Pura Vida: 2, La Selva Biological Station

I was a little bit nervous as it was my first time flying solo, but everything went smoothly. My first flight left Cleveland Hopkins airport at 5:30 AM on June 13. After a brief layover in Atlanta, I eventually arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica at 1:00 PM (the Central American time zone is two hours behind Eastern Time in the USA). After a lengthy wait in customs ("aduenas"), I met up with the REU program coordinator, Jenny Stynoski, and another REU, Ramiro Mata, who would become one of my good buddies for the summer. He is a Mexican-American from southern Texas, who attends Brown University. She took us to a hotel in SE San Jose, El Sesteo, where we spent the night before heading on to La Selva. The place was very nice, and I had a blast meeting some of the others in my group. Ramiro, Seth Thompson, and I quickly became fast friends, enjoying Imperials, “La Cerveza de Costa Rica,” and talking soccer.

A view of the mountains south of San Jose from our hotel.

The following day, we made a pit stop at the OTS Headquarters to grab some gear. Seth and I volunteered to carry a heavy chest down to the cars. Instead of going down stairs, we obviously decided to take the elevator – no brainer, right? Well, the elevator got stuck, and we were locked inside it for an hour in complete darkness. Pretty funny looking back, but at the time I was sweating some serious bullets.

Organization for Tropical Studies HQ

We made the 1.5 hour drive from San Jose to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, the town located near LSBS. Here, we stopped at El Colono, the hardware shop, to purchase rubber boots for those who needed them. After this quick stop, we FINALLY made it to the station.

La Selva Biological Station is an amazing place. It has over 1000 hectares of old growth forest, an extensive set of trails, and a nifty grid system that makes it very difficult to become lost. More can be read about it here. Suffice to say, I was eager to explore my new home.

First, I took my gear to my room in the River Station. The River Station is the original building constructed by Lisa Holdridge when she founded La Selva. It is situated high between the Rio Puerto Viejo and a smaller tributary, surrounded by primary forest. Throughout the summer, I saw many frogs, lizards, snakes, mammals (howler monkeys, kinkajous, armadillo, possums, rodents, jaguarundi), and birds (toucans, owls, off the top of my head) while making the trip from the lab clearing to the River Station (or vice-versa).

After getting situated a bit, we quickly ate lunch and then split into groups to get our first taste of the forest. The guides at La Selva are all locals who know a staggering amount of information about the natural history of an incredibly diverse rainforest flora and fauna. On this first tour, I was excited to see a wide variety of animals, including anoles, strawberry dart frogs, night lizards, white-faced capuchins, toucans, bullet ants ("balas"), peccaries, green basilisks, iguanas, and white bats.

An adult iguana, a common sight in trees above the Rio Puerto Viejo.

White-collared peccary, a ubiquitous artiodactylid of LSBS.

White bats (Ectophylla alba) sleeping in a tent.

After dinner and a few talks, it was raining outside, and I was eager to explore some more. A few of us enthusiasts went and checked out the swamp near the river station, called the “cantarana.” Although I didn’t realize it at the time, we were fortunate to observe the explosive breeding event of the Parachuting red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis saltator). We also saw many hylid species and our first snake of the trip (Sibon annulatus).

Tired, we decided to return to the River Station and retire for the night. On our way up the steps toward the station, I spotted my first venomous snake of the trip, a juvenile fer-de-lance (Bothrops atrox). I took the opportunity to show it to some other students in our group. They had been hearing a lot about this infamous venomous denizen of the rainforest and were surprised to find it so calm and un-intimidating. All said, it was a great first day to what would be a great summer.

Bothrops asper

In future posts, I plan to detail the animals I encountered in various groups. I’ll first discuss the swamp herpetofauna, and then I’ll talk about animals found in other places, such as leaf-litter, primary forest, or roads.

Winter Blues

Not much going on up here in the frozen tundra that is the midwest...

Luckily, in other parts of the country, some animals may still be found.

Crotalus atrox crossing an AZ wash

Hoping to turn up some snowmanders soon...

