Palo Verde
http://www.ots.ac.cr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=238&Itemid=415
Sunday May 25 -- Las Pumas, Travel to Palo Verde
On the road to Palo Verde via Volcan Arenal and Las Pumas -- 8hr trip including stops
Small town Costa Rica.
Volcan Arenal
Dominates the landscape.
South east side of Arenal
Green, not black like the other side -- it's an active volcano and most of the rock and lava comes over the northern lip.
Hiccup
A bunch of rocks, scree, and maybe lava have just rolled down the right side of the volcano.
Centro de Rescate Las Pumas
http://www.lrsarts.com/PUMAS/
We visited Las Pumas on the way to Palo Verde. It felt great to contribute to a critical project that rehabilitates injured wildlife and, everywhere possible, releases them back into their native habitat. There were a number of "permanent residents," who received the best care available and gave visitors a chance to see what some elusive species look like.
Rural Costa Rica
Brahman cows are well adapted to the heat and humidity. This was along the bumpy dirt road en route to the research station.
Almost there...
...or so we thought, it was almost an hour longer before we pulled up. Remote, beautiful,.., and buggy!
Monday May 26 -- Guided walk
Morning birding.
We saw all kinds of neat water and shore birds. The hawk-like Crested Caracara's were impressive.
Alberth, Palo Verde guide and jack-of-all-trades
His favorites are the reptiles and amphibians. We also learned a lot about birds, conservation, land management, regional history, and the workings of Palo Verde.
Red-cheeked mud turtle
One of many species we saw this morning. Unfortunate that birds are so much harder to catch sitting still for long.
Measuring up La Roca
View from lookout
La Roca is a steep rocky outcrop on top of a large hill. It affords a nearly complete 360 view of the expansive marsh that is so vital to the ecology of the area and the migration of hundreds of water birds each season.
Iguana, hanging out near the library.
We think that this guy was the one holed up in the drain for most of the day, until the rain parted for a bit -- only the tip of the tail was sticking out.
Courting ritual of the Mexican Burrowing Toad
They fully inflate, literally, to make a really unique gutteral call. It rained so hard one night that they were active right next to the kitchen in a flooded area as opposed to way out in the marsh.
Tuesday May 27 -- Boat Trip, Science Projects
See the puddle???
Check out the next picture, it was in the puddle.
You're a baby, but still bigger than my arm.
It skittered out of the way when the white pickup arrived with the rest of the group. We hadn't noticed it until then, but nobody was puddle jumping anyway and it was very scared of us.
Boat Trip on the Tempisque River
This large river empties into the Gulf of Nicoya inside the peninsula on the western side of Costa Rica. We enjoyed numerous crocodiles, birds (especially a pair of wild Scarlet Macaws), monkeys, and even a small colony of Long-nosed bats on the underside of a large tree hanging out over the river. Frances took this shot sitting about halfway back, it was a long boat and we all got window seats.
Howler monkey
Great views of Howlers. We had heard them times before, but not such nice close-ups as this.
Antlions
As it poured all afternoon, students designed projects involving antlions and how these small ant-trapping predators reacted to varied environments.
Wednesday May 28
Turtle babies
Torrential rain from the tropical storm limited much photo taking today. We went for a walk in the morning to see turtles and amphibians. Several baby red-cheeked mud turtles highlighted the trip.
Cards!
Got some down-time in the afternoon to play the ever-popular card games.
