In Search of Slime

We had no winter rain when we did our scouting trip on 1/9/12. JO, DP and I hiked the Stevens Creek Nature Trail loop from 10:25-3:10 and found few slime molds, and some dried up fungi. On our old Madrone, we found a couple small patches of yellow slime mold fruiting bodies, and the Stictis and tiny fungal bells that we’ve seen in previous years.

Stictis at El Corte de Madera

We saw another set of fruiting bodies, few milkmaids in bloom, a small slug, Slender Salamanders, and a couple sets of puffballs in different places. The highlight of the scouting trip was a new millipede species for us, under a log. There was also a strange, stiff hair-like bunch of something on the cut end of a log. The water in the creek was very low, and the small sag pond was only damp.

The rain came on 1/19-20, but there wasn’t enough time to allow for much to happen by 1/21. The temperature was in the low 40′s according to weather.com; it was certainly less than 50F, partly cloudy. Two participants joined us, including one other docent.

We started off at 12:45. Someone spotted a large, rose-like Polypore, of which there were a few at the bottom of a tree. We found several instances of Tremella, a yellow jelly fungus that is parasitic on other fungi. The hair-like stuff was now pliable due to the recent rain. There was also a brown jelly, slime mold sporocarps, Calocera cornea which had rehydrated, and a white jelly resembling Pseudohydnum gelatinosum. This time we saw three newts, one Slender Salamander, and one small slug.

Once we reached the creek crossing, we knew that we had passed the best section for slime molds. The group decided to finish the loop but walk at a faster pace. The small sag pond now had some water, but it was brown and still low.

We did see birds’ nest fungi on the Canyon Trail, and the bottom layer of a patch of slime mold fruiting bodies on a piece of fallen wood. When near the large sag pond, we heard a Pileated Woodpecker. We arrived back at 4:30.

You can see more photos here.

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For more on slime molds (Myxomycetes), see The Eumycetozoan Project.
Another gallery can be found here: Photo Gallery of Myxomycetes.

Windy Hill OSP

The forecast said showers with temperature around 55F. Last night (3/5/11), JO, JH and I scouted the lower part of the preserve, looking for invertebrates. The parking lot was full at 4:30 3:30. All of us had to wait a few minutes for a space. It was relatively warm, and humid at that point.

We took off around 4:00 and stopped at Sausal Pond. There were some small fish, and no Azolla or duckweed on the surface. The cattails usually to the right, next to the shore were gone, with just a stretch of old cattails out about 20 feet. Birds on the pond included Ring-necked Duck, a female Bufflehead, American Coot (one was slapping the water with its foot while standing on a floating log), Gadwall, Pied-bill Grebe.

After a trip back to the car to retrieve something, I noticed that the big oak on the left near the corner of the first intersection leading in from the lot had fallen over. Back at the pond, we left there at 4:20.

The birds were singing a lot, surprisingly: Dark-eyed Juncos, Common Ravens, American Goldfinch, Purple Finch, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Pine Siskin, Song Sparrow, House Finch, American Robin, Anna’s Hummingbird, Oak Titmouse, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, and others.

We saw one Banana Slug. At the log pile, we found several Slender Salamanders, and beautiful jewel-like fruiting bodies of a slime mold. Upon the bright yellow plasmodium on one side of a piece of dead wood sprouted black sporangia. We found more of those sporangia on wood near the bridge.
California Buttercups were blooming. In some of the puddles on the trail, there were insects that resembled mosquitos, skating on the surface. In others, the breathing tubes of mosquito larvae were visible poking through the surface.

We reached the large intersection at 4:47.
The seasonal pool had some copepods, flatworms, a bloodworm, and tiny bean-oval shaped crustaceans that were too small to see much detail with a hand lens. There were no Daphnia or fairy shrimp.

Sunset was at 6:07; we reached the bridge around 6:00. In the creek, we found no water pennies, but found some small insect larva on the bottom of rocks, and one larger mayfly larva. More Slender Salamanders were under logs near the bridge.
After dinner, we left at 6:37. We checked the usual dead log but found nothing. Along a curved trailbank meeting up with the main trail, there was a hole about 3′ up, with a little salamander head showing. I could tell it wasn’t a newt, having dark eyes and a different head shape. It was an Arboreal Salamander, looking gray with a white belly and yellow dots under flashlight. I could hear treefrogs calling from the west, and heard a Barn Owl.

In one of a group of three trees was a hole, so having seen treehole mosquito larvae at Picchetti Ranch, I took a look. The water was dark, like black coffee, and it was hard to see through. There was a springtail on top, and some sort of segmented larva a few centimeters long. From the little we could see through it, there appeared to be some mosquito larvae wriggling around.

At 7:00, we crossed the “sandbag” trail. We were surprised to find millipedes in the grassy area, before reaching the usual wooded area. There was an active ants nest in the middle of the trail. We decided to take the shortcut to the Betsy Crowder trail for a change, instead of going up the hill and around.

