The cows pictured here came to investigate the noise I made while searching for tadpoles. They stared impatiently and I sifted through samples, waiting until I left to continue their daily grazing.
Tag Archives: Landscape
Rain rolls into Lazaro
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A wetland view
One of the few places with open water.
A Brown Tower
Although not in Palo Verde, I’ve been meaning to post this photo of the Observatory in Providence.
Bird Tower
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I climbed the broken down bird tower in the center of the wetland yesterday in search of tadpoles. I haven’t had luck on my own, but Mahmood volunteered to assist me. Another option may be to hormonally induce adult frogs to release their eggs/sperm in the lab. However, that only solves the problem of obtaining tadpoles to manipulate, it doesn’t help in estimating natural densities, which is important to know if I want to argue an important role of tadpoles in decomposition. The wetland is significantly deeper this year than it was last, at least for the middle of June. What’s more, the vegetation is thicker – the Neptunia has even started to flower! The tower, although flimsy, gave me a pretty good view of how solid the vegetative cover is – maybe 5% of the wetland is open and can be seined for tadpoles. Of the points I’ve tried, I’ve seen zero tadpoles…. By the way, sorry for not taking a photo from the top of the tower – I trusted it with my life, but not my camera. |
Made it
| Back in Palo Verde, my fence has held up fairly well and the wetland has filled. Only one fence post as rotted and broke, although it’s a corner post and somewhat important in maintaining the fences structure… When I examined the breaking point of the post, I was bitten by a Belastomatid in the finger, which is still numb from the digestive enzymes that it secreted as it bit. |  |
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Headed back
I’m returned to Costa Rica today…
Sunset Moonrise
As the sun set at the mouth of Rio Sirena, the moon came up from behind us.
Deer landscapes
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Lower falls
I’ve probably already posted this shot somewhere, but I like this place.