Costa Rica: Atlantic Slope

Check out Costa Rica Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV and Part V.

After another long travel day we pulled into La Selva Biological Station a little bit before dusk.  We had to hurry to make the check in time and get in our rooms.  I guess this place can be pretty hopping certain times of the year, and early reservations are a must.  Most people had departed for the summer and we mostly had the lodging to ourselves and a few others.  The lodging was clean, even if the food was pretty basic.  Did I mention it all pretty much sits in primary forest?  That you can't beat.

Within a few minutes, we had spotted our first herp, an Oophaga pumilio.  I regret that despite this being the most common herp encountered at La Selva, I never photographed another.  Upon returning home, I realized I never got the eye focus just right...

While I was photographing that, Brian managed to stir up a Gonatodes albogularis.

We quickly unpacked a bit, dressed for a hike and headed to the mess hall for a quick meal - beans and rice with "lizard sauce".  It was delicious the first night...

Once out on the trails, there was a slight drizzle.  We didn't think this would be the last drops of rain for a few days.  We headed to the swamp, and despite the rest of the country being flooded and wet so far, Brian was bummed to report the swamps were mostly now dry.  Luckily, a few animals were still out and about.

Norops limifrons

Diasporis diastema, another common frog I never bothered to photograph again.

Dendropsophus phlebodes

Leptodactylus pendactylus

Craugastor bransfordii

Brian was agast to later see I photographed this frog on a leaf.  He did most of his research on litter frogs, the "drab" little frogs hopping around on the ground.  They now definitely have a fond spot in his heart and he defends them very passionately.  I was impressed by the knowledge he had picked up on these guys in his time down here.  In my defense, he just handed me a "brasfordii" and took off to catch more stuff.  It was a few minutes into my first night, and I photographed the frog on the nearest leaf not knowing any better...

Imantodes inornatus

Scinax elaeochroa

We headed out of the swamp and started to hit a few trails.  The frogs kept coming.

Craugastor fitzingeri

And one of my favorites of the trip, Hypsiboas rufitellus.

The frog changed colors a bit during the session.

Pristimantis ridens

Craugastor mimus - another leaf litter frog, although this one was found on a low lying leaf.  I again wish I had bothered with better pictures as we did not see another.

We ended our night around 1 or 2 in the morning.  We added a bunch of new species (for me at least) already having been here only a few hours.  I was very excited for what the next few days would hold.

After a quick breakfast around 7 am, we hit the trails again.  Right off the bat, numerous ground anoles were seen scurrying around in the leaf litter.

Norops humilis

We headed to an area that has been managed to study successional changes in the forest after logging.  There were some logs to roll and we noticed lots of skinks wandering around as well.  We managed to bring one to hand together.

Mabuya unimarginata

A

As we left the plots, we were soon back in primary forest.

A couple large buttresses later and we spotted this Bothrops asper sitting head looking up in the bottom of a hollow tree - waiting for bats?

His tree.

The leaf litter frogs again dominated the area.

Craugastor megacephalus, one of my favorites.

Rhaebo haematicus

I had been spending much of my time investigating various downed fronds, logs, leaf litter, etc.  Brian was giving me a hard time about "wasting my time flipping".  I was pleased then to flip this, a new species for both of us.


Lepidoblepharis xanthostigma

I took the opportunity to give him a hard time about it, and then really layed into him when I flipped some branches and turned up this.

Oxyrhopis petolarius

Needless to say, he started flipping a bit more.

I haven't mentioned it yet, but for the past few days my Nikon D200 had started acting up.  I would put in a new battery, and it would give "low battery" warnings, refuse to focus, take pictures, etc.  I would pop the battery out, pop it back in, and it would work for a few minutes or so.  Repeat process, etc.  It happened ofter just when you had seconds to capture the right pose - bam, low batttery.  By this point I was started to get annoyed and worried my camera wasn't going to make the trip.  On this hike  (we left at 7am, got back around 1 or 2 pm) all 3 of my batteries either died legitmately or stopped working due to "low battery" although seemingly they were recently charged and full.  I payed for it by missing out on photographing another young Bothrops coiled right off the path.

Norops oxylophus

And an unID young norops.

We had missed lunch(ended up a daily theme), and we were getting pretty tired, hungry and low on water.  We got back, charged batteries, rested, had a snack and waited for dinner around 530.  This became our daily afternoon routine.  We wolfed down our beans and rice, and hit the trails at dusk for another night.

One of the first finds of the night, was a large Lithobates vaillanti

Craugastor sp (fitzingeri?)

Brian had seen 2 or 3 of these awesome lizards during the previous 2 months.  Over our 4 days we ended up finding over 10 more, either out at night or flipping them under cover during the day.