We got to the Betsy Crowder trail intersection at 7:20. We found a fluorescent Russula past a culvert, near two trees on the left. There was an old earth star, but we didn’t find any fresh ones. JH heard a Saw-whet Owl. It was starting to shower a little by then, but it stayed light throughout our hike.

The millipedes were numerous, and JO spotted a pair mating. We saw the most snails we’ve seen on one hike, 4-5, on the mossy trailbank. On only 1-2 of them could I see a band, making them Shoulderbands. Another Slender Salamander was hanging out on the trailbank. We refound the large turret that we’d found last year, complete with spider. Unfortunately, it was shy and ducked down to the bottom of the curve.

Here are the treefrogs under light showers.

Back at the pond, we checked out the mushrooms we’d seen earlier to see if the mycelium bioluminesced (if they were Honey Mushrooms). We didn’t see anything, though the light part of the flesh was bright under UV. In the water, now we could see amphipods swimming, and JO found a Cyclops. We tried to locate a close Sierran Treefrog calling from a bunch of old vegetation, without luck. I shined my flashlight over the nearby water to look for eyeshine. There were at least five large pairs of eyes with white-purple eyeshine, which could only be bullfrogs. One pair glowed eerily from beneath a dark hole in the cattails.

There are at least 3 bullfrogs visible by their eyeshine--can you find them?

We left the lot around 9:00.

Here are more photos.

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American Bullfrogs are not native west of the Rockies. They eat anything they can swallow, including our native frogs, and birds. They are probably responsible for part of the decline of many native species (1).

Watch this National Geographic video, “Bullfrogs Eat Everything”.

1. Californiaherps.com

In Search of Slime

JO, JH and I had twelve people on our inaugural slime mold hike, including four docents and a biologist-by-training. No one ‘fessed up to being a newbie. At least one non-docent had been on one of our bug hikes, and the (Big Basin) docent had also been on some of our hikes.
The weather was relatively warm, low-to-mid 60’s.

We started out at 12:45, and made a quick stop at the pot-shaped ant nest that we’d seen on the 15th. Turning right at the bench, we gradually headed down into the woods.

Pot-shaped ant nest?

Our first slime stop was at a small fallen branch and clump of moss on which we’d found pink sporangia. What was left was puffy capillitium, the netlike structure inside the fruiting body, a darker pink than last week. There we talked about the myxomycete life cycle.
Shortly afterwards we reached the next log and tilting tree where we have found slime molds and other interesting organisms before. The log had small, golden brown round sporangia, and a couple small clumps of white sporangia. On the tree were golden brown slime mold sporangia, possibly the same as on the log, an Ascomycete, Stictis radiata, and some tiny bell-shaped two-toned fungi. The beetle larva that we’d seen on the prehike wasn’t in the same piece of wood. We did find three Slender Salamanders, but no Ensatinas like last week.

Slime mold

Unfortunately I didn’t recognize the curve near the creek that had a log with small, white, cup fungi with frilly edges and upon examination of the photo I’d taken, had lavender-colored Collembola. There was one small log near a curve that had a tiny, gray fungus edged with white, very pretty. Some of the smaller ones looked like cups, but the larger was flat against the wood.

Lachnum sp? and lavender Collembola

A few more similar slime molds plus one good patch of white balls on stalks, various mushrooms but no slimy “cowboy’s handkerchiefs” as there were a week ago, a black jelly fungus, coral fungi, a resupinate yellow fungus with raised pointy bumps, some brown puffballs, a couple of mushrooms with rodent teethmarks, and Xylaria hypoxilon kept us busy until the creek. We got there around 3:00. The water was a few inches deep at the crossing, but rocks were available for hopping. There were a few newts in the pool, and large Water Striders. The yellow plasmodium that we’d seen last week had crawled off and was nowhere to be found.

Near the fourth bridge, the Toothed Jelly Fungi were still in good shape, and the uprooted reddish-purple Russula that we’d found last week had decomposed to basically flat, white remains that still fluoresced under UV.

Heading up the hill, the stump with Tremella and Stereum was missing the Tremella. The Hygrocybe conica that was bright yellow last week was black today. A Great Horned Owl hooted, and JO found a Shoulderband (Helminthoglypta) snail shell. I’d been hoping for a live snail in lieu of a slug, but we had none. (All the Banana Slugs seem to be at lower Purisima.)

Under a few of the logs were crickets and spiders, including wolf spiders. I also noticed a few flying insects along the way, and last week we got a look at a small robber fly.

We got back around 4:40 and spent a few minutes looking at flatworms in the seasonal puddle near the fire break.

No fungi or slime molds were collected, as this is a preserve. But you can see what we visually collected on this and our scouting hike on 1/15, here.

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For more on these fascinating and beautiful organisms, see this site, especially the first two pdfs. This site also has a gallery, and this German site has great images.

