Cristalino Jungle Lodge Highlights from August 24-30, 2011

Here are some of the non-bird highlights from my own little blog from this past week.

I'm also posting weekly updates (Tuesdays) to http://birdingblogs.com, sending "From the Field" reports for the WINGS front page (http://wingbirds.com), and you can also read occasional updates from Stephen Boddington's blog at http://blog.belgianbirding.com/.

Belus Swallowtail, Battus belus

Brown Capuchin

OK, a bird – can't leave out this amazing Harpy Eagle!

What the heck is this? I'm calling it the Jujube Caterpillar and think it might be once of the fancy hairstreaks.

A puddle party by the beach.

This brilliant yellow Tabebuia sp suddenly came into bloom just yesterday. We were all wondering, "where in the heck did that tree come from?"

Tupinambis paulensis, a huge and rarely-photographed lizard in the whiptail family. Of course, my friend Michael Harvey from Broward College knew what it was the moment I sent him the photo.

A Hetaerina rubyspot

A jumping spider, probably in the genus Phidippus on Tayler Brooks' wrist.

July Herping in Costa Rica

I recently spent 2 1/2 weeks birding in Costa Rica in the middle of July. Being the mild but very humid wet season, reptiles and amphibians could not be ignored. It's a great time for birding, but if you're looking for herps, this is the perfect time to visit!

While enjoying a sunny morning near out hotel in the San José area, we spotted a Green Spiny Lizard, Sceloporus malachiticus.

I was then joined by by friend Diane for a scouting trip to Bosque del Rio Tigre on the Osa Peninsula. It rained during our entire time here, but we still saw great birds, such as the endemic Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager, as well as Yellow-billed Cotinga and Mangrove Hummingbird on the way out. Herps here were:
Common Tink Frog, Diasporus diastema

unknown tink frog, possibly Pristimantis cruentus?

Masked Treefrog, Smilisca phaeota

Narrow-headed Treefrog, Scinax elaeochrous

Smoky Jungle Frog, Leptodactylus pentadactylus

Then on the birding tour I was leading, I managed to take pictures of a few cool herpes. At Rancho Naturalista was this Pug-nosed Anole, Norops capito.

Tortuguero National Park was very wet, which was good for frogs, such as this Strawberry Poison Frog, Oophaga pumilia.

This Spectacled Caiman was along the flooded forest trail at night.

We heard a lot more frogs, but when the sun shone, lizards came out.
Green Basilisk, Basiliscus plumifrons

Green Iguana, Iguana iguana

Stream Anole, Norops oxylophus

We progressed to Maquenque Ecolodge near Boca Tapada, and there were some great things here.

American Crocodile, Crocodylus acutus on the Rio San Carlos.

Green-and-black Poison Frog, Dendrobates aureus was along the trails.

Our second Pug-nosed Anole, Norops capito of the trip was very different in color.

We had two Rainforest Hognosed Pitvipers, Porthidium nasutum along the trails. The first was very small, and I apparently stepped on it, making it move so it was spotted by the participant in the trail behind me.

I went out on my own late one night and found a few cool things: Red-webbed Treefrog, Hypsiboas rufitelus

Boulenger's Snouted Treefrog, Scinax boulengeri

Rough Coffee Snake, Nothopsis rugosus, a very strange colubrid snake with a boid-like head and a very stiff, non-reactive behavior when I picked it up.

Our final lodging was at Celeste Mountain Lodge on the slopes of Tenorio National Park. They have a tiny pond here which was home to:
Hourglass Treefrog, Dendropsophus ebraccatus

Red-eyed Treefrog, Agalychins callidryas

and Forrer's Leopard Frog, Lithobates forreri.

On a branch above their forest trail was by far the prettiest snake I've seen in Costa Rica: the big-headed Eyelash Pitviper, Bothrops schlegellii.

Wow Spatuletail

Couldn't wait to share this one photo – a few that I got of one of the world's most incredible hummingbirds, the Marvelous Spatuletail, Loddigesia mirabilis. It's found only on the upper slopes of the east side of the Utcubamba River drainage in the Andes of northern Peru. You have to see it to believe it.

I'm nearing the end of my scouting in Peru before heading to Costa Rica in just a few days. Steve Howell and I have had a good time this past week – we've seen some pretty incredible places and birds, and I'm now looking forward to sharing it with tour participants in the future.

Yay Asteraceae! – Some Composites of Peru

My favorite family of plants is Asteraceae, formerly known as Compositae – the composites, sunflowers, asters, daisies, or whatever you want to refer to the family as. It's the second largest family of plants in the world (not far behind orchids), and I'm always excited to see such amazing variety of forms, colors, sizes, and arrangement of heads.

I such a book existed, I could curl up with a key to the composites of Peru, samples of the following, a 12X loupe, and key them out to my heart's content. As it is, I have little clue what any of them are, but the first (above) is quite similar to Trixis, a very small genus (only 3 species) of composites with very unusual, two-lipped flowers. I suspect this is one of them.

All of these were in the Santa Eulalia Valley inland from Lima, the capital of Peru.

Another Morning of OFO Field Trips South of Pendleton, Oregon

We saw the Grasshopper Sparrows again this morning N of Pilot Rock (a little more work than yesterday, given the wind), added a Brewer's Sparrow, and enjoyed this American Kestrel.