In the afternoon, I set up a mist net to do a night demonstration netting for the students and others who were interested in seeing how bat work is done and of course see some bats and learn about them.
Setting up a simple little 9-meter net across water I figured would be perfect. For a demonstration project I need to catch some bats and a few different species of bats but not catch every bat in the forest. This is primarily educational and not scientific, so I have to have time to actually talk about the bats and their ecology and bat work and well in general do more teaching than dealing with bat science. I really do not want to be swamped with bats, nor catch nothing.
And it was perfect.
Setting up a simple little 9-meter net across water I figured would be perfect. For a demonstration project I need to catch some bats and a few different species of bats but not catch every bat in the forest. This is primarily educational and not scientific, so I have to have time to actually talk about the bats and their ecology and bat work and well in general do more teaching than dealing with bat science. I really do not want to be swamped with bats, nor catch nothing.
And it was perfect.
Looks like a nice pool to find some bats at night
Sorry, super sorry and totally sorry that I do not have any photos of the bats. When doing demonstration/educational stuff I already handle the bats long enough without taking photos of them. They need to be free, flying and feeding more than I need a photo on such nights. I may find some bats for photos on this trip, but not on this night.
But there were other things out there as well. Just 10 meters from my net was a very cool and very large grasshopper nymph. The adult is the largest grasshopper in the Americas.
But there were other things out there as well. Just 10 meters from my net was a very cool and very large grasshopper nymph. The adult is the largest grasshopper in the Americas.
Giant grasshopper, yes that is it's common name (Tropidacris cristata) nymph. This this is over 4 inches long
And not trying to be a scare-monger, but the forest can be dangerous and just 20 meters away from where I put up my bat net was a Fer-de-lance, pretty much considered the most deadly snake in the western hemisphere.
Fer-de-lance snake known as "terciopelo" in Costa Rica. Not something to toy with
I was working and didn't have my proper camera gear when this snake was discovered just three feet from Warren walking along the trail, so please allow me this photo from my phone. This is a highly venomous snake, and was very aggressive while we watched it, so could not get a great shot, but wanted to include it here as a very cool wildlife sighting.
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