Evening at Thornewood

We (PB, JO and I) originally had 14 people on the list for 11/6, but netted 13 reservations. Only one person didn’t show up. We’re not sure if the good attendance was a result of my emailing the list to give more detailed directions and ask group participants to get there a few minutes early and carpool if possible, taking an idea from JO. The last group to reserve included an 11-year old. We also had a few new people. MB also joined us.

My thermometer said the temperature was around 60F, and it remained that way with no precipitation, but partly cloudy. It seemed a little cooler than that (the weather.com TruPoint actual temps were 58-59F).
The lot had no other cars, perhaps because of the weather.

We got out of the lot at 5:27. Since sunset was at 6:06, I didn’t want to stop much. We did stop to note the locations of two spider turrets, and to show poison oak, buckeye, and the King’s Mountain Manzanita. There were also four more nondescript mushrooms at a seep by a fence.

I don’t think I’ve been here when there has been water under the wooden bridge. It was dry.

We reach the Bridle Trail intersection at 5:58. With brief stops to point out differences between redwood and fir needles and cones, we arrived at our dinner spot at 6:10.  We kept our voices low, but only heard some distant Saw-whet wails, no toots like on our scouting hike. We left there at 6:45.

In order to break up the uphill, we went to the farthest stop, the tree where we saw the first fluorescent lichen. Along the way, there was one fluorescent millipede, with a small black beetle apparently picking at it. It was curled up in the duff, and when I picked it up, I saw that it had an injury.

We spent some time at the place where JO had found the Hyptiotes (Triangle Spider). The web was collapsed, and the spider appeared to be working with prey.  After observing what was caught in the silk, I wasn’t convinced that it was prey since it was moving in the slight breeze, as though there was not much substance to it. The spider retreated to under the redwood needles. JO and I attempted to show how the spider uses the web to catch its prey.

The next stop was back at our dinner spot, where there were several trees and stumps with the fluorescing lichen. There was one group of two trees and a big stump that had a lot of green fluorescing patches.

Helminthoglypta nickliniana

On the way back up to the intersection, a large snail crept across the trail. It had a dark stripe, and I knew from shells I’ve found elsewhere that it was not the European garden snail. I think It’s a Shoulderband (thanks to Barry Roth for the ID).

At 8:12 we rendezvoused at the intersection and headed off to the lake. The Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa slime mold was still on the log, and we looked at that with a magnifying glass. JO found a molting spider up in a redwood branch.

After observing that for a while, we moved on to the Slender False Brome sign and talked about that for a bit.

At the lake, PB related some history of the property.

Since we had time, we did a short silent walk from past the short trail to the dry fountain to the Bridle Trail intersection. JO spotted an unidentified juvenile salamander. We left there around 9:00.

Hoping to catch the ISS pass in an open area, we had time to kill. We missed the holes in the ground that we had noted on the way in, wanting to see if they were occupied.

We stopped at the turret in the dirt bank and saw the spider perched at the top.

We still had about half an hour, so we did some stargazing. Cassiopeia, the Pleiades, Cygnus/Summer Triangle, and Jupiter were visible. We proceeded on to a partly open spot, but it wasn’t as good as that one. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the ISS although the high point of the trajectory was over the trees.

There was too much commotion at the larger turret near the manzanita, and the spider retreated down.

We arrived back a little before 10:00.

Thornewood OSP

PB, JO and I scouted this preserve on 11/1/10 for our first night hike here. We started out at 5:30. There were some annoying face flies in the first stretch of the trail.

We saw two brown unidentified mushrooms on the way, and found a large spider turret. At 6:15, we reached Bridle Trail. We wanted to see what dusk would be like, so we turned left.

At 6:30, we reached a large flat area next to an old logged redwood stump. Since it was getting dark, we stopped for dinner. A few odd bird vocalizations (owls, we assume) pierced the quiet. We left there at 6:46.

I hadn’t seen any on our day scouting trip, so JO was keeping an eye out for the odd little Hyptiotes, aka Triangle Spider. Aha! Found one, around 7:00. This is the first we’ve seen on MROSD land. We recently found some at Huddart Park. This particular spider was right by the trail, in a redwood branch. Unlike at Huddart, it was on a silk line, a couple of inches out from the redwood needles.

As we were observing it, some fast, persistent toots started up, along with a few sharp cries. This was exciting for me, since we don’t hear Northern Saw-whet Owls very often. They were relatively close.

We reached the closed part of the trail at 7:18. Twenty minutes later, we were startled to find some bright green fluorescence on the side of a redwood. This was not like the scorpion kind of green around 490nm, but was more like a green laser. Under white light, it looked yellow. Other patches were hard to see under white light. There was also a small bit of orange fluorescence in an area bare of bark.

We left the fluorescence at 7:48, and found more where we had dinner.

An Ensatina sat obligingly in the middle of the trail. We also found one early Polydesmid millipede.

We reached the intersection at 8:37 and turned left to go back to the lake. The house above the lake was obvious with its lights on. We found the dried slime mold I’d seen on our previous trip, and found Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa near it.

At 9:00, there was no action on the lake, and it was perfectly quiet. On top of the signpost by the lake were two small millipedes.

