Whiptail

Variety

(Not Amanda or my hands)

Leatherback Turtle Nesting Begins!

Though I have referred to our buildingmates as THE TURTLE PEOPLE, as if they are the odd ones out, the station where Amanda and I work is focused on sea turtle conservation, the main attraction of the town of Tortuguero itself, and we are the outcasts of the group as THE BIRD BANDERS. A few of these turtle folk have joined us for banding, so we decided we could not pass up the opportunity to see some seriously huge animals. Though our first night (9pm-2am) beach survey was not fruitful, last night we lucked out with TWO Leatherbacks before midnight. It's hard to describe how prehistorically structured these things are, but with a rugby-sized ball head, tennis-ball sized eggs, and a carapace of four to six feet, our minds were blown. No pictures are allowed, as it would disturb the nesting, but we were lucky enough to find our first turtle midway through digging out her nest, which meant we got to see the hour+ process of digging, laying (66 eggs for this one), covering, and camouflaging the nest.

So, in the same vein as last nights dino sighting, here are a few extraordinary non-avian beasts that we have encountered recently and regularly.

Iguanas are everywhere. Some big, some small, but all very fast runners, sprinting away at your approach, and diving into the canal if need be.


The main reason we can't swim in the fresh water around here...


This is the same species as previously posted, but its just so darn pretty, taking after the trogon's lashes.


A lizard (whip-tail of some kind) taking on a katydid.


Brazilian Long-nosed Bats






Tomorrow we are off for a final five day stint in the mountains. Goodbye, until our final night in Costa Rica.

Pinnacles

Sunday and Monday the Palomarin field station was shut down, as all of the staff and interns headed to Pinnacles National Monument for a couple days of hiking and camping. I had a really great time. Pinnacles was beautiful, the change of habitat was great, which brought on many new birds to see, and it was nice to spend time outside of the field station with much of the staff, who we don't often get time to interact.

There was A LOT of this:




And this (checking out bugs and flowers):






Some lizard catching (some kind of whiptail):




And views








It was not hot as we had hoped and kind of expected, so this reservoir at the end of of the hike was not the treat it could have been