Wildlife at its best

The other day we were sitting on the patio and saw several little birds chasing after a Toucan.  The Toucan landed on a palm tree a short distance from the house.  We could see the smaller birds continue their attack and finally realized it was because the Toucan had landed next to their nest.

Nothing particularly unusual but I decided to grab the binoculars and watch.  I could see the Toucan hop little by little up the palm branch closer to the nest, with the little birds dive bombing it.  Sure enough, I actually saw the Toucan stick its long bill through the bottom of the next and yank out a little baby bird and fly off with it!

Quite a rare and amazing sight!  I never realized Toucans were carnivorous.  I read up on them a bit and apparently they are opportunists and eat fruit, leaves, and the occasional baby bird.

The following week we came across this little blonde fellow in the yard next to ours.  It's called an ASP caterpillar (aka Puss caterpillar).  It is about an inch and half or two inches long and you'd swear it's wearing a blonde wig.

It is really quite pretty up close but they are reportedly, the most toxic caterpillar in the U.S.



Our caretaker brushed against it with his hand and had sharp pains the whole length of his arm that evening.  Some of the descriptions I've read suggest this thing can give you quite a wallop if you get a good dose of toxin off of it's snugly looking fur.

The caretaker seemed OK the next day so he must have just barely come in contact with it.

Our standard rule of thumb down here is not to touch any of the critters and we try to be careful around certain plants as well.  It seems the prettier they are, the more venomous.

So a few days later we had yet another interesting creature stop by.  This big guy stopped by after dark and settled into the corner right next to our patio door.

If I'm not mistaken, he's called Cane Toad and you guessed it, he's poisonous.  The puffy patch just behind his eye on both sides is the poison gland.




I don't think they hurt you if you just touch them but we weren't taking chances so we just left him alone and he was gone by morning.

This week we took our usual walk and when were passing by a small clump of trees at the top of the hill, we started hearing snapping branches, thumps and squeaks.  They were quite loud and I was waiting for something to jump out of the bushes at us.  As we stood there and listened we then saw the branches wiggle in multiple places as the sound of breaking twigs continued.

Then we saw them, a whole family of white-faced monkeys.  We could occasionally see them very clearly as they climbed up branches and jumped from place to place.  All the while they squeaked and once in a while would stop and look us over.  Unfortunately, we had not brought our camera but the luck of seeing these little guys in their natural environment was priceless.  The jungle that surrounds us is massive with a million trees everywhere.  It was purely a stroke of good fortune to be in the right place at the right time.  We went back up tonight but they were no where to be found.  So all in all it was an interesting week.

On March 23rd (next Friday) we go on our private sailboat tour for 2 nights/3 days to a half dozen islands.  Just the three of us and two crew members on a 45 foot ketch (our actual boat to the left).

Sleeping on a boat out in the ocean has been something I wanted to do since our first visit to Costa Rica.  We've spent very little time on a beach to this point so this little adventure should fill that gap and then some.

We sail up in the top of the Gulf of Nicoya, visiting Isla Tortuga, Isla San Lucas, Negritos, Tambor, and back to Herradura.  We hope to fish, snorkel, and walk the beaches during the day and at night I am excited about the chance to gaze at the stars from the ocean.  Speaking of stars, here at the house they are fantastic.

I am not sure if it is due to heat radiating up into the sky at night but all the stars twinkle all at the same.  There is very little light pollution down here in the jungle so we see tons of stars, many of which I have not seen back home in many years.  They are truly spectacular!  Last but not least, there are fire flies all around us at night, in all the trees and they blink very brightly just using their gift of bio-luminescence.

I admit sometimes we get a bit bored but over the past few years, we have had some pretty amazing experiences and I would not trade them for anything.  Later...