Costa Rica, May 2015

Hi everybody,

I've been to Costa Rica for two weeks in May 2015. Here comes the acceptable pics I've brought back with me.
I'm not a pro, some pictures aren't that good, I don't have big lens and so on, and above all, at certain moment, humidity damaged mystuff !
But hell, I'm very happy with what I've seen !

After a night in San José, I've made a quick walk in the city to saw that squirell :

Sciurus variegatorus





But clearly we weren't here for the urban side of the Country. We went to the south, in Orotina where we met our first reptile, in a not so glamour biotope.

Hemidactylus frenatus



The first amphibian was not found in the tropical forest as expected. After I woke up I saw that big toad drowning in a little pool nearby.

Rhinella marina







He's better now. Those one can reach some veryacceptable size.

After a quick breakfast we went to the Carara park. On the road we've met some cool guys.

Iguana iguana



Ctenosaura similis



In the rio, some big crocs :

Crocodylus acutus





Meanwhile...

Ara macao



A few kilometers away, Parc Carara.

Ctenosaura similis



Anolis biporcatus



Ameiva leptophrys





Anolis oxylophus



Dendrobates auratus, Pacific locality.



Craugastor fitzingeri





Basiliscus basiliscus



An Agouti, Dasyprocta punctata.



Cebus capucinus







Some pictures of the biotope:





Ctenosaura similis juvenile



Diclidurus albus






A coati hanging around with a Ctenausara , "What’s up bro ? "



Nasua narica



Ara macao











We briefly saw a Puma too, but it was too fast to take a picture.

The day fater we went to the Cangreja park, a very young, thus not overcrowded, park. Some pictures on the road.





Unfortunately we were here just for the morning, but we've met some great species.

Ameiva leptophrys, again.



Dendrobates auratus



The only two pictures we were able to take of this Gymnophtalmus speciosus, a 4 cm lizard, adult size.





Several specimens of Bufo sp. (It looks a lot like juvenile Bufo valliceps, but that species only live in the north of the Country, so if anyone have an idea…) :











Rhaebo haematiticus



Lythobates warszewitschii



A good sight of the park :



The day after we took the road to tortuguero. The arrival in the Limon was beautiful. The weather was really different with a lot more rain. Also the vegetation took on a new level.

Tortuguero is a village on the Carribean sea rim only reachable by boat. 1h30 of boat on the rivers in the tropcial forest.





At our arrival we went for a small walk in the village and we found on the football field near the beach that small sleeping Agalychnis callidryas  :





After a talk with our host, he told us about a path to enter the park for free. We went there, knowing we would enter the park again the day after, and officialy this time

Some interesting species but still no snakes...

Incilius aucoinae



Corythophanes cristatus







Anolis sp.



Biotope :





The evening we were supposed to do a night tour, but the heavy rain and thunder make oour guide quite worried and he decided to cancel the tour for this night. No problem. I took some rest in my bed and when the rain was decreasing I took a short walk alone around the village.

Amphibian solidarity, with Leptodactylus savageii & Rhinella marina :



Leptodactylus savageii, female.



This is the biggest frog of the Country and it sometimes eat small mammals according to a local guy.

The nex day we visited the park "officialy" but the rain was so strong that every path wereflooded. We saw nothing except some spiders and some Anolis sp. sleeping under big leafs.

The park itself is too expansive for what it is I think, and you can find some cool places around the village.

The afternoon we've been on a canoe tour on the numerous rivers and channels, a few kilometers away from the border of Nicaragua.
It's raining again but I don't care, as the beauty of nature spread before me...

Here again we've seen beautiful animals.

Caiman crocodylus



Iguana iguana, quite far…



At this moment, my camera was temporary damaged by too much humidity, that could explain the following bad pics.

Basiliscus plumifrons male, very far.



The female on the same tree just above him :



An other male Basiliscus plumifrons :



P*ss off, human !



Cochlearius cochlearius





Back at the hostel

Ramphastos sulfuratus







But hell, still no snake !

At 19:00 It is still raining, but we decide to take a walk in the night.

Leptodactylus savageii



Agalychnis callidryas







We saw 5 or 6 specimens, male and female, climbing like monkeys...

But again, humidity affect my cam, and obviously that's exactly when we saw the first snake of our trip... Yeah I know, bad excuse.

8 meters highand & sleeping...

Oxybelis fulgidus, approx 180 cm.







Leptophis depressirostris







A sleeping Anolis



We also saw a big tatoo crossing the path.

The next morning, just before we left I went on the same path to see if the Oxybelis fulgidus was still here, and that was the case.

Next step, Siquirres, more in the south of Limon, and the Guayacan forest:

We're heading to the C.R.A.R.C, Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center to meet Brian Kubicki. An American living here since 18 years to stuy amphibians
We arrived at night at 18:30, and it's already very active. A film crew is here to shot a documentary that will be broadcasted in October or November.

Brian being busy with the film crew, we will do our first excursion with his wife and his neighbour, they know the field, the animals and the flora very well.

Agalychnis spurrelli









Dendropsophus ebraccatus



A strange insect :



I forget the name of this toad



Scinax elaeochrous amplexus



Leptodeira septentrionalis







Craugastor crassidigitus





Agalychnis lemur







Along some little streams we've found our first glass frog.

