Tuesday, February 25
About half of us make the 6AM birdwalk, where we hear lots of scarlet Macaws and see some flying up high. We spot this raccoon making his way down a tree for breakfast.
Rufus back wrens have quite a song for such a small bird. And we see brown jays, sparrows and flycatchers but can't catch many photos - just silhouettes.
This large, turkey-like crescent guan remains perched in a tree watching us walk by.
After breakfast we head to Carara National Park, about a 20 minute drive. Andrey announces my birthday and I get a nice round of applause and Happy Birthday. 😊
We start with a couple of spiny tail black iguanas who are enjoying the sun. They are cold blooded, so sun is popular. Iguanas use their tails as whips as they have quite a few predators - hawks, falcons, wildcats, coyotes... people used to eat them too, though not so much anymore, says Andrey.
Lots of fungus along this trail.
these are tiny.
this looks like a natural fountain.
This beautiful pattern on a leaf is caused by a fungus, per Andrey
This frog is more black with green, while the earlier one was green with black!
maybe a kind of trogon? gorgeous whatever it is!
our fearless leader with Karen
Andrey points out many symbiotic relationships between plants and birds or insects, for example a certain ant lives freely on one type tree and in return protects the tree from predators like caterpillars. Many vines and we see one that is large and encircling a huge tree. It is a strangler fig which begins as an epiphyte, a plant which grows on the surface of another plant. It eventually sends roots to the ground and it will eventually encircle the host, steal its nutrients and leave it as a hollow shell.
Back to our lodgings where we have lunch and a free afternoon.
Greg and I walk to the beach, passing many of these pretty butterflies along the way.
We are delighted to find a two-toed sloth where we can actually see a bit of its face! It is in a palm tree and shifts around a bit.
At one point we can see a small arm and realize that it has a baby. Still, it shields the baby so we never see any more of it. (The arm is to the left of the biggest trunk.)
There are also a group of capuchin monkeys in the area. This isn't a great picture, but I thought it was interesting that this monkey came down and patted the sloth on the head! Wonder what that was about?
Greg captured some great poses
And this golden caracara lands nearby and poses briefly.
Back to our room and we meet the others at 4:45 for a bus ride to a nearby different beach for sunset. Diego and Andrey treat us to "sundowner" drinks. Nice beach and beautiful sunset! Greg and I clamber around a rocky area looking for interesting tide pools. Lots of barnacles and small shells, a few tiny crabs.
I take a picture of Helen, Charline and Linda
Then Linda reciprocates.
The sun is quite orange, then develops a few stripes before disappearing into the ocean. Nice!
Back to our dining room for a nice dinner where Andrey surprises me with a lovely (and delicious) birthday cake. Chocolate with fresh strawberries - how'd they guess my favorite!?
'Twas a happy birthday! Both Bryan and Matt, our sons, tried to call but the connection was very poor and "happy birthday" is about all I could understand - but loved it!
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