We were up early today and out the door
by 6AM. We decided to head to the Titi trail to see how far we could
get before breakfast and had hopes of seeing some Squirrel
Monkeys for the first time. We didn't end up having time to do the whole trail, but the
hike itself was full of wildlife (but no Squirrel Monkeys).
Titi Trail entrance
Male Black-throated Trogon. Hey...what's he looking at?
Ah...he was checking out the ladies
Male and Female Great Curassow
Male putting on a little display
Here is a compilation video of various birds taken during our trip. The Great Curassow are featured in this video.
After another G and G breakfast, we
headed back to our cabina only to interrupt our house cleaning service.
There's one less cockroach to worry about now. Next, it was off to the Titi trail to finish what we started earlier in the day. We were intent
on "going card" today which meant seeing all four monkey species in one day and we only had the Squirrel Monkeys left to see. It
didn't take long to meet that goal.
We also saw lots of other wildlife on this hike. The Titi Trail did not disappoint today.
Mangrove Black Hawk
Golfo Dulce Anole
Green Page Moth
Towards the end of the hike we encountered a frisky Spider Monkey baby and an indifferent mother. We watched as the baby used its tail to hang from a branch and spin around and around in circles while Mom just tried to get some sleep.
After lunch we relaxed a bit on our deck
before hitting the more strenuous Pacific Trail. We scanned the ocean
from our deck in hopes of seeing a whale or some dolphins and it wasn't
long before we did see a couple small pods of dolphins. We were so far
away it was hard to tell what kind they were until they started
jumping. Even with the naked eye we could see these sleek silver shapes
leaping out of the water and spinning multiple times in mid air. This
pretty much guaranteed that they were Spinner Dolphins which were a
first for us.
The Pacific trail consists of
switchbacks and steps straight down to rocks and beach. This is one of
the best places on the grounds to find the endangered Golfo Dulce Dart
Frog but we had no luck on that front. We did have some good sightings
however:
Black and Green Dart Frog
Juvenile Capuchin
Brown Pelicans in formation
Unfortunately, our trip was cut a bit
short. Looking out over the ocean we saw the same cloud pattern that
caused yesterday's afternoon squall. Not wanting to get all the darn
camera gear I lug around soaking wet, we realized that we would have to
head back. In fact, as we started our ascent we could see the that the
clouds were moving inland pretty quickly. While she wasn't fond of me jokingly crying out "double time it" numerous times as we climbed and panted back
up the hill, Karen did appreciate the fact that we made it back to the
cabina with only about 5 minutes to spare before the skies opened up and
unloaded. We were hot and sweaty but it sure beats working!
Tonight we were desperate to get a night
walk in so we decided to go out at dusk and walk until dinner since the
rain had let up. It's a tough life when you have to decide between
cocktails in an exotic rainforest bar and a night walk in the jungle. For tonight at least, the
cocktails would have to wait. So, we headed down to the small pond and had
good looks at some frogs and a Cat-eyed snake.
Red-eyed Tree Frog
A little further down the road, we
noticed a bird silhouette on a branch. We almost didn't investigate it
since it looked like a hawk, but I decided to walk around and get a
better look. We were glad that I did that since this was our first ever
Spectacled Owl:
After dinner, we went out walking again
since the conditions were still dry. There was more frog life at the
pond now and we saw another Cat-eyed snake that was moving through one
of the bushes which I captured in the snake video I posted earlier.
As I was filming that snake, I heard "Fer-de-lance!" from Karen. Those are words that you really don't want to
hear someone yell out in the dark in the rain forest. She had seen one
under a bush but luckily it was about 10 feet in front of us and
presented no danger. It was all curled up waiting to ambush some
unsuspecting critter so I finished filming the Cat-eyed Snake before
getting a few shots of the Fer-De-Lance. If you look closely you can
see that even a deadly snake can get bothered by mosquitoes.
We let Philip know about the Fer-de-lance
and he wasn't surprise since he has seen them around the little pond
before. He cautioned us from being too adventurous around there and we
took his advice on subsequent trips. Unless you are out with a guide or
really know what you are doing, you should stay on the trails and
always look where your walking. This advice is true during the day and
at night. The day ended as we said good night to the resident Marine
Toad that we continued to see every night on our deck. It is obviously
finding something to eat out there.
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