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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