Costa Rica Fishing/Herping Trip Part 2

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spiltbeerpirate
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Joined: May 29th, 2011, 10:50 pm
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Costa Rica Fishing/Herping Trip Part 2

Post by spiltbeerpirate »

Here is the link to Part 1. http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... =2&t=17581

Also, if you spot any incorrect IDs, please let me know. I dont claim to be knowledgeable on CR Herps. I just play the matching game after I get the pictures. ;) Also, common names and even binomial names have changed for some of these species, so if I use old nomenclature....forgive me. :beer:

On to Day 5. Animal Sanctuary by boat.

On the other side of the Gulf is a small Animal Sanctuary where injured animals are taken in an attempt to rehab them and reintroduce them into the forest. Its a nice little sanctuary, but it was even small than expected and the care taker....well....I think she has spent too much time with the animals...if you know what I mean. :crazyeyes: Her best friend is a Spider monkey name Sweetie Bear or something like that. A free range monkey whose mother was killed when she was a baby, so she was raised by humans and follows the group around the sanctuary.
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And as far as Sweetie is concerned, guests of the sanctuary are part of her troop. And thus expects people to conduct group grooming. My wife was her first sucker. Sweetie would tap her arm and then point to the area she wanted Diana to scratch.
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Saw a number of different animals, mostly mammals, but what was I was focused on was this Golfo Dulce Anole (Anolis polylepis) putting on a display :thumb: So was our Resort Eco guide, Dennis. The Sanctuary lady was none too happy that we were looking at a lizard and not listening to her and her precious furry animals. :lol:
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Also saw this Slender Anole (Anolis limifrons) posing pretty.
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Next I finally got a clean shot of a Scarlet Macaw. I had seen them all over but could get a nice shot. This one like Sweetie Bear was had decided to make the Sanctuary its home.
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A little farther down the path, Dennis and I caught a glimpse of another Golfo Dulce anole, this one had just caught a cricket. :thumb:
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Something that we seemed to run into all over the area were the famous leaf-cutter ants. These guys live in HUGE colonies and will travel great distances to harvest their choice plants and trees. Here are some in the act of leaf cutting. They could strip a tree in 3-4 days depending on the size of the tree.
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Then we finally got to the Sloths, one of my wife's favorites. She got to touch an help feed one. The sloths were extremely happy at the Sanctuary, they were protected, they didnt have to move, and food was brought to them on a regular basis.
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That pretty much sums up the sanctuary so we headed back. But, the Golfo Dulce is famous for more than just fishing. Humpback Whales return every year to rear their newborns. On the boat ride back the whales were proving to be very active, so we detoured a little to get a closer look. This mama decided to check us out as well and swam under the boat and popped up behind us giving us a little jump with a spout from her blowhole.
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Back at the resort we relaxed a little and prepared for the Eco tour that I wanted, The Jungle Night Walk. We relaxed a bit by the pool and wondered around a bit. You never know what you'll see around the resort. It is full of activity if you are quite and pay attention.
Here is a Black Spiney Iguana that pulled up a chair next to my wife at the pool. This pic is after it moved back into the grass. As I got up to get closer it quickly vacated the area.
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In another part of the resort, Green Iguanas often show up in mass to graze on flowers. This one was over by the entrance to the Resort Spa. I saw Green Iguanas in every phase of development from the bright green juveniles to the huge rusty colored adults.
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Time for the Night Walk!
This time we had the younger of the two guides, Diego. We told him we were all about the snakes and reptiles and he became a man on a mission. First we were going to swing around to another part of the resort to pick up rubber boots since we were going into some muddy areas. On the way we stopped off a a run off ditch to check for frogs. Diego was definitely the adventurer type and didnt fully understand my scientific desire to document everything. :roll: He would point it out and then try and catch it. If he caught it, he would immediately try and put it in my wife's hands. :lol:
Anyway, here are some of the frogs on our first impromptu stop.

Bolivian Frog (Leptodactylus bolivianus)
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Rosenberg's Frog (Hypsiboas rosenbergi)
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Savage's Frog (Leptodactylus savagei)
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Since this wasnt a main stop, we didnt stay long and moved on to the supply room for the boots.
We were on the back side of the lagoon now, so while waiting for Diego to find my size we looked for some eye shine in the lagoon...we got more than eye shine, someone thought they were going to get fed.....
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Got the boots, off to the trail. Diego was determined to find me a Fer de Lance. This made my wife a bit nervous lol. We never did find one, but here is what we did find. :D

Female Striped Basilisk
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Fitzinger's robber frog (Craugastor fitzingeri)
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Tungara Frog (Engystomops pustulosus)
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We saw many frogs from the previous species over and over. the Savage's frogs were rather abundant, along with the land crabs.
But finally we found our first snake!

Has a bunch on common names but the Diego called it the Blonde Blunt-headed snake (Imantodes inornatus)
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Since they are known to musk pretty bad I was the only one to hold it, and it did musk pretty bad, but not as bad as when my black kingsnake gets an attitude and flings feces at me. This was almost pleasant! :lol:
I couldnt get over how long it was for being so thin.

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After sending it on its way, we went on ours. And about 30 ft down the path we found another Blunt-headed snake!
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Upon inspection, it was a different Blunt-head! A Common or Brown Blunt-headed snake (Imantodes cenchoa).
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and this made me happy. :thumb:
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Next I told Diego that my trip wouldnt be complete without at least one red-eyed tree frog. And with new mission, the hunt was on. Looking high and low, and mimicking their call.
We found one!
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Yeah, no, that won't do. I'd have to be superman to photograph that one. Diego even tried shaking the tree to maybe get it to jump to a lower branch. I laughed at his enthusiasm, but I knew it wasn't going to move a muscle. Onward!

While continuing to look in the trees, I almost forgot to look in front of me, and nearly ran face first into this creepy crawly.
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Well shortly after my brush with death, we spotted a reachable Red eye a couple feet off the trail.
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Made sure to get some good in situ shots as we approached and were elated when it allowed us to catch it for a better look.
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In fact it even wanted to make friends! At jump from its leaf to my wife....who had a mild panic attack. Not sure why, she does just fine with snakes. Diego and I laughed pretty hard as she went rigid demanding to get it off!
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In fact I think the frog thought it was funny too, I swear its smiling at the camera. :lol:

A took a few more pics of our photogenic little friend and it was back to the room.
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It was pretty productive for just a few hours work.

Here is the link to Part 3. Enjoy.
http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... 20#p204620


Cheers,

Ryan
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