Category: Rainforest

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A Walk in the Rainforest & My Evaluation

This was my fourth time to visit Arenal Observatory Lodge (link to lodge website) and the second time as my annual “Christmas Getaway!” The first two days we had a lot of rain & wind unlike the other Christmas visit and I thought it was not going to be a good place for Christmas this year, but then Christmas Day was a bright blue-sky, sunshiny day and we had a mixture of weather my remaining 4 nights there, and though I initially thought I didn’t see as much wildlife, I actually did pretty good with 27 species of birds and more butterflies and “other wildlife” than before! So – No big toucans or monkeys! I had a lot of other wildlife and some of my best frog photos plus more butterflies!  🙂

Also, I had less energy than on the previous trips here (cancer recovery is slow) and I scheduled no early-morning guided bird walk like usual, so to have 27 birds on my own is okay!  🙂  And I will be sharing those bird and butterfly photos in future days on this blog when I finally get them organized.

My “Most Birds Tree!” On one of the trails closer to the lodging.

So . . .  YES! I continue to rate Arenal Observatory Lodge as one of the best places in Costa Rica for birds and for my nature fix AND also for the lodge services with an excellent room and gourmet food, surrounded by one of the largest rainforests in the country! And yes, it is not cheap, but worth what you pay in my opinion. Superb guides, the best of other services, plus the best maintained wilderness trails that are featured below in this post, a birding tower, a big waterfall, and more birds, butterflies and trails than almost anywhere else! So yes – I will return to Arenal Observatory Lodge!  But next time I’m going in May again, for the beautiful sunsets over the lake every night, and maybe monkeys then!  🙂  I think the sun moves further south this time of year, putting the sunset behind the mountains, but in May, it’s right over the lake!  🙂

Below is a Gallery of some rainforest trails at Arenal Observatory, then links to the photo galleries of my other 3 previous visits with a comparison of birds and other wildlife photographed.  🙂

Continue reading “A Walk in the Rainforest & My Evaluation”

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My 2022 in Photos

From the top of a volcano to the mangroves at the ocean’s edge and even in the tiny garden behind my casita, I’ve daily photographed nature for 8 years here and called that photography “Nature as Art!” and shared it in this blog.  🙂 

I like this Collins Online Dictionary definition:

Nature is all the animals, plants, and other things in the world that are not made by people, and all the events and processes that are not caused by people. 

Thus in nature I worship God and find my peace & inspiration from Him, the creator of it all!

Each year I find it difficult to select only 12 photos from the year and I first tried to come up with 12 “categories” of nature to make sure I selected a variety, but that became as cumbersome as trying to have a “photo-a-month.” So I decided to just stick with “12 favorites,” even if more than 12 are favorites! 🙂

So, however labeled, here’s 12 photos I made in 2022!

Happy New Year and Pura vida! 🙂

This 1st of 12 is looking out at the Pacific Ocean from Playa Cativo Lodge, Golfo Dulce, Piedras Blancas NP and the 12th photo below is a shot  looking out over the Atlantic Ocean at sunrise from Hotel Banana Azul. Coast to coast nature photos!   🙂

To the nearly 500 email subscribers: I hope you read on for the other 11 favorite photos . . .

Continue reading “My 2022 in Photos”

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A Bird, A Butterfly & A Flower

For my final morning post from Arenal Observatory Lodge, three photos which are sort of representative of what I photographed most while here this time with the weather eliminating some of my favorite subjects here, though there are still more  things I photographed to be shared in the next few days or weeks including more of these three categories!  🙂

And these are not my favorites in each category, but rather representative ones from my last full day here . . .

A BIRD

Bananaquit Bird seen off the deck of my room at Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica.

 

A BUTTERFLY

A Doris Longwing or Dot-bordered Heliconian Butterfly seen in one of the gardens at Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica.

 

A FLOWER

An unidentified flower seen on the grounds of Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica. If you know the ID, please contact me. The leaves don’t match lavender, lupine or blue ginger. So what is it?

 

¡Pura Vida!

Tomorrow I will give an evaluation of this visit and whether I recommend Arenal Observatory for Christmas Week.

 

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Danta Waterfall

As a waterfall lover, I don’t miss any waterfall that a lodge or park has and this “main” falls at Arenal Observatory Lodge is one of the nicer ones, and it’s my third time to visit it! There are other “seasonal” waterfalls here for when the rain is heavy, but the longer trails to them are more dangerous when wet for this old man who falls easily, so I haven’t tried any of them.  🙂

The people who were at the falls the same time as me were all Europeans from England, Holland, Germany and maybe one more country. We also have other countries represented at the lodge this week including Canada, Japan and China and though I haven’t met anyone from the states yet, there are most likely some here. The ones playing in the waterfall plunge pool are Europeans – 4 shots including this first scenic one for the email notice . . .

Danta Waterfall, Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica.

 

Continue reading “Danta Waterfall”

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Masked Tree Frog

The brown on either side of the eye appears to go through the eye and is thus “the mask.” Like many frog species, he comes in different colors making ID less obvious as you can see in my Masked Tree Frog GALLERY or read about the Smilisca phaeota on Wikipedia.  We found him in the fountain pool outside the Reception Lobby of Arenal Observatory Lodge.

