Cool little frogs that are pretty common at the Duck Pond at the Firestone Center for Restoration Ecology.
The hour glass frog gets its name from the roughly hour glass shape of the dark patch on its back. These are fairly small frogs, note that this one is on a blade of tall grass, and easily missed during the day. But at night they tend to sit pretty high in low vegetation where they can be readily be seen.
Cool little frogs that are pretty common at the Duck Pond at the Firestone Center for Restoration Ecology.
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There are two different species of red-eyed tree frogs at the Firestone Center for Restoration Ecology. Both can be found at the Duck Pond at night. The more common species is just called the red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas). It is a striking frog, with red eyes, green mostly, some striping along the sides and even some orange bits. They can also have a number of white spots scattered on the back mostly. This is one of the most widely known tropical frogs as photos of it have been published in books and articles everywhere. Gorgeous animal, and a great poster-frog for the neo-tropical rain forests. Here is one climbing up soon after dark to get to its perch. So look closely at the toes. This frog does not have much webbing between the toes.
But then there is the second species, the gliding red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis spurrelli). This similar species does not have the striping and has more yellow highlights rather than orange. But the big thing is that this frog has big webbing between the toes and can use that to leap off a tree and spread out and actually glide to another tree or the ground. Very cool adaptation, and another beautiful frog. There are five ponds on the Firestone Center property, and all have frogs. But nothing like the activity at the Duck Pond. This pond is at the top of the property so we aren't up there at night too often, but tonight we were up there to see the bats and frogs. So while almost there, we saw our first red-eyed tree frog. The students wanted to get good photos of it, so they teamed up to hold it and photograph it. Until it... Well, it kinda did what frogs do, jump. but in this case onto Sara who wasn't quite expecting that. Even so, moments later everyone starting laughing and with fits of the giggles all was good. Just another close encounter with wildlife at the FCRE. The frog was re-captured and then returned to its location on a nearby plant. The educational value of this can not be underestimated. It is one thing to see a beautiful animal in a photo, it is another thing to be able to talk about interacting with such an animal to people for the rest of your life.
I made dinner in the afternoon and set it aside so that things could go on fairly late at the top of the hill without having to make something when I came down. This worked out well, effectively keeping me off McFarlane's afternoon machete-fest re-opening some of the trails that tend to get grown over each year.
But then he bailed on the really fun part, heading up around 4:30pm to be up there at dusk and into dark to see (and hear) the amazing night stuff. Several bat species were noted, but with the multitude of bats and just me dealing with them, I elected to just photograph one. This is a Seba's short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata) and a super attractive animal. Big nose leaf, spiffy whiskers, and oh that sly smile. In the morning everyone scattered. More camera traps were set up, more spiders were located, some of the archaeological sites on the property were visited, and... Yes, digging up tea bags that were buried months ago in the ongoing pursuit of science here.
Few like cockroaches and most would not like them in or around the house. At the Firestone Center we take a different approach and for the most part just let things be. So finding this giant peppered cockroach on the side of the building causes no alarm or need for action. Just photographed it and left it be.
Of note, these things are somewhat popular as pets, which doesn't surprise me as it is just over 4 inches long and really kinda cool. Some folks like dogs, some like tarantulas or giant insects. But certainly not the mainstream pet. I don't make up the names, I just report them as I see them. This little flycatcher is a southern beardless-tyrannulet that was seen in the gardens around the Firestone Center's Program House.
Just a little tropical humor. I have no idea who did this but makes you smile. The fruit itself is quite large, at about 10 inches in diameter.
The milk frog is the largest tree frog in Costa Rica, and we see them occasionally at the Firestone Center. It is a big frog, about 4 inches long, and has long legs and can jump with ease quite a long way.
This example was found on a building and actually needed to be moved for its safety given all the construction going on around here (new students dorms and such). I grabbed it and set it on a plant well away from trouble, and realized there was a great opportunity to demonstrate why it is called a milk frog. Most any description of this frog will tell you to never handle them. When handled or distressed they emit copious amounts of a milky white secretion that is toxic and can give a burning rash or worse if you get it in your mouth or such. But for a project years ago I had to handle these frogs and found that I did not get the rash, and am capable of washing my hands well after handling, so no ill effects. Thus I grabbed it from its less than optimal location and moved it, washed my hands (which took some time as the secretion is tough to get off), and returned to take a photograph of the frog showing it with the milky secretion for educational purposes. And here it is, a beautiful animal with amazing eyes and toxic milk quite visible. The granular poison dart frog (Oophaga granulifera) is a quite small frog, with orange/red on the front and varying gray to bluish green on the legs. It does give off a somewhat toxic secretion, so best not to handle them and I did not handle this one. They have been seen in almost every habitat on the Firestone Center property, but are particularly common in the banana plantation. And while mostly a ground frog, they like to climb up a little and sit off the ground on low roots and such. Today I found one vertically climbing a banana plant, which was kinda neat.
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Keith Christenson Wildlife Biologist Archives
September 2021
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