Lepidophyma flavimaculatum

Another Hypsiboas rufitellus

Smilisca phaetoa

Awesome

Brian FLIPPED (gasp) this Gastrophryne pictiventris

And while he was photographing it I wandered off and spotted this Oxyrhopis petolarius, now appropriately halloween colored crusing along a buttress.

We started the long hike back, but were able to turn up a Sibon nebulatus before Brian bailed on me due to fatigue around 12.  I think some of the draw of night hikes had left him after 2 months.  

I turned up a Caimen crocodilus and a Sibon annulatus before I stumbled in for the night.

More Atlantic slope to come!

Check out Costa Rica Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV and Part V.

Costa Rica III

Check out Costa Rica Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV and Part V.

We woke up today and decided to stay in the area another night.  The friendly monkeys thanked us with showers of excrement.

We went on a different hike on the property, but only were able to get pictures of a lizard we had seen around yesterday but never photographed.


Sceloperus variabilis

It began to get a little stormy, so we used the pouring rain as an opportunity to head into town, pay the ticket, grab some supplies.  We were really in herping mode, and were very surprised to see this large stick in the road just outside of the lodge.


Oxybelis fulgidus

It started booking away very quickly so we had to settle for a few crappy road shots after grabbing it and some posed tree pictures.

It really started to pour now, so we spent the next hour fighting with the bank.  We then used a lull in the rain to check out the beach, and of course had it to ourselves.  The body surfing was great.

We checked some mangroves near the beaches for crocs, but struck out.

It was getting late in the afternoon and so we headed back in town to grab a quick bite to eat.  The meals at our lodge were out of this world, but they liked to eat at 7pm, family style.  The conversation was excellent, but it was getting dark around 530 and we couldn't justify all the missed roadcruising time.  A quick snack and we were heading to the areas we wanted to cruise again.  Our first border patrol stop loomed ahead, and we started to prepare our passports from the glove box.  Imagine our suprise when my passport had mysteriously disappeared...

Brian was furious.  We spent 10 minutes tearing through the car in a fit of rage, with the friendly policia rummaging through our bags, quite frustrated at the stupid gringos.  I last had it at the bank, and although it was closed now, he sent us back to our hotel for the night with plans to visit the bank in the morning.  We were pissed...  On the way back, I stopped at a place we gassed up and grabbed cokes, and we decided to tear the car apart again.  Brian had checked the glove box a few times already, but when I went to check it again, he brought up the concern of what if the passport fell into the dash from the glovebox.  There was a crack at the top when the box was opened, and I was able to squeeze a few fingers in there... Would you believe I could feel the damn passport!  I was able to carefully extract it, and with large sighs of relief we headed back to the check point.  The policia laughed at our story, waved us on our way, and left us alone for the night.

Right off the bat, a new turtle was spotted on the wet roads.


Kinosternun scorpiodes

The frogs were out tonight.

Smilisca sordida

We had seen 3 or 4 flattened DOR hognose vipers the night before, and a few of them were only noticed after we stopped for a frog or a different object (sticks, etc).  Brian was a little frustrated and didn't think we were seeing these little guys from the car.  I had faith, and was explaining I felt a live Porthidium would be fairly obvious, no matter how small, and I thought it would have a pretty distinct posture on the road, nose up.  Seconds after finishing that statement, I spotted a classic viper pose on the road, nose to the sky, and stated "just like that Porthidium there"!


Porthidium ophryomegas -  (turns out we are both fools - this is a young Bothrops asper)

The DORs started coming hard after that.  Sibon, Leptodiera, and a large Trimorphodon were all noted.

Lots of Scinax staufferi

A Lithobates forreri

A few roads later we were investigating sticks on the road when Brian started paying closer attention to some nearby frog calls.  They turned out to be calling from the roadside ditch.

Engystomops pustulolus (only crappy pic I could get of them calling)

There was a much larger, prettier DOR porthidium.

But things started to slow down.  A few more hours of cruising yielded a couple more DORs and this little Ninea sebae

We had were starting to tire of the DOR parade, and excited to get into actual rainforest.  We woke up early, photographed one of our hosts cascabels as a consolation, and spent the next day making the long drive over to the Atlantic slope.  It poured the whole way over, and was another DORfest.  We were crushed to see most of these animals dead.

Crotalus simus

Chironius grandisquamis

And who gets fricking eyelashes (pretty ones to boot) DOR?

Botriechis schlegelii

The roads made it a slow going.

We finally arrived at La Selva right before dinner.  This ended up being our home for the next 4 nights.  We had some other plans but things got changed last minute a few times due to getting stuck in the field longer than planned, running low on cash (feeling that speeding ticket...) and other commitments.  In the end, I was tired of the driving and ready to just hit the trails hard.  The animals really started to come now, and I will save you any more DOR shots from here on out...

Atlantic slope to follow soon.

Check out Costa Rica Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV and Part V.