A strange combination! The last of my wildlife photos from Playa Cativo Lodge with Landscapes, Leaves and Flowers coming next! 🙂
And several more photos . . .
Continue reading “Reptiles & Crabs”Reptiles & Crabs
More Wildlife
Last night I had not gone through my boat trip photos, so my “Other Wildlife” shots (non-bird) missed the American Crocodile and the Green Iguana which are both important animals in the wetlands of Maquenque Lodge and Reserve. And I’m saving the best for last, the BIRDS will be coming soon! Then my online photo gallery of what is now one of my favorite lodges! And maybe I will write about all the wonderful Europeans and Ticos I have met here at Maquenque – not a single other American – all others here are from Germany, France, the Netherlands and Costa Rica. A delightful mixture! 🙂
Click image to enlarge.
¡Pura Vida!
You may also enjoy my Other Wildlife Gallery
and my 2019 Maquenque Lodge Trip Gallery
See also the lodge website: Maquenque Ecolodge
Crocodiles
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| American Crocodile “Crocodile Bridge,” Tarcoles, Costa Rica |
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| American Crocodile “Crocodile Bridge,” Tarcoles, Costa Rica |
Our van with the Nashville group stopped here on the way to Jaco Beach. A regular stop for tour buses here on Ruta 34 is called Crocodile Bridge (Link to very good Animal Planet Video); the highway 34 bridge over the Tarcoles River is near the small fishing village of Tarcoles. Tourists usually walk over the bridge and look down to see the crocs sunning on the riverbanks or swimming in the river for a fish snack. (See above video link.) The nearby village has several vendors who will take you on the river in a boat to see the crocs up close and even better, for me, up to 30+ species of birds! There are of course several souvenir and food vendors at the bridge to oblige your needs! 🙂
American Crocodile on Wikipedia
Species Profile: Everglades National Park
¡Pura Vida!
Links to my float trips on the Tarcoles River (Bird Focus):
2017 July (1 croc pic)
2017 April (2 good croc pics)
2015 February (6 croc shots)
2011 April (Cruise Ship stop, 2 croc shots)
Other Photos (non-bird) from Tarcoles River
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| Scenic Tarcoles River Tarcoles, Costa Rica |
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| Scenic Tarcoles River near it’s Mouth into the Pacific Ocean Tarcoles, Costa Rica |
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| Jungle Crocodile Safari boat Tarcoles, Costa Rica |
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| American Crocodile Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Paper Wasp Nest Tarcoles River Costa Rica |
Hopefully you saw all the bird photos on the last two days’ posts! Also of interest may be:
Trip Photo Gallery: 2017-07-29- Tarcoles River
All of my photo galleries on Birds or just Costa Rica Birds
And the boat tour company we used: Jungle Crocodile Safari
Pura Vida from Costa Rica!
~Charlie
~Charlie
Amphibians & Reptiles in Corcovado-Drake Bay
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| Tawny Tree Frog Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica |
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| Red-eyed Tree Frog Aguila de Osa Inn, Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| Common Rain Frog Aguila de Osa Inn, Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| American Crockodile Mangrove Forest, Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| Skink Aguila de Osa Inn, Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
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| Unknown Lizard Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica |
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| Unknown Lizard (on guide Tony) Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica |
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| Baby Boa Constrictor (On guide Carlos)
Aguila de Osa Inn, Drake Bay, Costa Rica |
About Corcovado National Park (Wikipedia) and About Drake Bay (Wikipedia)
And Aguila de Osa Inn
My TRIPS Photo Gallery on this Drake Bay Trip
My Gallery on Amphibians in Costa Rica
My Gallery on Reptiles in Costa Rica
My TRIPS Photo Gallery on this Drake Bay Trip
My Gallery on Amphibians in Costa Rica
My Gallery on Reptiles in Costa Rica
Other Wildlife at Tarcoles this Week
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| Brown Basilisk or Jesus Christ Lizard Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Brown Basilisk or Jesus Christ Lizard Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| American Crocodile Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| American Crocodile Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Green Iguana Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Spiny-tailed Iguana or Black Ctenaura Iguana Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
As always on this blog you can click a photo to see a larger version on black background.
Yeah, it is possible to sometimes see a monkey, sloth, coati, agouti, bat or other mammal, though no longer frequent on Tarcoles. People population growth reduces the animal population everywhere!
You can see all of the photos from this day trip at 2017-13-April Tarcoles Float Trip gallery
Or see my photo collection of OTHER WILDLIFE in Costa Rica or BIRDS separately
EASTER BUNNY?
And for Easter I have yet to see a rabbit here, though one website says there are 3 species of forest rabbits. The more common agouti twitches his nose like a rabbit, but he’s actually a rodent! 🙂
EASTER IS EITHER RELIGIOUS OR BEACH HOLIDAY FOR TICOS
Easter is purely a religious holiday here officially almost equal with Christmas in importance but purely for the focus on Jesus, not spoiling children with candy. (They spoil them other ways!) I’ll try to get some photos to share from the Easter Mass Processional tomorrow which is big deal everywhere. It used to be a “Dry Week” with no alcoholic beverages sold nation-wide, by law! Now it is up to local communities and is not enforced in the dry cantons.
Click this One tourist guide to being here for Easter (Semana Santa or Holy Week) with a list of other major holidays included. It is important to know before visiting here because many Ticos travel for many holidays, especially this week, and especially to the beaches, meaning the highways are literally bumper to bumper. It took us twice as long as usual to get to Tarcoles Thursday because of this. I would never go to a beach during Semana Santa (Holy Week). Think Spring Break!
Some Other Animals of Palo Verde Park
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| White-faced Capuchin Monkey Eating Fruit Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica |
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| White-faced Capuchin Monkey People Watching Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica |
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| Mantled Howler Monkeys – Part of a family of 9 Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica |
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| Mantled Howler Monkeys – Zoomed in on 3 Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica |
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| American Crocodile Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica |
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| Green Iguana male in mating orange color Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica |
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| Proboscis Bat Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica |
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| Brahma Cows on road with cowboy directing them Near Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica |
We also saw a Northern Tamandua Anteater and a Central American Agouti without getting photographs. And this trip we saw no sloths or coatis, which is unusual.
See my photo gallery of OTHER WILDLIFE IN COSTA RICA
Or all my BIRDS OF CENTRAL AMERICA for all my wildlife photos while in Costa Rica
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Tourists Photographing Monkeys
Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica
In this case, it was the White-faced Capuchin after our boat left the same spot.
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Tarcoles Catch-up Photos
On March 24, our first night at Manuel Antonio, we had a slow internet connection and I only shared one beach sunset photo. Here’s a few of many from our stop on the Tarcoles River enroute to beach.
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| Yellow-headed Caracara Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Striped Basilisk Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Yellow-crowned Night Heron Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Common Black Hawk Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Tiger Heron Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Black-necked Stilt Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| American Crocodile (Great Egret in background) Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
This was my third time on the Tarcoles River and we always see and photograph more than 20 species of birds along with the promoted crocs and usually basilisks and iguanas plus some other lizards. That night I got lots of different kinds of beach sunset photos. Here’s one more I just have to show:
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| Sunset over the Pacific Ocean Manuel Antonio Beach, Costa Rica |