Costa Rica 2014: Part 2 More La Selva and Plenty of Glass Frogs

You can see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 here.

Carl and I set out on a short hike to look for lizards while Brian worked on his project. Carl managed to flip this racer checking under a piece of a fallen log.

Another Dendrophidian sp (likely percarinatus?). This one was much larger than the snake last night.

We saw many Central American Whiptails Ameiva festiva active around us. I even photographed a little one.

We got decent looks at a Slaty-tailed Trogon? Trogon massena

In a small clearing in the forest created by a tree fall, we spotted a Norops limifrons. It took some balance to photograph it.

We turned up a Tularan Robber Frog Craugastor mimus.

We joined Brian for a nice lunch and headed out to one of his study plots after. Unfortunately, it poured on us shortly after arriving. Nice reminder we are in a rain forest.

Pug-nosed Anole Norops capito

Limon Robber Frog Pristimantis cerasinus

Litter Toad Rhaebo haematicus

Brian finished up his plots and we headed back to dry out for the afternoon, recharge some batteries and get a nice hot meal. From here on Carl and I opted to drive to dinner. We were hiking significant distances from the lab clearing out into the forest, and managing our time for that. We also were enjoying a brew or three after returning back from our night hikes with other researchers. By the time we would set out on the long hike to our cabin from the lab clearing it would often be extremely late and night and our energy levels were on empty. We figured we could spend more time in the main forest and then get back to our cabin faster by car to turn in for the night.

On the way to a froggy spot after the fall of night, we noticed one of the La Selva guards hanging out in the lab clearing. Brian jokingly asked him there was snake. He moved his flashlight and we saw this curled right by the path.

Fer-de-lance Bothrops asper

We had a hiked a way back, and turned off the main trail to head to our spot to search for the night. Right after turning, one of us noticed a small snake crawling between the feet of the first person. We had no idea what it was at first, which is usually a very exciting thing!

Rugose Litter Snake Nothopsis rugosus

The snake was really interesting to look at. Upon close examination, you could see tons of small scales along its head. It was a very different appearing snake.

This night was starting off pretty darn good! I was very excited to be able to see and photograph more Corytophanes. Brian and I had only seen one in my first trip in 2010 and it was after my camera had died from the moisture. Carl also tends to be a big lizard fan, and it was a species we really wanted him to be able to see.

Helmeted Iguana Corytophanes cristatus

The frogs were out en masse.

Fitzinger's Robber Frog Craugastor fitzingeri

After descending down, we had started working the start of the glassfrog stream. I was photographing a pretty neat frog when Brian called out that he had something we probably wanted to see. If we could find it. It took us a while to spot it.

Eyelash Viper Bothriechis schlegelii

It was a first for Carl and I, and we took many pictures.

I went back to photographing my frog. It wasn't nearly as cool anymore. It was a little Pristmantis cruentas.

But these guys are always cool. Warszewitsch's Frog Lithobates warszewitschii

And then the glass frogging began. We saw over 10 of these.

Spiny Cochran Frog Teratohyla spinosa

And even a pair in amplexus

The Emerald Glass Frogs Espadarana prosoblepon were also out and calling. We saw four of these tonight, as well as 1 amplectic pair.

Hiking back to the start of the streams, Brian usually discussed other species he hoped would show up during his surveys. He mentioned he really wanted to see one of the water loving niche snakes, such as the Costa Rican Water Snake Hydromorphus concolor or the Orange-bellied Swamp Snake Tretanorhinus nigroluteus. I guess the crayfish biologist sometimes find them in similar streams during their surveys.  Anyway, Brian was dreaming of future catches when Carl saw a flash of color and yelled "CORAL!!!" We all converged quickly and were elated to see a nice sized Allen's Coral Snake Micrurus alleni. It was very difficult to photograph.

The hike out we saw a Fer-de-lance Bothrops asper. I was unable to get pics, read on find out why.

At this point, the humidity again got to my camera. Pardon my rant.

When my Nikon D200 died in 2012 I had been awaiting a never announced Nikon D400 for years. It has still yet to arrive. Not fully committed to full frame, (I refuse to play your full frame upgrade game Nikon) I downgraded in some features to the Nikon D7000. It had much newer tech, a nice new sensor and fit my hand surprisingly better. It is a better camera just because of sensor technology in the many years that had passed. BUT, it does not have Nikon's pro weather sealing. Is it too much to ask for a pro-level crop DSLR with weather sealing Nikon? Clearly wildlife photography needs this. Canon has answered with the 7D and now 7D2 but Nikon continues to keep it's head in the sand. All along, knowing the type of use I would subject my camera to, this has been a concern. Well two years after purchasing, it crapped out. My concerns were realized. The camera became stuck in Liveview mode, and would also not take any pictures. I stuck it in a dry bag with silicon packets. Later that night after much troubleshooting, I figured out that if I popped the battery out while the camera was on, and then place the battery back in, the camera would be on but in an error mode. I could then press the shutter release, and the camera would function in normal mode, but now my LCD review would not work. I could shoot blind, similar to the dark ages of film, but without the instant review or histogram access. I was elated I could still shoot though! After a few hours of keeping the camera on in this mode, the LCD would start to work again, and I could review the pictures from hours earlier. If I turned the camera off at all, this whole process would start again. The trip was not ruined, but how long would it last like this?

