Wlldlife spotting

Forgot to mention that our time at Jalova did allow us to see a wide variety of birds, reptiles, insects and monkeys.

There were Howler, Spider and Capuchin monkeys living around us in the rain forest which were rarely happy to see us and usually reacted by screeching, throwing things or peeing on you if you stood in the wrong place. We saw tracks of many other mammals - Jaguars (of course), Tapirs, Coati, Agouti, White-tailed and red Brocket deer and raccoons - but only saw the Red Brocket deer. We did see an Agouti a couple of times in the garden of our cabin at Punta Uva.

There were quite a few reptiles starting with the big crocodile which lived on the beach by the boat landing - where we also saw evidence of a couple of other crocs preparing their nest sites. There were lots of Eyelash Vipers, a few pit vipers, a coral snake (which crossed the trail just in front of Linda - I'm sure she'll show you the video some time) and a Boa Constrictor which was laying on the trail digesting its lunch. There were also Green iguanas - including a group of youngsters living on the edge of the base, lots of Anoles and Whiptails and - of course - a few gekkos as well.

During the wet weather we could hear the Marine Toads and frogs calling at night and there were a lot of toads around the compound. The smaller frogs were harder to see, but we did see the red-eyed treefrog, and some of the others saw poison dart frogs as well. We were outside the marine turtle season but did see one Green Turtle which had come up to lay its eggs at the wrong time and was predated by a Jaguar. There were lots of river turtles on the canals and the occasional caiman.

There were not as many insects as we expected although there were some large spiders - Brazilian Wandering spiders, Golden Orbs and even a Tarantula or two. A few scorpions - including one on the end of Linda's bed and quite a lot of ants and mosquitos.

Since the bird surveys were one of reasons for being there, it was great to see such a huge variety. I think we managed about 24 of the Survey species - including 9 egrets & herons, and 6 kingfishers. We also saw 3 types of toucan - with amazing colours; flocks of parrots; a whole range of waders, terns and gulls; huge flights of Brown Pelicans - up to 51 in one formation; along with Trogons, orependulas a variety of antbirds and treecreepers and two types of woodpecker - including the one that they based Woody on! In addition to the Black and Turkey Vultures, we also saw Ospreys, Kites, falcons and various other Hawks.

As we head off for the mountains, I hope we will add to the list and perhaps see the elusive Quetzals when we get to the cloud forest.