A Striated Salamander has no lungs. It breathes through its skin. It has also been called a mushroom tongued salamander and a Cukra climbing salamander. This salamander was found during the night in North Central Costa Rica. In a humid, cool, tropical forest near Arenal volcano. It must live in moist area’s to survive as it
A Fire-bellied snake found on the ground at 1,300 feet during the hike to Rio Celeste. We were sure this snake was a racer. The speed at which it crossed our path, the dull gray color from above and its general shape all pointed to a racer. But after a bit of research it seems
An Annulated Tree Boa found in the humid, tropical, lowland rain forest of Costa Rica. Annulated Boa’s are rarely seen by humans due to the fact that they live high in the treetops (arboreal) and are active mainly at night (nocturnal). They have a strong prehensile tail which allows them to support themselves on a nearby
A collection of our Rain Forest Hog Nosed Pit Viper images. These different snakes have all been collected here on our property. We started collecting them for photographing in 2011. Some general characteristics are: Rain forest hog nosed pit vipers don’t care to be bothered. We have come upon every one of these and their
A juvenile boa constrictor found on the ground in an area heavily visited by jungle mice. The jungle environment is a smorgasbord of food for boa constrictors. They kill by constriction which is really just giving an animal a big hug. Boas eat large mammals such as ocelots, deer, coati and small mammals such as bats,
Four Racer Snakes in Costa Rica from the Colubridae family, all found on the Caribbean slope. Racers are widely known to be eaters of frogs. They live where the frogs live, which is along riverbanks and creek beds. The racers are diurnal because so are frogs. All snakes in the Colubridae family have nine symmetrical
A Pauraque or Nightjar is a uniquely patterned bird found from Southern Texas to South America. This fledgling sat virtually unnoticed on the ground due to its incredible camouflage. If you live in an area that the Common Pauraque inhabits you know it as the “get the hell out of the road” bird. The Pauraque, pronounced
Glass Frogs have translucent skin so you can see their intestines and bones. To find a Glass Frog you must be out at night and searching along a stream with vegetation on the banks. Your best bet for finding one of these see through creatures is listening for the call, which is a high-pitched chirp. A male glass frog chooses a leaf that
The young or juvenile green iguana aka common iguana was found on our small farm in Matina Limon. The larger iguana is a resident of Selva Verde Lodge in Chilimate, CR. The Iguana iguana is a herbivore that lives in the trees. Adults are only seen on the ground when no path exists above or the females are laying
Three hummingbirds that inhabit the Central Valley of Costa Rica A trip to the Central Valley proved fruitful in the hummingbird department. We were at La Paz Waterfall Gardens to take family photos for a client there on vacation. The La Paz staff invited us to stay as long as we’d like and gave us
Barely noticeable in the leaf litter this frog of only 2 centimeters jumps from one hiding place to another. His stripes are thought to be designed to keep predators away but it doesn’t seem to make him any less cautious. After all he is just one cow hoof away from death by mud inhalation. The striped
The Turnip-tail Gecko (Thecadactylus rapicauda) is the largest gecko in Costa Rica. The Turnip-tail gecko is nocturnal and lives in trees as high as 100 feet. This gecko’s diet consists mainly of cockroaches. It derives its name from the obvious fact that the tail is fat towards the end and thinner next to it’s body,
I spotted a new three toed baby sloth yesterday. Read about its family tree. I take the dogs for a walk on the farm twice a day. It gives me a chance to inspect the land, make sure that the gate is shut and say hello to all of the birds and animals. If I am
The Cahuita National Park is the Caribbean Coast’s Best National Park The white sand beaches, palm tree canopies and well maintained jungle trail are a must for every traveler looking for the best that Costa Rica has to offer. Cahuita National Park is 45 minutes South from the Port City of Limon and a quick
This small and slender, non-venomous snake makes its home in the province of Limon, Costa Rica at approximately 150 feet or 50 meters above sea level. The Sock Headed Snake also known as the White Headed Snake was found under leaf litter in our agricultural area. This snake was very close to a small hole
