A fantastically colorful wetland bird, the purple gallinule was skittish and quiet. It prefers roasting in the cattail (Typha) and would squeeze into a small area within the cattail, keep totally silent and watch as I walked by, making it difficult to photograph them. Most instances when I did see them, it was only their white rump as the quickly flew away.
A Northern Jacana flies passed. In flight, the jacanas vocalize almost constantly, even when potential predators (like myself) are around. It always seemed odd that the birds were so conspicuous.
Coral, my father’s new haflinger, was born in late May and I was able to see her for the first time last weekend. She’s excitable, curious and very pretty. Additionally, she likes here chest scratched – her eyes nearly roll back if you scratch hard enough.
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I’m learning a lot about my camera and lenses still. Here’s an example of aperture adjustment.
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What family does this fly belong to? I discovered it rested on a unknown shrub rooted on the bank of a stream.
Most of my herp pictures weren’t taken in the field proper. The animals were brought back to the lab, placed near the lab and photographed in an environment that was a bit more comfortable and tolerable for the photographer. In addition to photographing the individuals, measurements such as length and weight were taken in a quick and dirty effort to provide some longer-term monitoring of these species. Below, Mahmood (left) and Vinny (right – a fellow IRES student that arrived 1 July… the day I took to recover from my birthday) photograph a Micrurus.
Leptodactylus melanonotus’ common name above refers to the small spike on the medial edge of the front legs of males – kind of like a nuptial pad, except sharper – and the build up of a foamy substance the frogs create when laying eggs by kicking around the surface of the water.
The Brown Vinesnake was aggressive and pretty. Although it did manage to bite me once while handling it, it was a fairly slow snake and holding it just behind the head immobilized it. It was so agressive, that it began biting sticks and leaves that crossed it’s path in the tree while we held it for photographs. Here, it strikes at my camera…
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In Cahuita National Park in Limon, we discovered three eyelash pitvipers in about a 500 m stretch. Boa had invited me to Limon (his provence) to stay with his family one night, and then at a hostel in Puerto Viejo the next. Meanwhile, we stopped at Cahuita, Boa’s former and potentially future place of employment, to take a hike through the gorgeous park and look for once final poisonous snake that I had never seen. I was introduced to two of Boa’s friends and a puppy named Feliz while there and promised I would post the pictures of the vipers when I returned home for Boa and to rub the finds in Paul’s face, since he went home without seeing one of these beautiful snakes.
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A better photo of the sheep frog, Hypopachus variolosus. The males of this species secrete some kind of glue substance from their belly to adhere to mates when they amplex. It’s nearly impossible to remove the male when that occurs. And, when there are a couple hundred of these guys in a bucket, there are always several pairs linked up…
Before leaving, the froglets began to emerge from the wetland.
