The night walk was pretty cool. There are simply so many nocturnal creatures in the tropical rain forest that if you only search for them during the day, you are really missing out!
We saw lots of bats, some of them quite large. We hiked to a man-made fish pond in which we found a snake on a leaf, a tadpole of the Red-Eyed Tree Frog, a HUGE bullfrog, and some other frogs.
A Masked Tree Frog.
Another.
My eagle eyes (Nick will love that!) spotted a bird sleeping in a tree, which, I must say, is a very neat thing to see, that I hadn't seen before.
We hiked along a road. Here you can see the bats quickly fly by you. Then we hiked along part of the Carbonera River. We could faintly see the Greater Fishing Bats that swoop down and catch fish in the water. Their wingspan must have been at least a foot. (See excellent National Geographic video of a fishing bat in Belize.)
We saw a huge gecko on the generator building (you can't really see how huge he is in the picture) and lots of spiders.
There were lots of little shrimp in the water with metallic glowing eyes. Stink bugs (like roaches), a female tarantula, a scorpion. It's too bad that photography is so difficult in these night walks. I don't like to use flash - I don't know if the guides would let you use flash anyways - so your best bet is to have someone shine a flashlight on your subject.
Speaking of flashlights and shine and glowing eyes... Read more about this fascinating phenomena in my post "Eyeshine in Nocturnal Animals." Read more about night walks by clicking on the "nature at night" label at the bottom of this post.
After the hike, we showered and ended up being pretty late for dinner. The appetizers were the best part - these chicken tamales in banana leaves. The tropical fishcakes were okay. The bouillibaise de Osa was dry, but I have a feeling that was because we were so late. For dessert, the choices were deep, dark cheesecake or drunken watermelon.
next post > day 13 - Lapa Rios Birding, Waterfalls, Rain, & Private Dinner
previous post > day 12 - Lapa Rios Flora & Fauna
first post > day 1 - Adventure, Exploration and Relaxation
We saw lots of bats, some of them quite large. We hiked to a man-made fish pond in which we found a snake on a leaf, a tadpole of the Red-Eyed Tree Frog, a HUGE bullfrog, and some other frogs.
A Masked Tree Frog.
Another.
My eagle eyes (Nick will love that!) spotted a bird sleeping in a tree, which, I must say, is a very neat thing to see, that I hadn't seen before.
We hiked along a road. Here you can see the bats quickly fly by you. Then we hiked along part of the Carbonera River. We could faintly see the Greater Fishing Bats that swoop down and catch fish in the water. Their wingspan must have been at least a foot. (See excellent National Geographic video of a fishing bat in Belize.)
We saw a huge gecko on the generator building (you can't really see how huge he is in the picture) and lots of spiders.
There were lots of little shrimp in the water with metallic glowing eyes. Stink bugs (like roaches), a female tarantula, a scorpion. It's too bad that photography is so difficult in these night walks. I don't like to use flash - I don't know if the guides would let you use flash anyways - so your best bet is to have someone shine a flashlight on your subject.
Speaking of flashlights and shine and glowing eyes... Read more about this fascinating phenomena in my post "Eyeshine in Nocturnal Animals." Read more about night walks by clicking on the "nature at night" label at the bottom of this post.
* * *
After the hike, we showered and ended up being pretty late for dinner. The appetizers were the best part - these chicken tamales in banana leaves. The tropical fishcakes were okay. The bouillibaise de Osa was dry, but I have a feeling that was because we were so late. For dessert, the choices were deep, dark cheesecake or drunken watermelon.
next post > day 13 - Lapa Rios Birding, Waterfalls, Rain, & Private Dinner
previous post > day 12 - Lapa Rios Flora & Fauna
first post > day 1 - Adventure, Exploration and Relaxation
Comments
Post a Comment