Very cool, so take a close look at the caterpillar and you will see two "eyes" and a very triangular snake-shaped "head". So totally cool that the bird wasn't fooled by this obvious defense strategy, probably plucking it off so fast it didn't have time to do the "look like a snake" thing. These caterpillars are even known to make a striking motion and really have the whole snake thing down.
The slaty-tailed trogon is just one of the most beautiful birds. We were over at the neighboring Hacienda Baru to get permission to catch some of their mosquitoes (how hard was that!) and I got a chance to take a short walk to the beach. Along the trail was this trogon just sitting and hunting as they tend to do. But while taking a couple photos it made a quick attack flight and landed nearby with a large caterpillar in it's mouth. Even though I wasn't all that far away, there was no way to see what kind of caterpillar it was. But when I looked at the photos it is clearly one of the snake-headed caterpillars. I am not really sure of the ID even from the photo, but probably Hemeroplanes ornatus which is one of the sphinx moths. Very cool, so take a close look at the caterpillar and you will see two "eyes" and a very triangular snake-shaped "head". So totally cool that the bird wasn't fooled by this obvious defense strategy, probably plucking it off so fast it didn't have time to do the "look like a snake" thing. These caterpillars are even known to make a striking motion and really have the whole snake thing down. And as an end note. Most animals seem to prefer to eat prey head first. So, the bird gave the caterpillar a quick flip toss spinning it around so the head was at the beak. And down the hatch it went.
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I don't know a whole lot about the behavior, but certain caterpillars will cluster together and make some very interesting designs when doing so. I thought these were really awesome-looking.
I just got here and took a few photos. No time to ID things but putting up some pics anyway. There was a family of kinkajou in a tree just outside the ecology center. But with manual focus at 10 meters essentially taking photos in total darkness I just got this one as best: This caterpillar is just awesome Much more to come
A caterpillar that is nearly invisible on grass.
The Hacienda Baru is an eco-resort with property that abuts the Firestone Reserve. We went over there for dinner one evening which is always a treat. Inside their butterfly garden I found these two... In a fig tree outside the garden, I found a pretty caterpillar (fig tree is host plant).
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.
I spent today staring at the ceiling of the upper cave, mapping out all the colonies of bats and swiftlets. Didn't take any photos, but hope to go back and get photos of lots of the colonies soon. But we stayed late and watched the bat emergence. Something like a million bats (mostly wrinkle-faced bats) pour out of the cave at sunset every evening, and it is amazing to watch. I think Guy got some great video footage. Since it was dark when we got off the hill, I had a look around to see if any animals were around. Not many, but some. Note that this is my third blog post tonight! Internet is good but it is very late here and I will suffer tomorrow from the lack of sleep. Just trying to get things posted and so remember to scroll down after this post as there are many new photos up. And now some random photos... There is no town near where I took these pics, just farms, scenery and good people. |
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Keith Christenson Wildlife Biologist Archives
September 2021
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