Please read down past the first Firestone Center post, as my second post with a lot of photos seems to be displayed after my first post.
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I have returned yet again to the Firestone Center for Restoration Ecology in Costa Rica. We have quite a number of projects planned and only one week to get them all done. Yesterday the internet was down and this morning magically it is back! So, hopefully there will be some fun pictures and stories coming up. As usual, one of the first things we did was hike up to one of the many waterfalls on the property. Although it is very slippery, it is a very pretty spot and you can get refreshingly wet and a cool breeze comes down the valley. 
Everyone enjoys this waterfall. It is the true "pura vida" aspect of Costa Rica
The only other thing besides the general moving in that we did was a short night walk near the Program House where we saw a couple of fun things. 
One BIG cockroach! This guy was about four inches long
A young true bug
A really dangerous looking scorpion. In general the thinner the pinchers are the more toxic the sting venom, and these pinchers are very thin
A gorgeous spider and an unfortunate katydid. Later on in the evening we were watching this spider again when a grasshopper hit it's web and we got to watch the whole process of the spider captureing a big prey to the wrapping it up and finally giving it a bite
And it's not all spiders and other nasty stuff. A lot of the things we see at night are really quite attractive without being a "creepy crawly." 
A nice little frog, hopefully one of many to come
First order of business today is to note that I have competition!!! The students are blogging their trip, so to get all the goods on the trip you should also check out: costaricathesis.wordpress.com From what I've seen so far they are putting up a pretty fun bit. From my end, I led an orientation walk of the whole property this morning, and only took one photo. The golden silk spider (Nephila clavipes) makes big webs, and apparently can capture big prey. 
Golden silk spider (Nephila clavipes) with an owl-eye butterly (Caligo sp.). The spider is about four inches long
Afterwards, I went over and got a new machete for Connor. Greddy, the land manager for the Firestone Center was kind enough to put a sharp edge on it. 
Machetes come very dull. But Greddy fixed that up
And then dinner and well, another hike up the hill to look for frogs and other things that can only be found at night in the tropical forest. I will note that it is something like 800 feet of elevation gain to get up to the ponds with the frogs and such, so it is not a trivial bit to get up there. But on the way up we saw: 
A nice moth with colorful underwings
Katydids making katydids
Looks like a tree cricket
A pretty rough-looking owl butterfly (Caliga sp.)
And then there is the stuff we saw at the top of the Firestone. Very fun evening on top of the hill. 
The first critter was this giant spider on a banana plant
This neon-colored grasshopper was a new one for me on the property.
And of course there were red-eyed tree frogs (Agalychnis callidryas), but not as many as we see earlier in the summer
Wasps, check that box, as they are always around
Cool looking dragonfly
Frogs were a key part of the night walk, but I don't have the time or materials to identify them right now. I will post more photos, and hopefully have the IDs, later
Near the end of the walk up on top, we spotted this leaf-legged bug (probably Genus Anisoscelis) which was beautiful
I have a couple more interesting pics from the hike, but will have to put them up tomorrow as too darn late here to do more. Gotta sleep at least a little bit.
Holy name painting batman, I caught this guy painting his name on a cave wall in Borneo! And while the photo does not show the culprit in a way that he can be identified, I identify him here. 
Don McFarlane painting his name on a cave wall. But wait, how is this visible in the darkness of the cave???
Okay, if that whole first bit of text is taken out of context, which it is, it would seem like he spray painted on the wall. No way! This photo was taken using light painting. I kept the camera shutter open on a tripod while he used a flashlight to light-paint his name. No harm to the cave! He had this weird light that gave out a square, focused beam, so doesn't look like a flashlight and gave this an honest graffiti look.
So, putting up a pic of Don, I will note that he and I are off on yet another adventure, and photos from Costa Rica will start tomorrow.  A centipede on the guano There were a ton of ants at Gomantong, but no one seemed to be getting bitten by them. That is good. But there were a few of these big ones roaming around, and pretty happy not to have been bitten by such. That would have hurt. I am tentatively calling them Camponotus gigas, the giant forest ant. 
Just under an inch long, these ants were scary. Probably Camponotus gigas, the giant forest ant
Hoverflies are more common than you think, but are generally bee mimics so without a close look one might assume the insect is a bee. But hover they do, and while some bees can hover, this is a pretty good trait to watch for around flower gardens to see them. This was not a particularly east photo to get, but I wanted a shot of one hovering, and patience paid off. 
A hoverfly (family: Syrphidae) in flight at West End Park in Falls Church, Virginia
I still have a number of pics from my last trip to Borneo. Here is one. 
A nester coming down a ladder after a bit of collecting
I have photographed this critter before, and am guessing it is a dagger moth larva, but not certain. The tussock moth larva look pretty similar. 
A caterpillar with the head on the right.
red-banded hairstreak.
Tiny mushrooms
Wildflowers at Burke Lake
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