We found spiders in a couple of small turrets but forgot to look for the large one we’d seen on the way in. We also forgot to look into a hole in the trail. But we found one male Calisoga sitting on the side, as well as an (probably) Arboreal Salamander’s head poking out of a hole in the trailbank!

We arrived back to the lot around 10:00.

You can find more photos here.

Fungi of the Sierra Nevada

I took the SFSU field campus class, Mushrooms of the Sierra Nevada, from June 6-11, 2010. We left around 9:30 on Sunday.

We stopped in Auburn for about 1.5 hours, to try to see the Painted Redstart that had shown up there. Surprised at some giant Amazon archers that seemed very out of context while trying to find the location.
We didn’t have luck with the bird, but the site was interesting as there was a “creek” that ran along the road, in a culvert and ditch, in which horsetail and other water plants grew. The house near which the redstart hung around had a nice pond, and various dragonflies visited and oviposited.

Flame Skimmer (Libellula saturata)

We had lunch in Ashford Park. We used a picnic table near a small pool with water vegetation, large fish and bullfrogs. It was warm but pleasant.

Resuming our trip via 49, we arrived around 4:30 and had a little time to unload, unpack and walk around a bit.

After a vegetarian dinner by the new cook at the campus, we had our orientation meeting for the class.

Red-breasted Nuthatch, Steller’s Jay, Warbling Vireo, Cassin’s Vireo, Western Tanager, Mountain Chickadee, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Western Wood-pewee, Dark-eyed Junco, and others sang in the morning and during the day.

On Monday the 7th, we had breakfast, made our lunches, and had lecture (as we did on all days, from about 8:00-10:30). We then headed across the road up the pine-debris-strewn hill to see what we could find. It was warm and sunny with a few clouds.
Besides mushrooms, we found a few Lycogala slime molds that look like small pink balls. Up near the road and vacation housing development were mushrooms that grow in burn areas.

We brought our collections back and had lab from 3-6:00. We used keys, dissecting and compound microscopes to view fungal basidia, cystidia and spores.

Dinner was another light one, Israeli couscous with salmon mixed in, and we saw a presentation after that.

The night was colder than the previous one. Tuesday the 8th took us to Wildplum Campground, 500’ lower in elevation. This area had a creek nearby, and we found a bonanza under one of the logs near the creek: small pink millipedes, and a crust fungus with slime mold fruiting bodies on it. There was also a small, soft polypore “cupcake”.

Small polypore (Oligoporus leucospongia)

After lunch, we went to Greenacre, across the road from Bassett’s. Dennis saw bear. We found a large custardy-looking slime mold on pine needles (Fuligo). On the way back to campus, we made an ice cream stop at Bassett’s.

Pasta with morels, and baked chicken was a welcome dinner.

The evening presentation was on Hawaiian fungi. Some of the stinkhorn fungi looked like tropical flowers or starfish, not like fungi at all.

On Wednesday, we went to Chapman Creek Campground. There was some snow, with a lot of snow melt. By the car was a large Gyromitra montana. We went up the trail and hill, and found many small, slight bumps in the ground which unearthed mushrooms. I saw something out of the corner of my eye then, and went over to investigate. It was a small pile of bear scat, adorned with orange eyelash fungi, Cheilymenia fimicola!

Cheilymenia fimicola

After our field lunch, we returned to the campus to look for fungi there. KS and I went up past the upper tents to the water tank area. We found some delicate Mycena that smelled like bleach, on a log. While removing some of those, we disturbed a Collembola and a click beetle.

Dinner was tasty, a Mexican-style black bean dish, with garlic-infused pork and salsa.

The evening presentation on fungi of Pohnpei in Micronesia was interesting, in particular the bioluminescent fungi.

Thursday’s morning lecture included spring Ascomycetes. I find those more interesting.

We headed off to a marsh area on Gold Lake Road. There was more water than usual, and I had to watch where I stepped to avoid having the water go into my boots. We were looking for matchstick fungi, but none of us found any. We did find small brown cup fungi beneath corn lilies, Sclerotinia veratri. Later in the lab, I picked off the moss and other plant material to expose the flat, black sclerotium. Looking in another area with moving water, I saw something small and red. Closer examination revealed a very small, colorless club fungus growing on the dead corn lily leaves. I found more. They reminded me of fertile horsetail, and later we found a few. Our Typhula specimens were dried in preparation for the herbarium because these were apparently fresh (sclerotia red instead of brown).

Before we left for Sand Pond and lunch, someone found Puccinia on the other side of the road. This rust causes the plant (Arabis, in this case) to produce a false flower which insects prefer over the real flower.

Mountain Quail could be heard at Sand Pond. I saw a couple of large tadpoles swim away, too fast to see what kind they were, but they were not black.

After lunch, we went partway around the pond trail. We didn’t find a lot, but I found a small cut branch with a lavender-colored crust, and small, black balls on the end, like some slime molds. Under the microscope, chains of spores showed up, and this meant it was a Pyrenomycete.

