Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Watch where you sit

just a very short post to encourage you to check the chair, before you sit down.
Especially in a garden in the tropical part of our planet: As you can see, the chair is wet! ;-)



Saturday, November 25, 2017

Eat or be eaten

During my last night walk in the rainforest, I saw only the species I already found the nights before.
When I spotted a Leptodeira septentrionalis from a distance, my first thought was like "ah... another one, kind of bor... wait what?!"
After I got closer I recognized it was eating a frog. It's my first observation of an eating snake in Costa Rica. I took some pictures and then moved a little further. Didn't want to disturb too much. (Ok, I assume the snake didn't give a sh*t though)
While I was waiting for the snake to swallow it's food, I seized the time to take some pictures of luckier frogs. After some minutes I returned to the scene and watched the frog disappear completly into the snake's mouth.






Common species, but pretty nice timing. Talking about timing: Maybe two minutes later, the rain got very heavy and I had to put away my camera.


Monday, November 20, 2017

Nocturnal neighbors

At night you can see many animals right next to our station. Especially when it rains, there is a lot of "traffic" around our ponds. I took the following pictures within a 5 minute walking distance to my room.
Still at the building this Turnip-tail Gecko (Thecadactylus rapicauda) was looking for food. With approx. (12cm, 4.7 in) it is the biggest Gecko of Costa Rica.

Turnip-tail Gecko - Thecadactylus rapicauda

Turnip-tail Gecko - Thecadactylus rapicauda

The Northern Cat-eyed Snake (Leptodeira septentrionalis) is abundant near the ponds here.

Northern Cat-eyed Snake - Leptodeira septentrionalis

As well as the Hourglass Treefrog (Dendropsophus ebraccatus) and the famous Red-eyed Treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas)

Hourglass Treefrog - Dendropsophus ebraccatus

Red-eyed Treefrog - Agalychnis callidryas

I also saw some Plain Blunt-headed Tree Snakes (Imantodes inornatus).

Plain Blunt-headed Tree Snake - Imantodes inornatus

Plain Blunt-headed Tree Snake - Imantodes inornatus



Monday, November 13, 2017

Welcome to the Jungle!

Today I arrived at the biological station after a long flight, a long taxi drive and a long bus drive.
There were three unhappy babies around me in the plane, a traffic jam around San Jose and no air condition in the bus... 

But now I am in the jungle of BriBri, working at a biological station.

Although I was tired from the journey, I immidietly started to look for some cool critters. My first photo model was this cute Strawberry Poison Frog (Oophaga pumilio). I think this is the perfect start.


Strawberry Poison Frog - Oophaga pumilio