Monte Verde

Monte Verde (green mountain) is one of Costa Rica's premier ecotourism areas. National Geographic called the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve "the jewel in the crown of cloud forest reserves". We spent several days here. At 1400 m (almost 5000 ft), the cooler temperatures were a welcome change from the heat of the coast.

We spent a half day hiking in the main reserve but didn't see many birds. Thick cloud forest is not the best place for bird photography. There's not much light, and when you do spot something it's almost always obscured by the vegetation. I have to admit my favorite spot was the cafe where they have a bunch of hummingbird feeders.

I still found lots to take photographs. This Leaf Katydid was on a sign by the entrance.

I spotted the first of these insects near the entrance. But they were quite common, and I found several congregations. Although there were several different variations, I think they are different stages of the same insect. (Except there seem to be two distinct adults.)

There were other insects, of course.

And, not surprisingly, various mushrooms and other fungus.

And lots of kinds of ferns, from small translucent ones to giant tree ferns.

Humorously, I got most of my bird photos at Stella's Cafe, which had a back deck bordering a garden with a bird feeder. (It was also an excellent restaurant and coffee shop, with lots of vegetarian options for a change.)

It was funny to see a "Baltimore" Oriole. It was eating the Bougainvillea flowers.

The squirrels also took advantage of the bird feeder.

Even an agouti came to visit, probably eating what fell off the feeder.

It was late by the time I got to the butterfly garden, so I didn't have as much time as I would have liked, but it's always good to see them.

Quite a few insects mimic leaves as camouflage. This Tiger Leafwing does a good job.

The Blue Morphos are one of the larger butterflies. They also have interesting caterpillars.

I found this clearwing outside the greenhouses.

Our last morning we went to a smaller privately owned family reserve that also grew some bananas and coffee to support the reserve. I bought some of their coffee and it was excellent. Again, we didn't see many birds but there were insects and spiders.

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Cerro Lodge Part 2

It took me several days before I realized that there was a decent sized iguana living in the tree opposite my cabin. I only saw it in the morning and evening. I'm not sure where it went the rest of the time.

I also had a few more visitors to my outdoor bathroom. One night, just beyond the Giant Toad, I realized there was a smaller frog. According to iNaturalist it's a Slim-fingered Rain Frog. Interestingly, I see they are thought to have "direct development", meaning the eggs develop directly into frogs without a tadpole stage. It's amazing to be able to take this kind of photo at night, in very dim light, with only a small led light panel. Cameras are amazing these days.

The next visitor was another little Yellow Tree Frog which I discovered on the shower curtain (after I showered). The last one had been very calm and ignored me totally. But this one didn't appreciate having a camera in its face. I got one shot and then it started rapidly climbing up the shower curtain.

I got a second shot when it paused at the top, but then it jumped - onto my shoulder. I tried to get a shot in the bathroom mirror of it on my bare shoulder but it jumped again. It couldn't have gone far, but I couldn't find it again. It could have hidden under a leaf or rock as soon as it landed, or it could have been in plain sight. They blend in so well they can be impossible to see even when they're not hidden.

There weren't a lot of flowers around outside the lodge. Maybe because it's the dry season? There were a few flowering trees.

I found this pretty Butterfly Pea (I think) in a ditch when I was out running. (I had my phone to navigate.)

Plants have different strategies with seeds. One approach is to make a small number of large fruits to provide resources to the seeds. The other approach is the make a huge number of smaller, lighter seeds. This seed was definitely on this end of the spectrum. It was extremely light. It would disperse well in the wind but the seeds would have very little resources to start with.

I managed to photograph a few more butterflies.

And one of the infrequent dragonflies.

I found this Katydid in the restaurant bathroom but managed to pick it up and take it outside where it promptly took flight. Luckily it didn't go far and just landed on the wall. At first I thought this was the same kind as the one from the restaurant ceiling, but it turned out to be a different species.

I was photographing these flowers when I noticed this tiny insect. It turns out to also be a katydid, although to me it doesn't look much like one.

One morning I walked over to the "crocodile bridge". It's a bit of a tourist trap but it's always interesting to see them. It's now illegal but in the past they fed them which is why they congregate around the bridge. I encountered another runner on one of my morning runs and their advice was "watch out for the crocodiles by the river". Don't have to worry about that in Canada! These are salt water crocodiles, not alligators.

I spotted a Yellow-crowned night heron by the river.

The Scarlet Macaws also seemed to congregate near the river. I saw a group of about 14 at one point. I even managed this lucky shot of two flying. They tend to make such a racket that they're easy to find.

Of course, there were lots of other birds around. These Turquoise-browed Motmots are quite common but they are still fabulous birds.

I saw two kinds of Trogons - Black-headed and Slaty-tailed.

These White-throated Magpie Jays were a fancy cross between a magpie and a jay.

I saw quite a few of these, but I don't know if they were Social Flycatchers or Great Kiskadees since they're almost identical, and I didn't pay attention to their singing.

These Streak-backed Orioles were one of the most colorful birds around the lodge.

Rufous-tailed hummingbirds were common around the lodge, but they rarely paused for more than a second so they were hard to photograph. This one decided to cooperate and rest in a tree opposite the restaurant.

I love the blue eye around the orange eyes on the White-winged Doves.

One of the advantages of being in one place for several days was that the staff got to know me and several times made the effort to point out birds to me, like this Yellow-throated Toucan that was in a tree right behind my cabin but almost impossible to spot. All you could see was a bit of its (large) beak. But from the road outside the lodge I managed to find a better angle.

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