena getting ready for the dreaded mattresses. Supper time was a scramble as there were only 2 kettles and everyone wanted boiled water.

The great writer Paul Theroux once told us about a warning in Okaukuejo camp in Etosha, Namibia , "What's more dangerous than standing between a hippo and water ? To stand between a tourist and his food buffet in Okaukuejo." I think he did mention one nationality but I don't want to get into trouble, so omitting that. BTW if anyone is looking for a good read over the holiday period I can recommend the book where the quote has come from : "The Last Train to Zona Verde".

In Sirena you should not come between a camper and the kettle.

After a delicious supper of noodles, soup and pineapple ( already overripe in a day) it was time to chilax and listen to stories. And would you believe it, there was wifi ! I even managed to upload a pic of my sleeping arrangements in Facebook live, which was a big hit with my friends.

Sleepless night ahead !!

Nito's enthusiasm knows no bounds. Around 8 pm the ranger switched off the lights and shortly afterwards Nito came looking for me to take me for a walk around the old toilet block. I could also see shadows in the dark crossing the open field in front of the camp. One of them was clearly a tapir, several coatis and others I could not make out.

So armed with flashlight we went towards the toilet and met a genuinely handsome toad. His/her eyes were the colour of Caesar's toga. The Royal Purple.

On the way back Nito casually said, " Oh , there is a snake here" I had just crossed that particular tree five minutes back and was about five feet away from the snake, totally unaware. When I expressed my displeasure for putting me at risk, Nito casually said, " Oh, it's sleeping and it's a bird eater snake. "

Well, what happens if the snake is a light sleeper ? Worse, if it is having a nightmare and wakes up very angry ? And everyone wants to have a change of diet from time to time. Birds are boring after a while.

But I was shocked to see how close Nito was. The snake did not appear sleepy at all to me. Nito even pulled some leaves away for me to have a good shot. I hummed the Eurythmics song, "Sweet Dreams are made of these" and thankfully the snake continued with its sweet dreams, without disagreeing to my out of tune singing. A magnificent creature.

Nito lifting leaves for me to have a clear shot !!!

Surprisingly I did manage to have a reasonably good sleep although my wife apparently did not. Not surprising, considering the fact that even in our normal spacious bed she sleeps as far away as possible from me, but here her boundary stopped after six inches !

Up at four am, very quick coffee and off we went. Night hiking is not allowed so this was our only chance of hiking in the dark. Saw caiman, collared pecary and lots of geckos and insects and of course the Tapir again. Sometimes people manage to catch the tapir strolling down the beach but we missed out on that. I was not complaining as I had a good look at the tapir.

Ready for a night hike ?

The Good Morning party

Runway blocked by unexpected passengers

Collared Pecary in the pre-dawn hike

Waiting for the tapir to appear on the beach !!

A massive Croc with only a tiny portion of its head and eyes above the water

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My tail is bigger than yours

A good scratch

Whose Glowing Eyes are those ?

Here he is

Dawn over the Pacifico

Looking up ...

A proud Tico

The Thief !! Almost ran away with my pineapple and bread, even raiding inside the mosquito net

Usually in Rome I see Japanese guides with their umbrellas held up. In Corcovado guides use macaw feathers

ID please Senor Birdman... ? tinamou

Another angry Mot Mot

Thius guy started laughing at 5 am and did not stop for twelve hours !! Did he find me too amusing ?

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The flight of pelicans

Another ID please Senor ?

[xelas]

@@Chakra

 

Wow, you really saw some great things! And I think I may sell my "Birds of Costa Rica" book and just lean on @@xelas for the IDs -- impeccable job.

 

 

@@Alexander33 if it is Garrigues keep it. If it is Stiles send it to @@Chakra .

[xelas]

Red-eye Owl is a Crested Owl.

 

Tinamou si señor, Great Tinamou

 

Angry MotMot is Blue-crowned Motmot, still juvenile as it does not show two distinctive long tail feathers (or those were taken by some guide?!)

 

White-whiskered Puffbird is the last one in this series of ID by señor Alex

[Chakra]

Red-eye Owl is a Crested Owl.

 

Tinamou si señor, Great Tinamou

 

Angry MotMot is Blue-crowned Motmot, still juvenile as it does not show two distinctive long tail feathers (or those were taken by some guide?!)

 

White-whiskered Puffbird is the last one in this series of ID by señor Alex

 

When are you publishing your guide book to CR ? I want a free signed copy !

[Chakra]

Balls or Brains ?

The first time one hears the roars of the Howler Monkeys coming from above through the dense jungle, it is a frightening experience.
They have an extremely loud blood curdling howl, more impressive when all of them join.
Forget me, no other than Charles Darwin was shaken by their booming howl, at par with a tiger's roar, but their size is of a medium sized dog.

