Costa Rica - La Selva

 

(Dec 26, 2007) - Thus far, it has been raining often at La Selva and the Rio Puerto Viejo has been high and varying between a golden brown and dark chocolate color. Given this, it has been impossible to snorkel the river and see any of the fishes. In the past 48 hours, the river has risen 7.2 meters and then dropped 5.6 meters.

Luckily, however, there is more to see in the rainforest than just the exquisite fishes. Below are some of my photos with information about the organism (if I knew any).

 

This is the trail leading to the River Station at La Selva. This is the type of path I have found many of the organisms below near.
This Black-wood Turtle, Rhinoclemmys funerea, was the first animal I saw this year. Strangely enough, he was walking across the path and not that close to any water body. This turtle had a small tick on its shell.
Mushrooms growing on the side of a tree truck.
This Broad-billed Motmot, Electron platyrhynchum, flew across the trail and then settled on a branch. You can barely see the racket-tipped tail (several barbs on two long tail feathers are lost leaving a length of naked shaft).
This is a Smoky-Jungle Frog, Leptodactylus pentadactylus. It was sitting near its burrow and if disturbed it will quickly hop back into the burrow and vanish. This skin of this frog has a toxin that can kill other frogs and can cause an allergic reaction in some people.
This is a juvenile Pug-nosed Anole, Norops capito. This is one of about eight Anole species found at La Selva. Pug-nosed Anoles have a small ridge of bones above each eye and the nares are on a swollen projection at the tip of the snout. The stripe on its back is fairly distinctive of juveniles.
This is a Litter Toad, Bufo haematiticus. This frog is common in the leaf litter.
This is a Bransford's Litterfrog, Eleutherodactylus bransfordii. It was very small and kept hiding behind leaves when I tried to photograph it. This is a very abundant and wide spread frog at La Selva.
This is a Bullet Ant. They are very big and being bitten by one is very painful.
This is a Fitzinger's Frog, Eleutherodactylus fitzingeri. The dark interorbital bar and a W-shaped on the back head are fairly distinctive.
This is a female Violaceous Trogon, Trogon violaceus.
La Selva is a dynamic forest, which means that trees fall fairly frequently, creating gaps in the forest for other plants to grow in.
This is the stair case to the cable car which goes over the Rio Sarapiqui. Someone was kind enough to tied bananas to it.
This is the Cantarana through the swamp at La Selva. This is a great spot to see and hear frogs at night. Below are many of the organisms I have seen in and near the swamp.
This is a male Harlequin Treefrog, Hyla ebraccata, who has his vocal sac expanded ready to call.
This is a Granular Glassfrog, Cochranella granulosa. It was very small (about 1.5cm) frog with a transparent ventral side, which I was unable to get to photograph. This frog is the only glassfrog at La Selva to have granular skin, small bumps that appear as whitish punctuations.
This is a bird we saw in a tree over the swamp. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it is. However, a knowledgeable friend just informed me it is a type of Thrush, probably a Catharus sp.
These are Red-eye Treefrog, Agalychnis callidryas, eggs. These eggs can metamorphose early and drop into the water below, if they are disturbed to avoid predation.
Below are organisms I have seen on or near the buildings or in the lab clearing.
This is a banana flower.
These are long-nosed bats, Rhynchonycteris naso. Many of them sleep on the ceiling of the River Station balconies at La Selva.
This is a Collared Pecary, Tayassu Tajacu. There is a herd of them that live in the lab clearing at La Selva, and even sleep under one of the raised buildings when it is raining.
These are a group of newly hatched spiders that were on the bridge.