Canopy Life

I've decided to make this a single running blog instead of different posts for each day/foray. I'll continue to add photos and videos to this post while here at Bosque del Tolomuco. I've been having problems keeping this up to speed due to my incredibly slow computer. Bare with me... or bear with me if you happen to have a bear on hand :-)

Day two at Bosque Del Tolomuco

I started off with a little early morning bird photography around the clearing.

Emerald Toucanets made a brief appearance in the trees around the clearing.

Beautiful misty morning here in the Talamancas
The sun was just about to come over the far ridge line.

Female Cherrie's Tanager

Silver-throated Tanager

Identify this bird!

House Wren sitting on, well, the house

This squirrel has a banana addiction

Flame-colored Tanager! New bird for me!

Identify this pigeon: Band-tailed
or Scaled Pigeon?

Identify this bird!

Which yellow-breasted flycatcher is this?
Come on, it's an easy one.

A little coffee and breakfast after birding

What? No gallo pinto for breakfast? I might have thrown a fit
if it were not for the bacon!

Back to the room to change into field clothes and go on a hike. I return to find that the angry Black milk snake had gotten out of its bag.

With the milk snake resecured and an awkward picture of me taken by one of the owners, I head out for my hike, which included releasing the snake.

The milk snake is released in the same spot in which it was found.

Not a happy camper
Black milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum gaigeae)

Black milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum gaigeae)

Unfortunately I could not get a photos of this butterfly's
green and blue wings.

A feel for the forest. There must be a viper under there, right?
Nope.

I did manage to call in this Collared Trogon. Fortunately for me,
they have a very simple and easy to mimic two note whistle.

In this video there are three birds calling. There is a pigeon, the Collared Trogon, and a fast paced squeaky call that I've never heard before. The unidentified call is at the beginning of the clip; does anyone know what it is?

Various flora seen while walking the Quail Run trail:

Psychotria sp. One of the "hot lips" plants

These small delicate flowers were falling from the canopy
like slow motion snow. Certain patches of forest floor and
understory were littered with them.

Tortoise Beetle (Chrysomelidae)

Heliconia

Fruit from a species of species of understory palm tree

Find the frog!

UPDATE 19 MARCH, MORNING

Here are some photos from around the clearing before breakfast

A nearly mature Baltimore Oriole

Looking on inquisitively
Baltimore Oriole

Chowing down
Baltimore Oriole

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Kuma! The bear-sized resident Japanese Akita

A super fuzzy picture of the gorgeous Scaled Pigeon

Identify this flycatcher!

A short walk after breakfast yielded little wildlife, but did provide me with this strange observation

What's that in the tree?

This Black milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum gaigeae) was first observed while engaged in what appeared to be foraging behavior within the buttress of this large tree. As I sat back and watched, I was in disbelief as it slowly started to ascend the trunk! It scaled the bare bole of the tree, which had fissured bark that would flake off and drop to the ground under the weight of the snake. It's tough to see from the photos, but you may notice a slight trench that spirals up the face of the tree. The snake used this as its route of ascent. Black milk snakes (Lampropeltis triangulum gaigeae) are large, heavy bodied snakes that are cylindrical in cross section. This build is the exact opposite of what we have come to expect from an arboreal serpent. As to exactly how much time this Lampropeltis spends in the canopy, your guess is as good as mine, but hey, now we know they're up there.