But these are possibly the stupidest monkeys in the jungle. Why so ?

Well, story goes like this.
Long before the days of men, Howler monkeys ruled the jungle with their terrifying howls. But they became too proud of their howls and started making fun of the Sky God and his Thunder.
The Sky God could not take that anymore and one day in his anger he sent a bolt of lightning to roast the Howler monkeys.
Howler monkeys had great big palms and they could have covered their heads with those for protection but as soon as they saw the bolt coming their way, they covered their testicles with both hands.

Clearly they thought their balls were more important than their brains !!

Result : their brains got fried and they turned dumb and stupid. The whole body was roasted black by the lightning but the balls were protected, so they remained shining white.

Often they showed their displeasure at me by howling loudly and I could see pair of white testicles dangling above my head.

They are indeed the stupidest of the whole lot of monkeys in Costa Rica. Their brain size is the smallest, half of a much more intelligent spider monkey. These idiots do not even take part in the most important ritual of grooming each other. Nito told me once he found a Howler baby in the jungle floor and it was covered in parasites with most of fur gone. This would not happen in Spider monkeys.

Another interesting fact is, the smaller the size of the testes, the larger the size of the Howler Monkey's hyoid bone, a structure in throat, that enables the monkeys to make deeper, more booming longer calls.The problem is that females get attracted by the loud noise but when it comes to the actual job these loud boomers with smaller testes do not mange to reproduce effectively because of lower sperm count.

No brain, small dysfunctional balls, but shouts the most, at everything.
Does this remind you of some of your friends in social media or in Politics ? I can clearly see lots of Howler Monkeys there.

I love monkeys and it was a pleasure to watch the Squirrels and Spider monkeys, who continuously played hide and seek with me , gave me mischievous smiles, threw sticks at me and showed me amazing acrobatics. While the "white balls" just kept on munching leaves and howling !! One of the reasons for their stupidity could be linked to the fact that they eat leaves while other species eat ripe fruits. They should have protected their brains rather than their balls !!

And to round it off, men with deeper voices are considered more attractive by women than men with higher-pitched voices, studies have found, but men with deeper voices do not have better quality semen. Just like Kalahari lions with Black Mane, who are very attractive but their black mane traps heat and reduces sperm count. Again do not just trust me, ask Prof. Leigh Simmons, Centre for Evolutional Biology Research, University of Western Australia. Ladies, do not fall for the howl !!

I'm sorry if there are too many pics of monkeys but they were indeed a pleasure to watch. So I got carried away interacting with my immediate cousins.

The White Balls

The More Agile cousins

Now my favourite ones

r

HIGH FIVE !!!!

[Chakra]

Nito had a habit of surprising us which included throwing bees at us claiming they do not sting, which proved wrong and making us stand in the middle of an ant colony !! After couple of days I had become wise to that !

In the middle of a hike he asked for a break when we were not too tired and I suspected some mischief. I was standing next to a tree with big buttress roots. Nito started talking about frogs, insects and snakes and casually said that Fer De Lance snakes liked to hide inside buttress roots like the one I was standing close to and then said may be we should look there.

He then shone his light inside the roots and pointed towards a coiled shape unbelievably well camouflaged.

It was a Fer De Lance. The Ultimate Pit vioer, responsible for more death in CR than any other snake. More conquistodors died from the bite of Fer De Lance than by the arrows of the natives.

And I was standing pretty close. I was very very angry at him. Once again he reassured me that Fer De Lance was not aggressive, may be unpredictable. Apparently Nito had spotted this snake here a few days back and the snake had been resting after a meal. Sometimes they will stay in one place for weeks before starting to hunt again.

This was one of the biggest attractions for me in CR and mission safely accomplished. But Nito's fooling around was getting too much for me !!

If you want to read an excellent account of Fer De lance please read the first hand experience of famouus herpetologist and TV presenter Steve Rankin here :

https://www.outsideonline.com/1916651/surviving-viper-bite

Lurking in the shadow : The Distinctive Arrow head : Fer de Lance

Edited December 28, 2016 by Chakra

[xelas]

Fer-de-lance is indeed very well camouflaged snake. although I am not sure about Nito's claim that they are not aggressive; my own experiences said differently. This one was still young but aggressive as hell ... and deadly also. If not pushed by my daughter I might step right on it! Instead of sliding away the juvenile snake continued toward us. Luckily we were with an expert guide who knew how to keep us away of harm ways.

 

 

 

[Chakra]

I agree @@xelas but if you read the comment from the expert on Steve Rankin's experience he claimed that the snake only attacked because it felt threatened and he was within striking range. I have to say it is very unusual for a defensive snake to slither towards much bigger humans. As you can read even a good pair of hiking boots was no good. Scary !!

 

The little monkeys were much safer to interact !

