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Night around the field station and more

5/31/2013

Most nights when I am at the FCRE, I go out hiking around looking for insects, frogs, snakes, and well, whatever I can find to see and maybe photograph. Then, I get back to the field station where there are still more things to see. It goes like this...

We turn on the outside lights around the field station at dark and leave them on while we are awake. Why all this light? Well, there is this fellow...

A fer-de-lance, locally known as a terciopelo (Bothrops asper).

See, these pit vipers are quite common on the property, and several times have been seen on the sidewalk around the field station. Since no one wants to wear snake-proof boots all evening, we leave the lights on. Makes sense to me.

But the lights do have an effect, in that they attract insects. One evening I spent five minutes and photographed a few that were hanging around.

A scarab beetle of some sort.

This is a moth. Maybe someday I will have time to figure out the moths here, but that time isn't now. So the following couple of pictures need no caption.

There were lots of other little things, but I just shot these couple of moths to show the diversity in even one insect order. Note how different each one is. So, there are all these insects, which are of course food for other things. The first couple nights when the lights come on it is mostly just the insects, but soon the predators figure this bit out and we start to see things like these...

This is the marine toad (Bufo marinus), which can be quite large. They do very well with the bugs on the ground.

The common house gecko (Hemidactylus sp) is always around, but they are very easy to see near the lights. I dare that little insect in front of it to even so much as twitch.

And of course, the spiders. This one has already caught dinner.

And now on to a different topic. That would be the idea that it's rough out there. First, I noticed that this beetle had half his head crushed in.

This beetle seemed to be getting along fairly well, given the circumstances.

This frog (Craugastor fitzingeri) has lost a lot of skin in the top of its nose, and has scars on its chin as well. But here it is out looking for insects at night.

And the worst case was this white-headed capuchin monkey (Cebus capucinus) has clearly had something bad happen. But again, it was traveling with a big group of monkeys and jumping through the trees like the rest of them.

And a cute monkey picture to end the bit about it being rough out there.

And a few random shots to wind things up for today.

First there was one bug (a true bug).

And then there were two bugs, and soon there will be more bugs.

And more millipedes.

And as more are created, more go away, as these army ants are hauling away their latest capture.

With a fine example of a damselfly for a big finish.

A little water project at the FCRE

5/30/2013

There are five ponds on the FCRE property. One is down by the Ecology Center, and four are up at the top of the property. Water hyacinth has been a problem taking over some of the ponds. The largest pond, generally known as the basilisk pond, was in the worst condition, and a team was sent to open it up a bit.

Chucking hyacinth out of the pond.

Here is Laura Sauvage swimming while pushing a massive pile of weeds toward the chuckers. Look closely, she is in there.

And here is Don McFarlane, in a camo cap so have to use an arrow.

And so the story of the turtle. It would seem that this pond turtle was fleeing the scene, either after being accidentally chucked out along with a gob of plants, or voluntarily leaving due to silly people all over the place. But I found it huddled up in its shell just past the growing pile of hyacinth on the shore. I spent much of the time watching it and hoping it would come out for a picture. It did not. So, I put it by the pile of packs and forgot about it. Then, after everyone was out of the water, it was discovered still tightly closed. Laura actually started to pet it and it quickly opened up and started walking away! I went for my camera but it was buried in leaves before I got back. Go figure. So here is a picture of the turtle that dislikes being photographed but jumps around if Laura pets it.

The turtle that would not have its picture taken.

Laura Sauvage, after taming the turtle, with an hourglass frog (Dendropsophyus ebraccatus) on her shoulder.

So, after all the pond fun in the rain, I thought since I was on top of the hill where the big fruit-eating birds come in in the evening, I would hang around and hope the rain stopped. It didn't but I got this picture of a Chestnut mandibled toucan. It was taken from 60-meters away, in the rain, so only as good as such a picture can be.

Chestnut mandibled toucan.

A preying mantis egg case.

Yes, I was unsuccessfully waiting out the rain in the bamboo pavilion on top of the hill, so found this mantid egg case. Or so I think. This seems correct, but there are enough ridiculously weird insects in Costa Rica that I could be wrong.

FCRE again

5/29/2013

One the way to the FCRE, it is customary to stop at the Tarcoles River. It is a good place to have lunch, and under the bridge across the river there are always a few American crocodiles basking.

On this trip, there were LOTS of crocodiles. We counted 37.

One of the reasons there are so many crocs is that the locals feed them by tossing food off the bridge, which brings tourists (like us) to stop and have a look.

And while there, maybe you would be interested in purchasing this lovely textile that was for sale in one of the shops.

