I think part of the reason I am into herps more than birds is because they are easier to catch; I like, no, need to catch things.
Boa (again) found a Jacana the other night and we caught it with a cast net. They have a bizarre spike on the anterior margin of their wings, just about where the thumb would be in a bat. Does anyone know what it’s for?
The folks from Alpena Community College that enjoyed both the sunset and sunrise with me: Rob, Nic, Macie, and Jamie. (I certianly didn’t spell those correctly, but hopefully I got the right names…)
A few days ago, Boa (named so for several non-mutually exclusive reasons: (1) he loves boas, (2) he has a boa tattoo on his back and (3) he’s crazy…) found a Boa constrictor. He also found a Paint Wood Turtle, both at the amphibian drift fences that he checks twice daily. He immediately ran back to the station to share the excitement, once again. It was my first sighting of a wild Boa and now it’s actually being housed in our shared bedroom; Boa determined that the snake was sick, and is attempting to nurse it back to health.
This morning, we fed it a Mexican Mouse Opossum, but there were too many people watching and Eva (the snake’s name) release the marsupial and hasn’t ingested it.
I’m posting several pictures with Boa because he’s been advertising Montegraphia.com to tourists, groups and friends.
While collecting frogs from a drift fence, a herd of 400 cattle loudly stomped passed us. It was somewhat frightening to be in the path of so many large vertebrates that were running blindly through the dry forest from ranchers. The ranchers herded the cattle to the Palo Verde MINAE station to they could brand the sub-adults. Boa and I watched while sitting on the fence as the unbranded cattle were roped and unwillingly dragged from the herd by a horse.
Although I had previously seen one outside the lab at the Palo Verde OTS Station, this Parrot snake was caught by Boa, who promptly brought it to me to share in the excitment.
I found the Laguna Bocana, or lack there of. There is an astonishing cliff face at and lots of vultures, but no water. I did manage to find some living, rooted Neptunia (a plant I’d like to study), but it’s abundance appears to be very low for somewhat obvious reasons. Eichhornia is also present, and thriving much better since it is relatively drought tolerant and the cows don’t appear to make it to Bocana as often. 
Yes, I did hold a crocodile and it just made me want more.
New World Bufo have now been changed to several different genera, including Atelopus, Chaunus, Crepidophryne, Incilius and Rhaebo. It really makes learning these names difficult… good thing the animals themselves are so cool.
On the left, a cane toad attempting to hide underwater; notice the fish in front of her. On the right, Boa shows Daniella the toad.
For our leaf release experiment in San Ramon, Allison tossed artificial leaves into the river. Little did we know that 70% of them would wind up underneath a nearby boulder…. Here’s Mike attempting to reach them.