Edited December 28, 2016 by Chakra

[Chakra]

Now time for some more biodiversity and little critters. Corcovado was indeed living up to its reputation and giving Pantanal a run for its money. Some of the little ones was just mindblowing and I really need help from experts to throw some lights on these.

Look at its throat : studded with blood mosaic pattern. I waited but he did not inflate his throat

A dead leaf ?

One very Hairy Caterpillar or is it someone's Toupe ?

Sleeping green frog with Red eyes closed

Public indecency again !! Two caterpillars .

What is this ? Must be a very fluoroscent caterpillar

Mushrooms for breakfast today

[Chakra]

" Quo Vadis, Domine ? " I asked the same question which St. Peter had asked Jesus 2016 years back.
No, I haven't yet met Christ but I have met his namesake, who performed the same miracle.
New Testament, Matthew 14:22-33 : " Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake." There goes the story.
"Walking on water ? No big deal !! See you on the other side, " said this Basilisk Lizard of Costa Rica and in front of my eyes he walked on the river.
Too quick for me to capture but you can check in Nat Geo.
Thanks to its super speed and specially designed toes creating air pockets this little lizard walks on the water just like the way Lord Jesus walked on the sea of Galilee and aptly called "Jesus Christ" Lizard in Costa rica.
I was waiting for you My Lord and so pleased to meet you at last.

I not only saw the adult males but the baby ones as well. Initially I was disappointed that in the low light I did not manage to get good shots but that did not last long.

One of them sun basked for a long time on the drain pipe of the camp giving everyone ample opportunity to have a look. The advantage of staying at La sirena.

A tiny one

This is The One, one who performed the miracle, but too quick for me

The Poser

Another one taken through Nito's scope

[Atravelynn]

Nice job through the scope. Those are some amazingly unique creatures, especially the hairy caterpillar.

[Chakra]

Nice job through the scope. Those are some amazingly unique creatures, especially the hairy caterpillar.

Thanks @@Atravelynn : I really like my little ones. That Toupee caterpillar is actually a very toxic one. I read in nat geo that many children in Florida needed medical attention after trying to stroke this irresistibly furry "puss" caterpilar.

[Atravelynn]

Did you do much "scopography"? I have been impressed with the results I have seen, only trying it once myself. What camera did you use?

Edited December 29, 2016 by Atravelynn

[michael-ibk]

Wow, fantastic sightings at Corcovado, wonderful. Especially like the Basilisk. Agree about the Fer-De-Lance though - I wouldn´t want my guide being reckless with deadly snakes.

[Treepol]

@@Chakra you have sold me on Costa Rica, wonderful detailed TR and such a great diversity of wildlife, mammals, birds, insects and reptiles.

 

I think the quetzal was definitely worth the effort, such beautiful, iridescent feathers.

 

 

[Chakra]

Did you do much "scopography"? I have been impressed with the results I have seen, only trying it once myself. What camera did you use?

 

I used Nikon D750 with Nikkor 200-500mm and I left it in FX format all the time. And the small Sony RX100 sometimes. The scopes the guides had were not equipped to be attcahed to the phone/camera directly. So this was not proper phonescoping or digiscoping. We took the picture of the view by bringing the phone as close as possible. These photos are fine for viewing in small phone screens like Instagram but lost clarity and looked grainy in bigger screens.

I'll upload some examples for yout to judge, taken with phones. Interestingly my daughter's Samsung took better photos through scope than her mother's more expensive I-phone.

All photos are totally untouched by post-processing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 29, 2016 by Chakra

[Chakra]

Wow, fantastic sightings at Corcovado, wonderful. Especially like the Basilisk. Agree about the Fer-De-Lance though - I wouldn´t want my guide being reckless with deadly snakes.

 

Thanks @@michael-ibk. It was definitely worth spending 2 nights in there.

 

@@Chakra you have sold me on Costa Rica, wonderful detailed TR and such a great diversity of wildlife, mammals, birds, insects and reptiles.

 

I think the quetzal was definitely worth the effort, such beautiful, iridescent feathers.

 

 

 

Mission accomplished I did not manage to touch the prisitine wilderness known as La Amistad NP which sees less than 100 hikers in one year. That'd be the holy grail and I'm sure it would be worth the trouble there as well.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Chakra

[xyz99]

Wow!!! What an amazing trip you had!

I just got to read and enjoy it now, and I'm speechless - monkeys, tapir, birds, sloths, snakes, butterflies and weird insects, you had it all. Congrats! And great photography too.

 

We're going to CR in about a week, but only for a week, so we will not see the diversity you were so lucky to experience. But 1 week in CR cannot compare to 1 week at work, plus we're escaping the cold winter for a few days. Hope to see quetzals this time

We're going in Turialba and San Gerardo de Dota areas - do you think we have any chance to see a wattled bird?