So back to the FCRE...

This is a crane fly hanging from a spider web strand, next to the shell of a cicada that became an adult. Oddly, something has covered the shell in a web. It is possible the spider is using the shell as a house or is living under it.

Also emerging, what looks like a katydid nymph (could be a tree cricket, but those are some mighty long antennae) emerging into its next life stage.

And finally, three picture pairs...

A juvenile basilisk lizard (Basiliscus basiliscus)

An adult basilisk lizard.

This is a very small example of the scorpion Tityus ocelote.

This is the same scorpion under an Ultraviolet light. Scorpions have this thing where they just shine like crazy in UV light.

A great-looking planthopper in the Derbidae family.

A planthopper in the Nogodinidae family.

FCRE continues

5/28/2013

Sadly, tonight I have not had time to go through many pictures, but there are always more.

It will take a bit to figure out this weevil.

The largest known stick insect on the FCRE property. The body was about 12mm in diameter and it was some 25cm long. A beast.

Somehow if found it's way onto one of the students, Elana Goldstein. But she was happy enough to have it around.

That's all I have time to look at tonight. Hopefully another big bunch tomorrow.

Firestone Center for Restoration Ecology

5/28/2013

I have way too many pictures from the FCRE, so am going to have a run at putting a number of them on the blog. All of the blog pics coming up were taken during the 2013 field season and are extremely current. There are even MORE pictures of the place, and some information about it with links at: http://www.tropicalbats.com/costa-rica.html
The FCRE pics are in the first obvious link, while the second link to the Hacienda Baru has pictures that were taken on the property right next door.

Many if not most of the animal photos have not yet been worked out to species, although I will add that information as I have time to go through the field guides and do a proper search to get them figured out as close as possible. And now a set of photos...

Always a favorite, what I call the zebra hopper is actually the nymph of the giant grasshopper Tropidacris cristata, one of the largest grasshoppers in the neotropics.

Katydids after an evening rain.

Close up of an Amblypygid, commonly known as tail-less whip scorpions.

There are plenty of stick insects around, but they tend to be hard to figure out.

A beautiful orb weaver, which I hope to have a species on soon. NEW This is the Golden Silk Orb Weaver (Nephila clavipes)

These tiny honey bees have built a hive inside a cement block wall on one of the buildings. The honey from these bees is considered the finest in Costa Rica, and quite expensive to buy.

Vine snakes are quite common, but can be tricky to find. This one is quite small, and only a few millimeters in diameter. NEW It is called Oliver's Parrot Snake (Leptophis nebulosus)

And finally, since this is tropicalbats.com, BATS!

Three pygmy fruit-eating bats (Artibeus phaeotis) in a tent they have made for themselves by chewing the ribs of a big leaf until it droops down into a shelter from the rain and predators.

A pic from the Firestone Center for Restoration Ecology

5/27/2013

A katydid laying eggs.

There are two eggs visible (one right behind the one in front), and a gob of glue ahead of them that will be used to secure the eggs to the plant.

long-legged fly

5/24/2013

I can't identify this fly, but it was pretty cool looking. Northeastern US photo location.

Japanese beetles feeding

5/23/2013

Beetles on the feed.

Argentine brown bat (Eptesicus furinalis)

5/22/2013

The Argentine brown bat (Eptesicus furinalis) is a common insectivorous bat across much of South America. This photo was taken in Paramaribo, Suriname.

Okay, so it has been a while since I posted a bat pic. Here is the fix for those in need. I caught a couple of these bats in Suriname, and in urban areas. Seems they are willing to roost in an attic, so likely one of the several species that can be seeing across Paramaribo every evening popping out of houses.

And twice recently the comic "Speedbump" has had something of a bat theme. You can find them at:

http://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/speedbump/s-1303579

http://www.gocomics.com/speedbump/2013/02/24

Hopefully I am not committing some error of protocol with those links. I tried to post them from the Speedbump website but couldn't find archived strips. Obviously I would prefer to drive viewers to the actual Speedbump site. And with this in mind, here it is:

http://www.speedbump.com/

with the daily comic here if you want a shortcut right to the available last month of funnies:

http://www.speedbump.com/cg_speedbump.php

I both a fan and a detractor of Speedbump. Sometimes Dave Coverly is the funniest guy going, and oozes brilliance. Other times the work just doesn't get it done at all. But in the end I will always go with occasional genius over the endless pap of so many comics today. Speedbump would be in my top ten comics, if I ever were to try and do such, which I remain uninclined to do.

Costa Rican lizard

5/21/2013

This looks like a baby iguana, but I am not sure.