Surprising number of green-backed herons on a nearby beach when we stopped by. This one was pretty friendly and landed close to where I was standing.
Both male and female crowned woodnymphs were around this afternoon. I like this photo of the male but would like to get an image from straight on showing the bright green bib. Gorgeous birds. The female is strikingly different looking. This is called sexual dimorphism and is really common with birds.
This is a super pretty hummingbird and can be seen every day by the feeders at the Program House. But the "white-necked" part is not always obvious. Don McFarlane asked me yesterday what kind of hummingbird is that, and I told him. His comment was that the bird appears to have white in many places but the neck is decidedly not one of them. But once you get a couple looks at it the white is visible on the nape of the neck.
Some years there are a lot of army ants, but this year not so many. However today along the Waterfall Trail I saw a column going across the trail. These things have both a sting and a bite so best not to step on the line. Warren Roberts is one of the best at spotting wildlife in the canopy. Well this time we were walking off trail through the brush and he calls me over says, "there's a tail coming out from that tree." It took me a while to find it but sure enough, there was a kinkajou tail sticking out of a tree cavity. The animals are up there and sometimes you just have to have Warren around to see them.
These wandering spiders are pretty common at the FCRE. They have a very toxic bite but no one gets bit as they very rarely have any interaction with the people here. I am pretty sure, but not positive, that this is Phoneutria boliviensis, here eating a leaf-mimic katydid. A large, dangerous spider you would be best not to have run up your pants or such a thing.
The common pauraque is in the nightjar family, and similar to a whip-poor-will. it nests in open spaces on the ground and flies at night, unlike most birds. They are super camouflaged with a mottled brown pattern and pretty much invisible during the day, but at night they have a strong orange eye-shine and we see them when our headlamps are on. I found this one on the upper part of the FCRE tonight.
While in the areas of the FCRE at night with a lot of frogs, we quite often see snakes. Snakes eat frogs, so it makes sense. And always a good time to keep an eye out where you put your feet as not all the snakes are harmless.
Tonight we saw a northern cat-eyed snake hunting frogs at night near one of the ponds. These are small, attractive snakes with a rear-fang venom. Not terribly dangerous to people, but we just let them be and take a photo. The red-eyed tree frog is a truly gorgeous animal, and we are lucky to be able to see them at certain times of the year. Like now. Tonight we saw four of them and such a treat. We have two species here but we only saw the more common one tonight on a night hike.
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Keith Christenson Wildlife Biologist Archives
September 2021
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