Pura Vida: 1

PURA VIDA. Those who have traveled to the beautiful country of Costa Rica may be familiar with this expression. The direct Spanish to English translation means "pure life," but Costa Ricans have come to recognize it as so much more. As the unofficial national slogan of this small Central American country, pura vida is a verbal representation of a way of living. It is used to say hello, goodbye, thank you, or as an expression of feeling. When asked how one is doing (Como está?), one may simply respond "Pura vida!"

I spent the 2010 summer doing field work in Costa Rica. It's been three months since I returned, but I would like to compile some memories, experiences, and adventures of the pura vida. We all know too well how memories fade, so I figure now is better than ever to pen this amazing experience.

Interestingly enough, this story extends all the way back to February of 2009. At this time, I was digging around the internet, trying to find engaging work as a biological field technician. While searching, I stumbled upon a Research Experience for Undergraduates program hosted by the Organization for Tropical Studies. Apparently, the program takes 10 American undergraduate biology students down to La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica for a summer of independent research projects. It seemed amazing – but also very competitive. At that time, I was just becoming earnestly interested in ecology and certainly wouldn’t have been able to field a legitimate application. However, I opted to bookmark the link and perhaps apply more competitively the following year.

I spent the following spring and summer spending A LOT of time field herping in SE Ohio with Carl Brune. According to my notes, I field-herped 40 days from March 15 to August 31… or roughly 1 in every 4 days. Aside from having great times, I learned a fair amount about the natural history of reptiles and amphibians. Come September, I became busy with school and club soccer again. However, at some point, I noticed the REU link in my bookmarks. I even emailed it to my brother – “Hey, check this out, looks really sick, I’m definitely going to apply to this!” It seemed like to amazing an opportunity that I wanted to be a part of.

Over winter break in December and into January, I spent serious time drafting essays. With the help of friends (big props to Roxanne Male-Brune), I poured over the application, trying to impress upon the NSF reviewers and REU mentors as favorably as possible. Eventually, with references in line, I submitted the application with my fingers crossed. After a month or so, just when I was beginning to think my chances were dead, I was contacted by a mentor, Kelsey Reider from FIU. A phone interview ensued. On March 15, I was accepted into the program. To say the least, I was fuckin’ stoked. Of course, I immediately began purchasing and upgrading gear for the upcoming trip.

Field Gear

Having heard that rubber boots were an absolute essential for the rainforest, I purchased Muck Boots upon the recommendation of Nick Scobel. They are highly durable, comfortable, and water-proof. I can say with confidence that these were worth every penny (~$85). I can also say from experience that rubber boots are indeed an absolute essential for rainforest hiking.

Upon recommendation from BH and Carl Brune, I copped a new Kelty Redwing field pack (~$100). I am very pleased with this bag

.

I grabbed a few pairs of field pants and “nice” field shirts. At approximately $30 for a pair of pants or a shirt, this was quite expensive. I soon learned that all the weathered veteran researchers and techs wear raggedy flannels and old button downs purchased at thrift stores. It was kind of funny how you could point out the resident researchers compared to the visitors depending on the “quality” of field clothing.

I accrued a plethora of other miscellaneous useful items, including 12” forceps, small ruler, rechargeable batteries, and PLASTIC BAGS. I’ll talk more about this later, but plastic bags are essential for handling amphibians.

I had to be prepared to handle any venomous or unidentified snakes encountered, so I purchased a set of collapsible snake tongs ($100). This was before I found out about the strict “no snake” rule enforced by the REU program.

I ordered a Princeton Tec headlamp online (~$60). For the most part, I was pleased with it. It was certainly better than the vast majority of other headlamps used by others. However, when it began to malfunction toward the end of the summer, I wasn't pleased.

I will almost certainly upgrade here next time I travel to the tropics. I was trying to get my hands (or head) on a Fenix HP10 headlamp, which I hear is one of the best and most affordable lights, but they were out of stock all spring. Also, Fenix handlamps are incredibly powerful and small, so this is a possibility as well.

Books

I acquired a number of books for this trip. For field notes/data entry, I purchased a Rite-in-the-Rain All Weather Journal (No. 390NF) ($18). Highly durable, portable, and lovable.