Smilisca phaeota, Masked Tree Frog, Arenal Observatory, Costa Rica

 

 

 

¡Pura Vida!

And . . .

Historic Biodiversity Agreement in Montreal!  Tico Times article

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Leptodactylus savagei

That’s the species name with there being 5 different species of Leptodactylus genus frogs in Costa Rica, all five appearing on the Pacific Slope and 3 on the Caribbean or Atlantic Slope. World-wide there are 75 species of Leptodactylus! This Leptodactylus savagei appears on both slopes of Costa Rica and was earlier called “Savage’s Thin-toed Frog,” but now goes by two common names: “Central American Bullfrog” and “Smoky Jungle Frog.” This genus Leptodactylus is the largest frog in Costa Rica (and probably all of Central America.) This particular species appears from Honduras to Colombia.

Leptodactylus savagei, Central American Bullfrog or Smoky Jungle Frog, Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica

I just got a new Amphibian Field Guide here at this lodge which will help me to better identify and explain the sightings and photos I post on this site. There are 3 other frogs pictured in my Central American Bullfrog GALLERY and I’m reasonably certain that they are all in the genus Leptodactylus, but I need to study them more to specify the exact species. I don’t think they are all “savagei.”

This was just one more of the creatures spotted and photographed on my private Night Walk last night, seen at the lodge’s “Frog Pond” just like the Red-eyed Tree Frogs I posted early this morning. I will be posting other creatures from that night walk here in time.   🙂

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Red-eyed Tree Frog

My main reason for going on “Night Hikes” is to get more photos of this beautiful symbol of Costa Rica that almost looks “unreal” with his bright colors and “other worldly” look. But he is very real and best photographed with a cellphone as these two were, in the light of a flashlight. Just one more totally cool thing about living retired in Costa Rica!   🙂

I got a lot of other photos of other frogs, snakes, spiders, other insects, but these were my two favorite, so all for now with more to be shared another time.

 

Red-eyed Tree Frog, Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica

Red-eyed Tree Frog, Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

 

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Christmas Day Very Busy!

As I celebrated living in Costa Rica for 8 years, I had a very special Christmas Eve Dinner and this morning went to the Butterfly Conservancy in El Castillo on the lake, then hiked one of the trails here at Arenal Observatory and after another great dinner of baby back ribs, I’m going on a private Night Hike, just me and the guide! It was their suggestion since with the regular night hike of a group of 10 they knew I would find it difficult to make photos. Most of “my” lodges here really take care of this old man!  🙂 Photos from the night hike will come tomorrow.

And I haven’t had time to process photos of butterflies or anything else today, so here’s photos of the great sunny weather we had today and my first view this week of the volcano! The lake shot was at about sunset time, though the sun is not seen there this time of year, it’s still more pleasant with clear skies!  🙂  Much more to share tomorrow!

Every day so far this trip the volcano has been covered in clouds until . . .

. . . beautiful blue skies all day today – the first time to see Arenal Volcano from Arenal Observatory Lodge.

Arenal Lake at about sunset time today, Arenal Observatory Lodge.

 

 

 

 

¡Pura Vida!

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Threatened Species Seen This Morning

Brilliant Forest Frog (iNaturalist link) or Warszewitsch’s frog, Rana warszewitschii, is a species of frog in the Ranidae family found in Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, rivers, intermittent rivers, plantations, rural gardens, urban areas, and heavily degraded former forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.  ~iNaturalist

Brilliant Forest Frog, a threatened species at Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica

I found it this morning in the “Frog Pond” of Arenal Observatory Lodge where I usually find Red-eyed Tree Frogs on night walks here. (I’m getting a private night walk later this week for photos.) The guys at the front desk had no idea of the ID and at first I could not find it on the web, but they helped me with this ID using one of the fold-out ID charts they sell and I followed up with the above link to an iNaturalist website.  🙂

Sign at the Frog Pond, Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica.

When I did a Google Search for “Brilliant Forest Frog” one of my 2019 blog posts came up on this species I saw at Macaw Lodge which has different hind legs but “Brilliant Forest Frog” is what that lodge staff told me it was. The beige top and wide black stripe down the side are the same. Maybe they are cousins?   🙂

See that other frog with this ID in my Brilliant Forest Frog GALLERY. They may or may not be the same species.  🙂

Or better yet, see my bigger Amphibians Costa Rica GALLERY.

¡Pura Vida!

And MERRY CHRISTMAS or ¡Feliz Navidad!

 

 

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Rusty-spotted Satyr

I’ve photographed 7 species of butterflies so far and 10 species of birds with rain coming down most of my time here (it is a rainforest!). 🙂 I’m sharing this one tonight because it is my only “lifer” or first time seen wildlife here so far this trip. For those who know the lodge, it was seen on the “River Trail. “

Rusty-spotted Satyr, Arenal Observatory Lodge, Arenal Volcano National Park, Costa Rica.
Rusty-spotted Satyr, Arenal Observatory Lodge, Arenal Volcano National Park, Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!