Dinner was also tasty on this night, consisting of Mahi-Mahi and baked halved yellow squash.

This was the last night, so it was a free night. I decided I’d read over the material, but fell asleep around 9:00. I think that was the coldest night, as I felt a little cold even with the cotton blanket I had over my sleeping bag.

After a blueberry pancake breakfast, we had our 42-question “final”. 23 specimens were laid out in the lab, and we attempted to answer questions related to each.

While on my way back to my tent to get my things together, I found a beetle with red elytra and legs on a stump. Later while pointing it out to PN, I found another on the same stump.

After saying goodbye, we left around 11:30, deciding not to go along on the informal foray. I wanted to visit Antelope Valley again. We only got a few miles in, as the road became very rutted. There were a couple of boards strewn in the road, under which were large black crickets, and a small lizard. We didn’t get to the area I wanted to stop at, but we had lunch among the brittlebush and pines. After lunch, we spent a little time looking at the flora, including the colorful lichens, and whatever insects we could find.

Returning via 80 south of Sierraville, we stopped at a rest stop (the Donner Pass one was closed) and at a truck stop. The gas station there had some surprising things for sale—for example Kettle Chips Spicy Thai, my favorite chips when I eat them, and gummy insects.

We got back to my house around 7:00. The weather here had been warm, but it was pleasant when we returned. I was glad to be home.

Here are some photos.

Gazos Creek Road and Butano SP

KG and I joined our herp class scouting trip on 10/17/09. We met at Butano and carpooled to the first location. We walked uphill, passing Red Huckleberry and looking under logs. A few Ensatinas showed up. A yellow myxomycete plasmodium covered the end of a cut log.

Reaching a meadow, we searched for Black Salamanders, with no luck. There was a scorpion under a log and a Slender Salamander. Down the hill, white myxomycetes, and another meadow which turned up another scorpion, a katydid, a tree with many orb webs shining in the sun, and an Arboreal Salamander.

Little Butano Creek Trail

Heading on to Butano State Park, we found logs with piles of termite wings nearby, a result of the emergence after the recent first rain. A newt, another Ensatina, and the cutest tiny juvenile Ensatina were also found.

We finished up around 1:30.

Photos are here.

Costa Rica 2009

This was my third trip to Costa Rica, this time with Merritt College in Oakland. Previous trips were birding trips, though the local guide in 2007 also knew a lot about herps, plants and mammals.

I went down early, leaving on 7/17 on AA1994 from SFO, stopping in DFW. The flight I took in 2007 wasn’t offered any longer, unfortunately (OAK, US Air). I arrived at the airport around 7:30 a.m. and tried the self-service check-in. The security line wasn’t bad.
We passed over Mono Lake and could see Half Dome.

The connecting flight, AA2167, was full, and was delayed a bit due to a front lavatory problem, leaving at 4:50 instead of 4:15.
The clouds looked like Mono Lake tufa, and we passed over the Gulf of Mexico and could see lightning flashes. We arrived at 7:50.

EH, NL and I shared a cab to Hotel Bougainvillea. We had a Mountain View room (street side) on the second floor.

On Saturday, we checked out the gardens at the hotel. There were many butterflies on a bush near the rock garden. BH pointed us to some glasswings he’d seen.
For dinner, I had the Plato Vegetariano.

After dinner, Hank took the group on a frog walk. The hotel has frogs, the declining Blue-sided Tree Frog/”coffee frog”, Agalychnis annae, and Forrer’s Grass Frog, Rana forreri.

Sunday 7/19 took us to InBIO, The Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad. We heard some presentations, walked the grounds, and had lunch there. We felt like we could have spent a lot more time exploring. There was a beautiful butterfly that, upon closer inspection, was actually facing downwards–the tail end looked like the head, and the wings were oriented such that it looked like it was facing upwards.

Some decided to try a local restaurant for dinner in Santo Domingo, so we walked to town to meet the other half of the group, which had taken a taxi. Most of the open restaurants were chicken restaurants. After some walking around, we ran into the others, and the taxi driver had recommended a place so we went there. I tried the Chicharrónes, which is pork meat (unlike the Mexican dish which is the skin). The silverware came, as it did in other places, in a plastic cover. After dinner, we had a couple of extra lime slices, so EH and I each wrapped a piece in the plastic to take back to the hotel for the rest of our papaya. The owner saw me, and brought out a whole lime!

After dinner, we had another frog walk at the hotel.

On Monday 7/20, we headed to Reserva Biológica Tirimbina. We drove on the road through Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo, and there was stopped traffic due to a landslide. It gave us the opportunity to check out the vegetation next to the bus. I spotted what was probably a Long-billed Hermit, and something large, black and red crawling on a plant up the hillside. It turned out to be a caterpillar! After we were stopped a while, we decided to get out, and found quite a few of these, some down low next to the road. They looked like small “scotty dogs”.
We also passed the Rio Sucio (“dirty river”).