My parents purchased me a copy of The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica by Jay Savage (~$30). Not a day passed during my 10 week trip that I did not reference this book. It is excellent, worth every penny, and an absolute essential for any serious herper visiting Costa Rica.

Not a day passed during my 10 week trip that I did not reference this book. It is excellent, worth every penny, and an absolute essential for any serious herper visiting Costa Rica. Although Donnelly and Guyer’s herp guide is small, nifty, and affordable, it is absolutely miserable with the litter frogs, and I do not particularly recommend it (although don’t tell them I said that). I borrowed a copy of A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica by Stiles and Skutch. I understand it is regarded as one of the best (if not the best) CR birding references. I am ashamed to say I did not open it until I returned to the states.

Stephen Reilly gave me a copy of Heyer et al. ( 1994) Monitoring and Measuring Amphibian Biodiversity. This is a very useful resource for anyone surveying amphibian (or reptile) populations.

Thus, after purchasing all my gear, working on my proposal, and surviving spring quarter at Ohio University, I returned to Cleveland for a two day respite before traveling to Costa Rica.

Snake Road

Most responsible herpers try to keep locales fairly tight lipped and maybe shared with an inner circle of friends.  This differs drastically from the birding culture, but unfortunately there are people who collect animals irresponsibly (I will leave you to decide what "irresponsible" means), destroy habitat, molest the herps more than they should or share the locales with other irresponsible herpers.  One location that is pretty much common knowledge is called snake road.  Mike Pingelton gave an excellent synopsis to Herp Nation that I posted earlier, and also wrote a wonderful article for the magazine.  He has been visiting the place for more years than I have been alive, and can really teach everyone a thing or two about the area.

I have been lucky enough to visit twice, and I will always have fond memories.  I can't say I am dying to go back anytime soon, but it is a wonderful place to see, enjoy with the company of others and help budding young herpers get a taste for the hobby.  I will recall my last visit to the area, back in the fall of 2006.

The drive in to the north end of the road.

The great Mississippi River.

The northern entrance.  The road gets closed every year during the spring and fall for migrations.

I made the trip from my place in Cincinnati with a close friend, D.  We drove down after work on Fri and the 6 hour drive went quickly with anticipation of finds to come.  We woke up early and set out with a few people to try and observe a neat amphibian we had not seen before.

Lesser Siren  Siren intermedia

It was still cool and early on the road, so we scouted some other areas looking for warm rocks.  We found a timber rattlesnake shed, and D found a couple of these mild snakes.

Lampropeltis triangulum

On the road, we quickly began to find the western cottomouth abundantly around the trail and bluffs.

Unfortunately, a hidden snake such as this managed to bite D and we spent the rest of the day in the hospital. His trip to Snake Road sadly ended here, and I was solo for the rest of the trip.  D did well, despite a few days in the hospital , but that is a story for another time.

The next day I walked the road and bluffs numerous times from early morning to late evening.  Cottons were again plentiful.

A nice sized rat snake.

A few rough greens turned up.

 

And a green tree frog in the northern reaches of its range.

In the end, it was a memorable trip full of ups and downs.  The road itself is a naturalist's dream and has some wonderful creatures.  We both learned some invaluable lessons though. This trip was instrumental in me evaluating how I conduct myself in the field, and I am care to always stay aware of my surroundings now.

BH

Roadcruising Riffs: 5

Super chill song. Maybe one day I'll brave the barren north and visit Alaska, despite its obvious deficit of herps....

Road Cruising Riffs: 4

And yes these guys are actually from this decade...

Herp Nation and Snake Road

I hope everyone had a wonderful holidays!  I enjoyed seeing my family who came to visit (when I wasn't working).  I apologize for the recent lull, I have been trying to be much more consistent with posting.

I want to take a minute to plug Fieldherpforum again as the premier field herpetology web forum.  They also have a new magazine out, Herp Nation, that everyone should check out.  The recent issue has an article the inconic midwest local, Snake Road.

Maybe I will relive my snake road adventures soon.