Teratohyla spinosa





Craugastor crassidigitus



Finally Brian joined us and immediately saw anImantodes innornatus 20 meters away.









Oophaga pumilio.



Lythobathes warszewitschii





Agalychnis callidryas eggs



Back at the lodge, nice place just in front of the forest.





The next morning Brian accept to make us a visit of his lab.





Ventral view of an other glass frog.

Cochranella euknemos



Salamander's room :



One of his Oophaga granulifera.



We went to Siquirres for some gas and found a sloth crossing the road .
That was the 3 finger species, Bradypus tridactylus.





Around the lodge to see some diurnal species

Oophaga pumilio



Allobates talamancae



Dendrobates auratus, Caribbean locality





Anolis sp.





I was quite impatient to do a new and more in depth night walk with Brian and I wasn't disapointed. 5 hours walk to enjoy the nocturnal lofe of the Guayacan reserve.

Diasphorous diastema



Agalychnis spurrelli &Agalychnis callidryas's eggs



Amblypygi :



Agalychnis lemur's eggs



Agalychnis lemur



We were searching for a very interesting frog, that belonged to the Agalychnis genus before, but that is quite different at the end. Finally we found it and this specime jumped on me from a few meters high in the tree.

Cruziohyla calcarifer









Corytophanes cristatus



Duellmanohyla rufioculis





Hyalanobatrachium valerioi



Hyalanobatrachium fleishmanni





Under the apparent nocturnal calm of the forest, there is a war.

Sachatamia albomaculata, males fight.





Pristimantis cerasinus





An unknown spider



Hyloscirtus cerasinus



Imantodes cenchoa









Teratohyla spinosa.



Imantodes cenchoa.









Corallus anulatus







Agalychnis lemur





Next step La selva biological station in Heredia.

Lprimary forest are abundant here, though we didn't find that much animals.

Basiliscus vittatus



Agalychnis callidryas





Ectophylla alba



Ameiva festiva





Gonotades albogularis



But above all

A big Spilotes pullatus, almost 3 meters:








A big Tayra (Eira barbara) crossed the path right before me, but again it was too fast for me.
I don't put the pictures of the numerous Oophaga pumilio & Anolis that we met every 5 meters.

Biotope.



A big and probably old Iguana iguana. Despite the fact it's a very common animal, I'm still impressed by this Dino face.



Now the last step of our travel : Monteverde

Right in the front of our hostel, the other sloth living in Costa Rica:

Choloepus didactylus



They were present during the whole trip, but it's just now I take the time to take some picture of those amazing creatures.

Colibri thalassinus





Heliodoxa jacula





Campylopterus hemileucurus



Lampornis calolaemus



The afternoon was dedicated to the visit of the incredible cloud forest. Very few animals here, but the plants are impressiv



Moss, epiphyte and bromeliads everywhere. I've never seen so much vegetation on vegetation.







Mr Sloth still doing nothing.





First nocturnal walk.

Megaphobema mesomelas





???? If someone can identify those...





1450 meters high, approx 15/16°C.

Bothiechis lateralis. Sorry for the bad pics.





Dynastes hercules septentrionalis, the biggest beatle in the world



Bothriechis lateralis, specimen 2, quite far.





Bothriechis lateralis, specimen 3.







Bothriechis lateralis, specimen 4.




The day after we went to the Santa helena cloud forest. and bam : Bothriechis lateralis specimen 5.









Some pics of the forest







It's almost the end of our travel, so I decide to do a last night tour, a short one because I'm tired as hell.

Bothriechis schlegelii







I've also met some Craugastor crassidigitus, some glass frogs and a small Duellmanohyla rufioculis, some other sloth, sleeping toucans, an oppossum…

And the very last reptile of our trip

Bothriechis lateralis, specimen 6.



Hope you enjoyed that report and if you have questions, just ask !

Thanks for sharing, interesting pics, someone are realy nice! But, where is Bush Master???

amazing ! Next time i come with you :p

for the first spider you forget the name, i think it's an avicularia avicularia (male ?)

for the amphibian, i tell few friends to check up the name

See you soon

Thanks Yannick ! That's a pleasure for me to share !

Amazing photo's !

Imantodes ! aaaaAAH one of my favourites

Super

Great picture, I envy these expeditions. Even more congratulations, especially my favorite Bothriechis lateralis, beautiful. Amazing to see such snakes in their natural habitat.

Rafał Broński wrote:

Great picture, I envy these expeditions. Even more congratulations, especially my favorite Bothriechis lateralis, beautiful. Amazing to see such snakes in their natural habitat.

Amon Göth Hauptsturmführer ? why ?

I'm interested in history, Dylan, I'm interested in mainly the Third Reich and its secrets and the photo I liked, so I decided to do his avatar.It does not promote any Nazi ideology.

ok
I am not a moderator or something else but maybe some people will get a wrong idea of it !

just saying

cheers

I think no one is offended avatar, and even if it's just that write to me and explain this person. The more that I have explained here. Second, do not let us live stereotypes.