After a rainy arrival at Tirimbina, we ended up not at the main location, but at the field station accommodations. Some took a hike in the afternoon. There were some porcupine remains (quills and a skull) along the trailside. We ran into other people from our group, and one of them had dislocated her finger. They later took her for treatment, 45 minutes or so away, and she returned late at night. She told us it cost her $100 total to see the doctor and get x-rays! (Don’t get me started…)

The field station is closer to the frog pond/swamp, where we had another night walk, with Wendy. It was a tight fit in some of the areas, but still very interesting (we saw 20 species of herps, not to mention various invertebrates).

The 21st took us to Tortuguero by boat. We left from the same dock as I’ve been on a prior trip. On the way, we saw Spectacled Caiman, roosting bats, Caña Brava (used for thatching and which is edible), plus other things. There were also distant views of passing Great Green Macaws. We stopped on the Nicaraguan shore for a necessary passport check, and also stopped for a bathroom break at a place that sold beer and snack foods. A Harlequin Frog was spotted, and I found a mantid that looked just like a dried vine tendril!

We arrived at a dock and had a walk to Ilan Ilan Lodge. The door to the cafeteria held a sphinx moth that was brown with green, appearing as though it had algae on it. The rooms were all in a row, near to the other dock, and there were quite a few Black Witch around (huge, dark moths). An Owl Butterfly also perched above our door.

We had the privilege of watching a Green Sea Turtle lay eggs. This was tightly controlled; photos were not allowed at all, and once on the beach (it was about a 2-2.5 mile hike in), the only light was from the guide’s red flashlight and the low ambient light (new moon). We rotated with other groups to view this particular turtle, returning to observe the progress. The guide only lit up the turtle’s back end, as light by its head would disturb it and bring it out of its “trance”.
Watching the eggs come out of the turtle was akin to visiting the Spotted Owl in southeast Arizona. My feeling when being with the owl was like visiting the wise old man on the mountain. My roommate said watching the turtle was like being in church.
When the turtle was done laying, the guide brought us back to see how she covered the eggs. We got hit with sand from the turtle’s flippers, demonstrating the energy she has to expend to do this.

The next day, 7/22, we returned to the CCC , having been told that they were going to radio-tag and release a turtle (named Aurora). We had to wait until the glue was dry enough, and there were many onlookers. We did get to look at the turtle close up, in her small enclosure, as the glue dried.

Turtle release (click for larger view)

We headed to Caño Blanco by boat (been there too). We pulled up to a Pterocarpus sp. tree, so that Humberto could show us the red sap. Dipteryx panamensis was also pointed out; this species has a relationship with the Great Green Macaw.

Once off the boat, we found someone selling fresh pipas (young coconut) with the top cut off, and a straw–just what I’d been wanting. The young man with the woman had a Rhinoceros Beetle, which of course had to have its photo taken on various arms.

After the break, we got back on the bus and continued to Cahuita, on the Caribbean coast. The ambience is what you might expect for the Caribbean. We stayed at Sia Tami Lodge, in nice bungalows. This was the only place that had mosquito netting, but it really wasn’t needed.

We attempted to go to the nearby beach in the Parque Nacional Cahuita, but they closed the beach at 5:00 to prevent crime, so we went down to a public area. I found a few interesting shell and coral pieces, while others enjoyed the water.

Back at the lodge, the power went out for a while, which apparently isn’t unusual. We had the option of going to a restaurant for lobster (partially paid), and the group decided on that. The lobster was ok, but the fresh limeade was great.

After waking to nearby Howler Monkeys on 7/23, we had breakfast and headed on to the BriBri indigenous reserve. We drove along a dirt road along the river, stopping to take photos of Panama on the other side. Bambú was the canoe put-in location. After bagging the luggage in plastic and donning life jackets, 7-8 people were distributed per canoe. Our canoe was the last to leave. We headed upriver and arrived in about 45 minutes. We had to hike in to the village. This required a bit of rocky uphill, then through forest and grassland.

We reached the main gathering building for this particular BriBri group, an open wooden structure with a thatched, conical roof. This housed the kitchen and dining tables. We were assigned our accommodations, which turned out to be private rooms with bathrooms for the couples, and the middle floor of one of the buildings for the rest of us (i.e. men and women). Screen tents were lined up around the room, each with a sleeping pad and blanket. The shared bathroom was downstairs. Hmm…

After we were settled and had lunch, some of us had a hiking tour of the plantation and public community buildings, arriving back at dusk. We had dinner, and found that the electricity was via generator. The only accessible outlets are in the main building, with one light in our sleeping area. Water comes from a stream, and there are toilets and shower (albeit not heated). There is no refrigeration, so the meat is smoked or dried.

Various domestic animals roamed around, namely a couple of small cats, several turkeys and young turkeys, and chickens and roosters. The tom turkey gobbled a lot, and made a short hissing sound coupled with a low rumbling. For some reason, it decided to gobble right under the sleeping area one time, and the rooster crowed there the next day, while it was still dark. Who needs Howler Monkeys to wake you up!

While we were there (two nights), we observed how they used to use bow and arrow, and we all got to try. We also had a chocolate-making demonstration, learned about the surrounding plants including Achiote and Water Apple, and observed jewelry-making and gourd-carving. We also heard about their customs, and had a music night.

The people were very warm and friendly, and the kids were cute. The food was interesting, to say the least. The huge banana pancakes were good, and there was usually fresh juice of some sort with meals (like there is in most places). Actually, the food was pretty good, except I could have done without the beef, which was a few dried chunks, kind of like eating chunk jerky. Costa Rica uses Brahma cattle for beef. I don’t know if they are tougher than others, but all the beef we had down there was very tough for some reason.

It was time to leave on 7/25, so the BriBri men and young men carried our luggage down to the canoes. We headed downstream this time, back to Bambú, through the town of BriBri, and on to Universidad Earth for a banana plantation tour. It turned out to be a holiday that day, so our guides showed us the plantation, but the banana paper-making area was not active. We also saw the medicinal plants garden.

We got back on the bus, to Tirimbina again. This time, we stayed in the main lodge. The rooms have air conditioning, but our room had no windows to open. (It would have been nice to have fresh air, even if it was humid air.) After dinner, we had a very steamy night hike over the 100′ suspension bridge, through the rainforest to look for herps and nocturnal creatures. It was so humid that my glasses steamed up. There are lots of big spiders, among other things, that hang out at night. We saw a net-casting spider, which was exciting even though we didn’t see it catch anything.
It was also–er–exciting to find a Giant Cockroach on the bathroom sink faucet when we returned. I must admit, even though I like bugs, it gave me the willies. It wasn’t too cooperative in getting it into my plastic tube to take it out, its antennae waving as it held onto the outside. I think that’s what did it…

On 7/26, it rained. It felt good when we were out on the trail, but my waist pack got soaked. We had a dendrology class in a covered area after lunch. After dinner, we had another night hike. That got cut short because of rain. At lunch I’d found out that the gift shop sold $3 ponchos, so I picked one up. That turned out to be the best thing to wear in the rain, as it protected my gear. I didn’t even wear the rain jacket I’d brought on the trip.

We visited La Selva (OTS) the next day, 7/27. We split into two groups, the birders and others. I went with the others. We didn’t get very far because everyone kept asking questions. But we did see Peccary and White-faced Capuchin, as well as a snake and a turtle.

Back at Tirimbina, after dinner we saw a bat presentation and got close-up views of a few of the bats they had mist-netted that night. One was pregnant, so it had to be released quickly. The last one was very vocal in letting the handler know it didn’t like being held. Apparently that species is like that. We did get to touch the wing skin, which was very soft and silky.
There are 115 species of bats in Costa Rica, 10% of the world’s species.

A few of us returned to the field station to look for frogs.

On the morning of 7/28, some took the chocolate making tour at Tirimbina. We hiked to the area where there were large trays of drying cacao beans, and winnowing and grindng were demonstrated. We got to sample hot chocolate, adding spices similar to what the Aztecs used (chili and  maize among them). We also had samples of molded chocolates, made fresh. What a difference!

After lunch, we traveled to El Castillo near Volcan Arenal, stopping at the “iguana bridge” next to a coffee/artisan shop. The many iguanas were used to being fed, and some people hand-fed cabbage to one. Before we reached the lodge, we stopped in La Fortuna while some business was taken care of. There were a few places that offered an hour massage for $25! The one I saw looked like any good place you’d see in the states. Unfortunately I didn’t get to take advantage of that.

We also stopped at an overlook to view Lake Arenal at sunset.

I liked the way the lodging was arranged at Cabinas El Castillo–pretty much everyone had the same thing, and all the cabins had views of the volcano. There were big windows on three walls, with small slat windows above those that opened. It was cooler here and not as humid, but nice to have fresh air.
I can’t say much for mixed drinks at the restaurant though. I ordered a Mojito, thinking it would be like the ones I had at Selva Verde last trip (fresh-picked local mint from the garden). I guess I expected too much, because when the drink finally came, it was green. Yep, Crème de menthe (yuck, I’m not sure which is worse, a Mojito made with Sprite–in CA–or this one).
The staff tried hard, but I had the impression they didn’t have large groups too often.

On 7/29 we walked up the hill to the Butterfly Conservatory. We had a tour through several butterfly gardens and a frog house.
Here is someone’s video I found, that shows the Morphos flying around in there.
After lunch, there was a boat ride around the lake and to La Fortuna. My roommate and I had planned to go, but when we got to the restaurant, the bus was gone. One of the staff said he’d call to hold the boat, and have someone pick us up, in ten minutes. After a while, he called and was told that they couldn’t come. He tried someone else, who called back after a minute and said their vehicle was broken down. On the third try, he asked if an ATV was ok. My roommate was excited to ride one of those, so what the heck. I’d never been on one either.

