Robber Fly

Amanda and I found this guy outside of our room in Costa Rica a number of times, must have been an excellent hunting perch.

Dragonfly devours butterfly

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.

Rain Delay

Good eatin' I'd think


Blue-and-white Swallow


Female Western Slaty Antshrike


One of the birds we only saw once we were in search of the quetzal. Golden-browed Chlorophonia.


Another like the Chlorophonia. Sooty Robin, a Costa Rica/Panama endemic.

Mishmash

Totuguero has it all!

Other than Great Kiskadees and Great-tailed Grackles, Lesser Greenlets seem to be, by far, the most common bird here in Tortuguero, though we do not catch them too often


While we hear Howler Monkeys every morning and throughout the day, its a lot easier to get looks at Spider Monkeys


A few shorebirds! Like this ocean-loving Whimbrel.


Cayman (and crocs...and I guess Crocs© too)


Turtles, of course, but this river turtle cowers at the mere thought of the massive greens and leatherbacks that will soon arrive ocean side


There are ants everywhere. Tiny, gold, army, leafcutter, flying, crawling, swimming, falling on my face while I set up nets, etc.

Nonbirds

The canal we live on and the ocean meet in the background


Arboreal Mexican Porcupine

Cerro de la Muerte

We are hoping to depart from San Jose tomorrow, after a day of banding, for Madre Selva, our high elevation station in Cerro de la Muerte. I believe the house we will be staying at is at around 8,000 ft, so it's going to be chilly, and I like it! There will be no interwebbbing however, so here 7 photos for the next week without posts.

Amanda, ziplining!


Name that hawk...


Croc


Giant Red-winged Grasshopper


My sis


My ma, and a huge leaf!


Ochre-bellied Flycatcher

Easterners

Saw black-throated blue, black and white, and black-throated green warblers today, along with tufted titmouse, black capped chickadees, yellow-shafted flickers, northern cardinals, yellow-bellied sapsucker, and other wicked easterners. Hiked with my bro from Amethyst Brook to Pratt Corner Road on the Robert Frost Trail.

Massachusetts

Made it back to Mass this morning!

Target netting

We went out to Pine Gulch yesterday in an attempt to target net one of the GLS tagged birds, alas, no luck. Saw him though.

Veg transect one done

SW fest

Bushtit


Black Phoebe with a dragonfly in mouth


Female western bluebird with huge cricket of some sort