Beautiful Plants

I'm sitting here basking in the island's glorious greenness knowing soon I will hop on a plane back to winter's harsh browness. I wish I could take some of the warmth (not all of it!) and overwhelming lushness back with me. Here are my plant photos of the day.

   This is not a boa constrictor but a liana, woody vine, that has grown around a tree trunk.

Animal pics

Black and green spotted poison dart frogs jumped around our feet near a small stream our first morning here. Surprisingly these smooth skinned amphibians are only about an inch in size. Can you see it on the top of the rock?

Again, if you have the sharp eyes of a hawk, you'll see the blue morpho butterfly with its wings shut. The underside of its wings is brown and you can see eye spots. When blue morphos fly around, their scales are an iridescent blue. They are an amazing flutter of color. The bottom photo is of the great tinamou. 

On our night walk we saw cool nocturnal animals such as a flower eating kinkajou, a wooly opossum, bats, turnip tailed geckos, and the creepy hill of tarantulas! 

Animal Pics

 

What is the last thing that you want to see when you're walking around in sandals at night? Dr. Willis' husband shined his flashlight near the dining hall to reveal a hill full of tarantulas! Yikes! My toes may never recover! We found a gecko on the side of the building laughing at me. Before dinner, a troop of spider monkeys passed by our room.

Animals

You have to be quite stealthy to sneak up on rainforest animals using an iPhone! So far I've seen troops of loud howler monkeys, mischievous spider monkeys, a lazy tamandua anteater, two varieties of squaking toucans, large turkey-like birds called the great tinamou and crested guan, tiny black and green poisonous dart frogs, white geckos, brown agouti, bats, shimmering blue morpho and brilliant orange tiger wing butterflies, and a variety of lizards and small insects. I'm not quick enough to capture fantastic photos, but here are a few of my attempts.
 
Don't strike this punching bag look-alike or you'll be covered in termites! At the bottom of the log is a brown termite trail. 

Here's an agouti eating nuts for breakfast.

Tools Scientists Use

 

Here are some tools that scientists use in the rainforest to collect data. The basket captures a variety of materials that fall from above such as leaves, berries, seed pods, flowers, and small branches. Cameras are used to track the activities of both diurnal and nocturnal animals. Scientists check the photo feed from cameras every day. Yesterday we saw some very cool pictures of three large mother iguanas that were digging a nest to lay eggs. These cameras help Dr. Willis track the activities of her beloved ocelots.

There are scientists and research students here from all over the world. The BBC is here filming the ocelots for a documentary on wildcats. 

Plant Adaptations

As I'm sitting here enjoying the Rainforest oxygen bar, I'm reflecting on amazing plant survival strategies. Many of the plants that are low to the ground have large sized leaves stretching toward the sun. Can you see the large leaves on the trunk of this spiky palm? Speaking of spikes, we have to look before we touch the trunks of trees! Notice the huge spikes on the white Kapok tree. The spikes protect the trunk from hungry peccaries.

Four Hours in the Rainforest

To my second grade friends - poison dart frogs invaded the stairs on our way to breakfast! They were very tiny measuring about an inch. This species was black with green spots. We made it past them safely without touching their poisonous skin. I didn't get my camera out quickly enough, but now that I know where these dangerous amphibians hang out, I'll try to capture an image for you.

Day 1 as an assistant researcher proved to be memorable. We SLOWLY crept along a leafy path with Dr. Willis observing plant adaptations, insects, birds, and  mammals. Do you think the rainforest is a quite place? NOT! The forest is almost as loud as the city! Cicadas make a loud, high-pitched chain saw noise, birds are calling, howler monkeys are warning, branches are breaking and leaves are falling. Dr. Willis could "name that tune" within seconds as she explained what we were hearing. Everything except the cicadas and howler monkeys sounded like a bird to me. Most of the animal action took place over our heads in the canopy. I did however capture some cool fungi and forest floor pics.