A few minutes later, a red ATV pulls up. We were somewhat surprised, and asked the staff if that was our ride. Where were we supposed to sit? Behind the driver, and on the rear rack, they said. The driver was a young girl. Just how young, we found out afterwards–nine! After a short ride on the bumpy road in showers, we got to the dock. On the way, we passed our bus, and our bus driver pointed toward the lake. We didn’t know what he was trying to say, but we found out when we discovered the boat was already gone. Well, ok. We rearranged ourselves and took a couple of photos, and noticed the labels on the ATVs, which basically said the driver should be over 16, and only one person should be on it. It was still raining, so we rode back to the lodge.
It turned out that there was almost mutiny on the boat due to the rain, so we were glad we didn’t go.

Since the weather was iffy, on 7/30 it was decided to go to the Serpentarium de Zoological, next to the Butterfly Conservatory. It was a lot larger than it appeared from the outside, and our tour guide was very informative. Besides the enclosed snakes, there was a frog habitat as well as a butterfly garden. We heard how antivenin is made of a mix of the venom of the three most poisonous snakes there–Bushmaster, Fer-de-lance, and Rattlesnake.

In the afternoon, we went to Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal. The vegetation was interesting; the cane lining the trail in the beginning got taller and taller, then it changed to forest, and finally to rock. The active volcano belched a couple of times.
Then, most people wanted to go to the Tabacón Hot Springs. The free access was down a narrow path, then down some rocks to the edge of the spillway. People were just lying in the rushing water, which was bath-water warm.

After dinner, a few of us went frogging along the main road in El Castillo. In one spot, I saw a big pair of pinkish-purple eyes shining, which turned out to belong to a Smoky Jungle Frog (like a big bullfrog). Then there were more and more. I guess there’s no mistaking that once you know.

On our last travel day, Friday 7/31, we drove through San Ramon. We spotted a hummingbird and butterfly garden, so some of the group voted to stop. Bosque el Nubosa el Cocora was the name of the location. The group was delighted to watch the hummingbirds visit the feeders. We had a brief walk though the butterfly garden, which had different species from the others we’d seen. But then we had to leave for lunch.

We stopped at an unplanned spot, where they had different fruit drinks–besides Cas (one of my favorites), there was Linzana, Chan, and Mozote, among others. I had a small taste of the Mozote, which was brown, thick, and had cinnamon in it.

I was too tired, back at Hotel Bougainvillea, to walk the gardens, do dinner, or view photos, so I just hung out.

We left the next day, 8/1. My AA988 flight was scheduled to leave at 12:25 p.m. It had a female pilot, and oddly, there was again a problem with the forward lavatory with a resulting half-hour delay.

We flew over Cuba and Grand Caymans. Miami airport was very chaotic, with a lot of people standing around. The connecting flight was supposed to leave at 7:15.
First we had to go through passport check and show the customs form, then pass by another officer who made sure we had a customs form, then pick up the luggage, which was no easy feat. There were six baggage carousels, and I didn’t notice that you had to look at the one information screen to find out which one to go to for your flight. Of course, mine ended up to be the farthest away. After that, we had to find what to do with the luggage that had come off the plane. After customs, they said “walk that way”. I didn’t see any signs, but after some walking, there were roped-off baggage ramps, and I saw American’s. There were no signs as to which flights though; I had to wait for one of the attendants to come over.

It also wasn’t clear to me where the boarding gate was from the way the wording was on the signs–the gate letter was there, but they called it something different depending on what sign you were looking at. I asked if I was headed the right way, and the staff made a comment about not liking what they were doing–which I found out was making us go through another security check (as if we’d been anywhere that would afford an opportunity to put something the baggage). The line was long, and there were only a few minutes before our connecting flight was supposed to board. She ended up putting me in the middle instead of the beginning of the line, but it still would have taken a long time.
Fortunately, the express line was next to me, and the instructor’s family and one of the couples from the trip happened to be there. I tagged onto them and asked the security person to please hurry. She didn’t move very fast, and told me to run–with my gear bag–after she was done. Panting, I passed E7, and E6, but didn’t see E5. I turned back to see if I missed it and ran into the couple again, who saw that it was across from E6. This flight boarded late, which was just as well since others from our group on that flight weren’t there yet. One person didn’t get on because of the security check.

It felt like a long flight home, late as usual. The trip was fun, but I was glad to be dry.

You can find photos here:
Hotel Bougainvillea–insects, spiders, plants, frogs
InBIO and Braulio Carillo–insects, plants, spiders, locales +
Tirimbina field station–insects, herps, spiders, +
Tortuguero, Cano Blanco, Cahuitainsects, herps, mammals, +
BriBri–insects, culture, plants, +
Tirimbina–night, insects, spiders, herps, +
Tirimbina–insects, plants, fungi, locales, invertebrates
El Castillo–insects, locale, night, herps, spiders
Iguana bridge, La Fortuna, Serpentarium, Volcan Arenal, Tabacon hot springs, Bosque el Nuboso el Cocora