A Cloudy Snail Eater and a Lichen-colored Snail Eater Snake found in Limon Costa Rica We found this average sized snail eater while taking down our bamboo passion fruit trellis. He was lodged in one of the corners about 7-8 feet off of the ground. That let us know that this is an adult snake
Photographing the Banded Calico Snake The Banded Calico Snake or Gargantilla falsa as it is known in Costa Rica was a very interesting snake to photograph. She didn’t strike at us or give us trouble but she was a lot to handle because the nature of the Banded Calico snake is to be terrestrial and
Images of a Red Eyed Tree Frog found in Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica. Tree frogs all have adhesive disks and webbing between their fingers and toes. They all have bulging eyes and can pretty much get as flat as they want. In fact, while photographing these frogs it was difficult to re-position them
Photographing Snakes, how to light the scene, when to shoot and how to stay safe. First a warning, without snake handling experience it is not advisable to handle snakes, especially the venomous ones. Remember to ALWAYS STAY OUT OF STRIKING DISTANCE! Never touch the snake, they are not intelligent creatures. Their behavior is instinct driven, consequently your hand
The Bransford’s Litter Frog (Craugastor bransfordii) with the green eyes was found in September 2012 and the copper eyed one in August 2014 here in San Miguel de Matina, Costa Rica. Our area is wet, humid and has a low elevation which is a natural habitat of both of these frogs. Bransford’s Litter Frog This frog gets
Images and Information on the Giant Red-Winged Grasshopper Adult & Juvenile (Tropidacris Cristada) Wanna see something cool? This adult Giant Red-Winged Grasshopper is 6-7 inches long from antennae to tip. I imagine that its size makes it a very desirable morsel to birds, rodents, etc. They could spend all day catching flies or just eat one of these guys
Why we added Forest Trails to our farm in Costa Rica & Woolly Opossum we found during our walk Our 22 acre farm on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica is the loveliest farm I have ever seen, but my opinion may be tainted by the fact that we created it exactly the way we wanted it.
Three Neotropical Bird Eating Snakes, patterns colors & characteristics This Bird Eating Snake (Psuestes poecilonotus) was found on a farm that raises turkeys and chickens. The environment was perfect for the Bird Eating Snake but not so good for the humans, or the chicks for that matter. The first images show a puffing type of display that gives this
Tanagers Costa Rica – just a sample of the colorful birds found on our farm. Tanager is a very large family of birds. At this moment the grouping is being divided into subsections due to molecular studies that have brought about variations that were unknown previously. I use our books from 2009 and 2010 as identification
Flowers Costa Rica – A sampling of the many flowers we have here in San Miguel. The first plants pictured are considered air plants or Epiphytic plants. They grow on tree branches and collect water in the cone of their leaves. They don’t need soil to live. The small white one is a Dwarf Orchid that grows on
Lime Green Caterpillar in the tropics This lime green caterpillar and 10 of his friends were just about to eat my Anona (custard apple) tree until it looked like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I planted that Anona back in 2009 and have been waiting patiently for it to shower me with fruits. These caterpillars
False Coral Snake Coral Falsa Culebra (Erythrolamprus mimus) This False Coral Snake was crossing Barry’s path as he went to check on a leak in our water source. He was with a Costa Rican that wanted to immediately kill the snake thinking that it was a “real” Coral, which has an extremely deadly poison. Barry told
Red Coffee Snake or Redbacked Coffee Snake The red coffee snake is found as far North as Mexico and South as Costa Rica. It lives under leaf litter and eats slugs, snails and other mollusks. It’s main predators are coral snakes. It can be found in agricultural areas, humid lowland forests and dry savannas, primary
A Tropical Gnatcatcher Bird This is a sad story. I saw what appeared to be a little bird fall from one of our young mango trees. I went to it to see where it came from and to see if we could put it back, but I couldn’t find the nest. I looked in every
Common Tody Flycatcher Bird In order to give guests a better bird watching area in front of the cabins we decided to take down a fairly young lime tree and an old, non-producing orange that were directly in front of the hammocks. The day we intended to do the work Barry had two little yellow