The rest of the hike out was fairly uneventful. We may have just been too exhausted to notice anything though. Our nightly ritual became convening in the lab clearing near Brian's office and shariing a brew (usually Pilsen) with other researchers on some hammocks and rocking chairs.  We were doing this tonight when one of the girls started to walk back to her room. She yelled snake a few yards away and crossing the path we saw this.

False Coral Snake Oxyrhopus petolarius 

We eventually called it a night and wearily stumbled to our car. On the short drive back to our cabin, Carl and I did roadcruise a new species for the trip though.

Canal Zone Treefrog Hypsiboas rufitelus

What a couple days in the field... More to follow!

BH

You can see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 here.

Wet Gear

I have been planning and obsessing over underwater camera gear for a while now. With the herping season nonexistent, I had to find something else to keep my outdoor interests.  (I know it's winter, and scuba diving doesn't exactly make sense!) I finally squirreled away the money, and made the decision to take the plunge into the underwater world as we have an upcoming trip in the south Pacific in February. Hopefully by this time next month I will be able to share pictures from the bottom of the Bora Bora lagoon!

I researched all the different options for my Nikon D7000 and ultimately decided on the Nauticam NA-D7000. From reading numerous reviews, it seemed to provided me with the best access to key controls,  options for lighting and growth in the future. I picked out some strobes, and ports for my lenses and bam. I guess I have a new hobby.

The inside of the front of the rig, with the all important O ring.

And the back.  So sexy. Did I mention I can use all my buttons?

My wide angle port. Hoping to snatch some crapy pics of big sharks and mantas!

And the macro set-up. Umm macro.

I really don't quite know what I am doing, but it sounds like a fun adventure. I took everything in the pool last week and fired it all up. I should be good to go. Maybe I can start getting shots of woodies, mudpuppies and gators from underwater in the future?

I should have some pics - crappy or not - of a nice warm location to share soon. Until then, keep trying to survive winter!

BH

War Eagle! A journey to Alabama

My brother Brian started his graduate studies in the Guyer (Herp) Lab at Auburn University last fall. Whenever I speak with him, he goes on and on about how awesome Alabama (the state) is.  Since I can't even pick Alabama out on a map (haha), I have remained skeptical.  Why would I want to go visit such a crap hole?  After much persuasion, he finally convinced me to fly down this summer so that my education in Alabama, and it's herps, could begin in earnest.

I had a layover in Atlanta get delayed a bit, so I ended up getting in pretty late.  I met Brian near the camping location in one of the national forests after picking a DOR scarlet snake  off of the road.  This was a bummer, as I am still hoping to find my first one of these.

Brian was happy to see me, proof of how miserable the south must be, and ready to show my some stuff.  Sadly, he had just found a couple Pine Barrens Tree Frogs Hyla andersonii, and he didn't want to fight the swamp go back out there so late.  This was one of my top targets.  It sounded far away though (it wasn't) so I let him convince me to put it off for another night.  In his defense, it was super late, and he had herped all day and looked pretty gassed. We poked around a swamp for a few minutes, and I spotted my first cottonmouth of the trip.

We also photographed this cool pickerel hanging out in the swamp.

As a further testimate to Brian's fatigue, he passed over these 2 DOR southern copperheads without even braking.  They would have been a lifer, but alas no live ones were found throughout the trip.

There were numerous species of frog calling at our campsite.  Cricket frogs, green treefrogs, squirrel tree frogs and bird-voiced treefrogs were all chorusing, but I was only able to locate a green for photos.

The next day Brian and I got up early and explored some long leaf pine hoping for gopher tortoises and eastern diamondback rattlesnakes. We found plenty of tortoise burrows, but no one was home at the time.  I flipped this narrowmouth toad under a shaded log.

And Brian dipnetted some tadpoles out of a pond.  We think this is Hyla gratiosa.

We flipped some scorching hot tin, and explored another area without much luck.  After turning back out on one of the side roads, we saw a lumbering dome shelled turtle crossing the road ahead of us.  Immediately we thought it was a gopher tortoise, but we were even more stoked to realize it was a chicken turtle!

Deirochelys reticularia

We were both very excited about this turtle as it was a new species for both of us.  Next, Brian showed me a nice river where map turtles were common.  The water level and current were way up due to recent rains and most of the snags seemed to be underwater.  We started making the swim up stream, and immediately spotted the king of the river basking.

I went back for my camera and my dry bag so I could photograph him from the water.  He let us get fairly close before dropping into "our" domain.  Oh well, we continued on of course.

We soon spotted our quarry, a couple young male Graptemys ernesti.

While photographing these from the river in the strong current, I accidentally dipped my dry bag into the water.  It was easily emptied out, but it became a "moist" bag.  It kept my camera from being dunked in the river after that, but unfortunately my ancient Nikon D200 couldn't withstand the little moisture in the bag.  The weather-proofing has long since been obsolete thanks to numerous cracks, bumps and bruises over the years.  The screen fogged up, and the sensor died on me shortly there after.  This was rather unfortunate, as Brian captured one of the handsome turtles for pictures.

At this point I was ok with how things stood.  I was pretty bummed my camera died on this awesome trip, but I was due for a new one anyway.  I won't go into my frustrations with Nikon, but I will say I have always had the stance that I would rather risk getting the camera a little wet and muddy for pictures, then leave it back in the car out of fear.  Maybe taking it snorkeling in rivers, "moist" bag or not, is on the extreme end of the spectrum, but I really like in situ turtle pictures.  For me it was worth it.

We checked some traps that Brian had set and turned up our lifer Amphiuma and loggerhead musk turtles.  Now I am missing my camera... Brian also flipped a handsome dusky salamander.

Desmognathus sp. photographed the next day

It was late in the afternoon, and Brian was going to attend a friends BBQ.  We tried finding me a camera at Walmart, without much luck.  I called a Best Buy, 2 hours away and tracked a camera down that I was sorta happy with, a Nikon D7000.  I made the drive with plans to meet Brian at dusk.

I quickly tried to learn the camera and set it up on the way to our meeting point.  A few minutes after setting out on our hike, we found our quarry.  The endemic Alabama Red Hills Salamander Phaeognathus hubrichti.  To say I was excited was an understatement.  The salamanders have a really neat natural history and hang out in their burrows waiting for prey to walk by.  They are rarely, if ever, seen out of their burrows.    You typically just see them like this.

But persistence pays off sometimes, and Brian may thank me someday.  He was a little tired at the time. These salamanders are actually quite large.

I tried to convince him to make a run for Hyla andersonii but he wasn't having it.  We tried some roadcruising without any luck, and I was left wondering what happened to all the copperheads from the night before.

The next day we set out to a spot with more amphibians in mind.  Brian spotted this cooter basking on a log.

Pseudemys sp.  I don't remember our consensus, concinna maybe?

It took us quite a few dips this time of the summer, but the leafpacks produced another really cool salamander, the waterdog.

Necturus sp.

We also scored a loggerhead musk turtle, Sternotherus minor.

Checking the amphiuma traps again yielded a few more loggerhead musk turtles, but no amphiumas today.  No pics for me.

Brian flipped this young cottonmouth under a log.  

Agkistrodon piscivorus

We explored the stream pictured, and Brian found, then lost a red salamander, as well as a lesser siren!

Siren intermedia

Who knew Alabama had such salamander diversity? And we barely scratched the surface...

The aptly named Dwarf Salamander Eurycea "quadridigitata" was tiny.

Desmognathus conanti

Desmognathus sp.

We had a long drive to the coast ahead of us, so we started planning our exodus.  I was desperately trying to figure out a way to fit andersonii into the picture, but Brian was biting.  One reason to go back...

We cruised a bit, and found this heart breaking sight.

Gopher Tortoise

And a "grey" rat.

Brian's job for the summer was helping catch, mark and monitor turtle populations.  I was lucky enough to take along for a couple days of trapping.  We set out on the boat bright and early to catch some turtles, something I had very much been looking forward to!

Some showed evidence of their tough existence in the brackish water.

We quickly pulled a number of our quarry out of a few traps - Pseudemys alabamensis.

Handsome turtles indeed.

Pseudemys floridana were also very numerous.

Sadly, around this time I had a camera malfunction - yes the new camera.  It was completely my fault and it really tore me up.  Ask me about it in person some time.  I want to apologize again to Brian, and thank Brian, Greg and Jim for putting up with me.  I paid for my actions dearly when Greg snorkeled up our one and only Alligator snapping turtle, Macrochelys temminckii.  Reason number two to return...

Insert gator snapper here.

The camera was nursed back to health for some night time festivities, and after an extensive search, we were able to spot a couple chorusing barking treefrogs, Hyla gratiosa.

Hyla squirrela

The next day was more checking of traps.  We turned up Pseudemys alabamensis, floridana, and concinna.

Floridana, alabamensis, floridana

alabamensis

We tried our hand at snorkeling again without any luck on Macrochelys.  We again turned up a ton of loggerhead musk turtles.  It was interesting boating around this river though.  All the docks had mail boxes and were decorated by their team or motto of choice.  There were numerous "WAR EAGLE" and "ROLL TIDE" signs everywhere you looked and I enjoyed hearing a bit about the history behind the war eagle motto.

Back at the dock, I flipped a log to turn up an eastern glass lizard, Ophisaurus ventralis.

A nasty set of clouds were moving in, but I desperately tried to take advantage of some daylight and drive up a ways to take a shot for Delta Map Turtles.  This was massively unsuccessful.  I returned to basecamp and we took a shot at roadcruising.  We saw a few DORs, but this was mostly a bust as well.  We got back around 11pm.  I showered and packed up in time to take an hour nap.  Around 2 am I woke up to drive to Pensacola for my 6am flight back to the midwest.  Remind me not to do that again.

All in all, it was an amazing trip.  Alabama is truly a special place and I can't wait to return.  I have some unfinished business, and maybe if I stop being an idiot Brian will invite me back.  I am already penciling it in for next summer though!