Spilling into the the Pacific north of La Leona Field Station in Corcovado National Park, Rio Madrigal was the only stream sampled that contained Characids, Mike’s fish of interest. The river is relatively large compared to near-by streams and supports River Otter, as evidenced by scat.
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The source of water and name-sake of La Leona Field station.
I couldn’t recall the name of this stream, which we sampled for Characids in Corcovado, but I did remember seeing a White Hawk with a litter snake in it’s beak and a Oso de Hormigas while hiking up it.
The brown slash at about the center of the above photograph is a gigantic land-slide, and was possibly the most difficult part of the hike from Sirena to La Leona. Large rocks from the slide were densely scattered from the edge of the slide into the ocean and repeated tides made the rocks slippery with biofilm. Clearly, the rocks provide 0 defense from the hot sun, and, in fact, radiated heat, making slippery rocks that much more difficult to maneuver.
Upon arrival, Mike, Bryan and I collapsed for about an hour, but soon had to get up and out of the heat…
On the hike to the Sirena field station, Corcovado, Mike, Bryan and I emerged from the forest onto an open, grassy area, unaware of its purpose. Slugishly walking up the runway with our gear, we heard what sounded like a chain saw ahead. As it turned out, it was a plane about to land on the runway we were walking up, and, because of exhaustion, we narrowly reacted in time to move to the edge, out of the way. It was a frightening experience. Here is a sequence of a different landing – I of course didn’t have time to take my camera out the first time…
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Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera capable of video, otherwise I could demonstrate the bizarre, unidirectional movement of these juvenile snails that looked as if a 1×1-m carpet was moving over the benthos of the river.
The black snapper/Pacific cubera snapper I mentioned as a new Osa species is pictured below. These were caught in Rio Madrigal, near the La Leona field station in Corcovado National Park. Look at the little teeth (third picture), robust shape, stunning color, superficial resemblance to families such as Cichlidae and Centrachidae.
A half-way resting point from the Sirena field station to La Leona.
