Costa Rica landscapes and wildlife

Pacific coast, near Carara National Park:







Traceless River - 2 minutes before a rainstorm:




Pacific coast near Jaco:


Mature cloud forest - Monteverde National Park:




Tarcoles crocodiles:












A coati:


White-headed capuchin:


Morpho butterfly:


More butterflies:




Monteverde rainbow:

On a Quest for 100,000 Snow Geese

Eastern Pennsylvania is the eastern boundary for the migration of snow geese. Every spring and fall, millions of them travel from the Arctic to Texas and Mexico to their wintering grounds. They travel in huge flocks, of up to 100,000 birds at a time. Seeing this mass of birds take off at the same time is quite a spectacle:









There is a state wildlife preserve in the Amish country of Pennsylvania called Middle Creek. Every February, thousands of snow geese stage there on their way north. This is where we caught them:




The week after, the Middle Creek rangers posted their counts: this flock was at estimated 65,000 geese.






We weren't the only ones there. The place was full on tourists and photographers, even early in the morning:


Even the local Amish made their way to see this spectacle.


All of us where trying to catch this moment, when all 65,000 birds take off as one at the same time at sunrise:

Once the sun rises, the geese migrate to the neighboring fields to feed:










Approximately 5% of snow geese are not white, but dark - they are called "blue morphs", and they mostly occur in these eastern US flocks. (The bird in the back is a juvenile.)


And here is a classic, individual snow goose:




Along with the snow geese, the lake held 5,000+ tundra swans. They are our smallest swans, but they are still bigger than any goose. They winter and summer on the same grounds as the geese, though.

Costa Rica - Night Life

One of the more interesting tours I took in Costa Rica was a night jungle tour. It began right at sunset.



A toucan tree:






This is a Common Agouti. Although it looks like a rodent, it's closest relatives are actually bunnies and hares.


Tree salamanders mating:


The night tour kicked into high gear when the sun went fully down. When we were in the parking lot of the jungle park, someone yelled that a sloth has been spotted inside. I cracked a joke that since it's a sloth, we don't have to rush. But boy was I mistaken. These things can really move when they want to. By the time we got there, it was making its way up a tree:




Another denizen of the night - a tarantula. It is actually blind, but it responds to vibrations on the ground:


We also saw a venomous viper:


This is an insect - but pretty well camouflaged as a leaf!


Inside the jungle of Carara National Park, we saw some bats. This is the white ghost bat:


This is a different one, but found in the same park:


These bats were pretty well hidden on the tree bark:


The next set of pictures were taken at The Bat Jungle exhibit near Monteverde:










After a night tour, time for dinner! What better place than a restaurant inside a canopy of a huge tree: