Costa Rica - Day 6

For the first time all trip, we received a howler monkey wake up call today.  They started around 4:30AM and since they kept going for a while we got up.  Too bad they don't have a snooze button.  Since we had been having such good luck on the main road, we did that again this morning.  Our luck continued as we spotted 3 different monkey species and had pretty good looks at some Collared Peccaries as they snorted and grunted through the undergrowth.  Here are a few shots from this hike.

Red-tailed Squirrel (He looks like he's up to something doesn't he?)

Spider Monkeys

After breakfast (back to G and G today) we did something new for us.  We hiked up the teak plantation road all the way to the road to Puerto Jimenez and then looped back down the main road into BdC.  It was a long hike but it took us through some new areas that we hadn't seen before which was exciting.  Besides seeing some monkeys and coatis we also got a brief look at a Little Tinamou.  On the main road to PJ, I lucked out and happened to see some slow movement in a nearby bush that turned out to be a beautiful juvenile Tiger Rat Snake.

Bosque del Cabo main entrance

Local Flora

We also got some really good looks at two separate troops of Squirrel Monkeys

Notice the large Katydid that this one is eating

Towards the end of the hike we found a large troop of Mantled Howler Monkeys just off the main road.  All the mothers were together watching the babies play around in the branches.  It was great fun to watch.  Unfortunately, we were getting towards the end of the lunch serving so we couldn't stay as long as we would have liked.

Howler Nursery

Mantled Howler Monkey

Here is a video of all of our good Howler Monkey encounters from the trip.

Today's lunch, besides being excellent as usual, was also eventful.  At lunch we learned that a gardener had found a boa and brought it back for the guests to see.  So, after lunch, the boa was released into the jungle and we got some excellent views of this beautiful snake.  This one was 7 or 8 feet long.

After lunch we rested on our deck again looking out onto the ocean.  What a peaceful scene.  No dolphins today but we did have some bird "fly-bys" that were awesome. 

Brown Pelicans

Scarlet Macaws

After resting, we took off up the main road again…why mess with a good thing right?  Unfortunately, the trip was cut short by rain.  We did manage to have a good look at some Spider Monkeys feeding in a palm though.

After dinner we decided to walk up the main road to the Titi trail.  Our goal was to find some opossums and of course look for a cat or two.  The walk did present a Virginia Opossum early on that was just walking around minding its own business.  After some other guests chased it up into a tree and gave up on it, we waited a bit and soon found it on a nearby tree branch just looking at us.  They are definitely not the cutest critters in the world.  A bit farther down the road we encountered a Paraque (a night hawk).  But, the rest of the trip was pretty much a bust until we got back to our cabina.  

We did a quick sweep of our deck and low and behold our resident toad was there with a buddy. Maybe the word was getting out that there was 'good eatin' at our place.  Inside our cabina we found this gorgeous iridescent butterfly.

Eurybia Lycisca