Early Morning Walk: Carara Biological Reserve, Costa Rica

Posted on Saturday, Aug 4, 2012

Saturday, March 11, 2000

Mindful of our earlier experience at Manuel Antonio National Park, Darla and I got up particularly early to return to Carara Biological Reserve for a morning walk along the edge of a river. It was still cool and comfortable at this hour as evidenced by the fact that we gave no thought at all to the tropical climate. What did get our attention was the wildlife: There were anhingas diving for fish while other birds watched from the trees. There were basilisks (aka Jesus Christ lizards) running across the water; and giant iguanas wandering down the middle of the trail. There were hummingbirds hovering around the heliconias and morning glories. And there were little crocs hanging out along the riverbank, no doubt biding their time until becoming big enough to compete with the man-eaters in the main channel of the Rio Tarcoles. (These juvenile crocs may actually have been caiman. It can be hard to tell them apart. Caiman tend to be shy so one rule of thumb is that if it runs it is a caiman; if it eats you it is a croc.)

At one point we heard a creature thrashing through the underbrush just off trail. I imagined it being a wild boar. A wild boar is the last thing you want to encounter in the forest. They will come after you. When being chased by a wild boar, climbing a tree is the recommended response—though this too has a downside as there are plenty of tree-dwelling creatures you want to avoid as well. Then there is the fact that not all trees are meant to be climbed. In this case the ruckus turned out to be a coatimundi that headed in the opposite direction as soon as it spotted us.

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©2012 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Insects? What Insects? Carara Biological Reserve, Costa Rica

Posted on Saturday, Jul 28, 2012

Friday, March 10, 2000

Costa Rica is amazing in its abundance of life. At Carara Biological Reserve, with scarlet macaws in the air, monkeys in the trees, and man-eating crocs in rivers, you would be excused for overlooking the tiny creatures right at your feet. Yet spend a moment or two focused on the ground and you will encounter all sorts of insects not likely found in your back yard. It only took a few minutes for Darla, Mimi, Papa T, and I to discover leaf-cutter ants, yellow-banded millipedes (a description I just made up), little clouds of flying…somethings, and little piles of red something elses.

The leaf-cutter ants were particularly interesting. Thousands of them were walking along the edge of the trail on their way to and from their nest. The procession was hundreds of feet long—and that was just the part of it that we could see from the trail. Some poor tree or bush was having a bad day.

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©2012 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

On the Beach: Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

Posted on Saturday, Jul 21, 2012

Wedneday, March 8, 2000

Manuel Antonio’s wildlife isn’t confined to the trees. There were plenty of interesting creatures underfoot as well. Iguanas were everywhere, in all sizes and colors. I particularly liked this blue one with which we crossed paths as we emerged from the jungle onto a beach.

I stood for several minutes watching waves come in from the Pacific Ocean before noticing movement on the beach. Upon closer inspection I realized that it was covered with small pink crabs leaving little trails as they ventured back and forth from their holes in the sand. I lingered for a good 10 minutes trying to capture a successful image of them with my soft-and-slow 75-300.

In the trees just off the beach we encountered a two-foot tall bird that seemed completely unconcerned with our presence. In fact, if the iguana seemed indifferent, this bird seemed a little friendly. Maybe it was the dog eyes.

After grabbing a shot of Fido, the bird, I noticed that the sand beneath my feet was moving. More crabs. Only this time it was hermit crabs—bunches and bunches of them. And these aren’t the cute little size-of-a-fingernail hermit crabs you find along the shore in Hawaii; these guys were big.

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©2012 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.