Yellow-crowned night heron and little blue heron

I am not positive, but I believe that the bird on the lower left is a yellow-crowned night heron. I make that identification based on the pattern of the black and white plumage on its head, plus its gray color, size and habitat. The yellow-crowned night heron is more often seen during the day than the black-crowned and other night herons, although they are nevertheless still primarily nocturnal.

The bird in the top right of the photo is a little blue heron ("Little" is part of its name, not an adjective added by me.) They winter in Costa Rica, although some non-breeding pairs remain all year.

Both types of herons shown in this photo live in aquatic areas of both coasts of Costa Rica, particularly in mangroves. We have mangroves in the Tamarindo and Langosta estuaries that border Tamarindo on the north and south, although I took this photo in Tortuguero. The presence of two types of birds so close together in one photo illustrates how easy it is to spot birds in Tortuguero National Park.

Both of these herons are typically 61 cm. (24 in.) in length. The scientific name for yellow-crowned night heron nyctanassa violacea, and for the little blue heron is egretta caerulea.

Blue jeans poison dart frog

This strawberry poison dart frog, also called a blue jeans poison dart frog, is one of 7 species of poison dart frogs in Costa Rica. They are poisonous to touch if you have a cut on your hand, but I do not touch them just in case.

They are tiny. Most are only about 2 cm (1 inch) in length, and large ones get to about twice that size.

Poison dart frogs display remarkable parenting behavior for animals other than mammals and birds. Their courtship ritual includes the male calling a mate, then she follows him to a suitable site for laying eggs, usually a moist leafy area. After some foreplay rubbing and touching, the eggs are laid and fertilized. This rather typical frog behavior is followed by something very unusual.

Either the male or female stays with the eggs to guard them until they hatch into tadpoles. The parent will then pick up the tadpoles and carry them on his or her back up a tree and deposit the tadpoles in the little pools of rain water that gathers in the the central areas of bromeliad plants. Even more amazing, the female frog will return to the tiny puddles of rain water and deposit unfertilized eggs for the tadpoles to eat.

How many amphibians or reptiles care for their young with such devotion? Even the fathers are involved. One difference between the fathers and mothers is that when they carry the baby tadpoles up the trees to the bromeliad sisterns, make frogs will carry up to 6 tadpoles at a time, but mothers will carry only 1 or 2 at a time. I guess the males must have better upper body strength from all those years carrying the trash out of the kitchen on trash collection day.

I previously mentioned how Tortuguero gets so much rainfall each year. The rain and humidity are obviously necessary to maintain the supply of water in the little pools in the plants to nurture the tadpoles.

Please excuse the quality of the photos. The forest canopy is thick, so I took the photos in low light and zoomed in, which narrowed the depth of field. The top photo is cropped to enlarge the frog. The second photo shows the full frame. I did not want to get closer and disturb the frog.

I will show another poison dart frog in a few days.

Downtown Tortuguero

This is downtown Tortuguero. The main boat landing is just to the left, and this park with giant, colorful bird statues greets visitors. There are a few tourist shops, restaurants and places to stay, although most people come to Tortuguero to see the wildlife, not the town.

This festive atmosphere is a very different greeting than people would have received in the early days of Tortuguero. Tortuguero was originally a hangout for pirates working the Caribbean. It was a good location for two reasons. First, it is very isolated, accessible only by water, with very few people in the area.

Second, Tortuguero was a supply point for pirates because the local population would sell the giant sea turtles to the pirates for food on their sea voyages. Tortuguero even gets its name from that historic role, as Tortuguero means "turtle seller."

Turtles are still the foundation of the economy in Tortuguero, only today it is tourism by people coming to the area for wildlife, particularly the giant sea turtles, that supports the livelihood of the people.

The conservation of the area was spearheaded by Archie Carr, a Costa Rican conservation activist in the 1950's who brought attention to the fact that sea turtles were nearly extinct. His efforts led to the establishment of Tortuguero National Park and the Caribbean Conservation Corps.

The Caribbean Conservation Corps has a visitor center on the north end of Tortuguero town, and it continues to carry out conservation work to protect the sea turtles and other wildlife. And tomorrow, we will return to wildlife, with a post about a poisonous animal with an amazing life cycle.

Tortuguero church

This is a church in the very small town of Tortuguero. This captures the Caribbean culture of the area, with tall palms and the distinctive architectural touches on this small church.

The Caribbean coast has a Jamaican-influenced culture, as many of the residents are decendents of people who came from Jamaica to build the railroad to the Caribbean coast in the late 1800's. You can see the influences of that culture in the roofline of this church.

Caribbean beach sand

During the past two days I showed views of the Caribbean beach, which had a grayish hue as the sand merged with the waves and spray of the ocean. Here is a closer view of the sand. I like both the color and pattern of the sand and, of course, the sound of the waves that bring the sand and create the patterns.

In Tamarindo on the Pacific coast our sand is a light tan, as I have shown in the past.

Next, I will show a few photos of the town of Tortuguero, followed by some photos of poisonous animals in the jungle.

Caribbean beach 2

Yesterday I showed a view up the Caribbean beach shoreline. One reader, Brattcatt, who frequently notices and leaves insightful comments about the details in my photos, left a comment yesterday asking about the debris that she could see on the beach. I therefore decided to post this picture. The beach debris consists of logs, branches sticks, palm fronds, and whatever else washes up from the ocean.

Tortuguero is an area of dense vegetation. Therefore there is a lot of vegetation that drops off trees, or trees that fall into the water and are carried out to sea and then wash up on the shore.

There is not much litter on the beach because very few people live in the northeastern corner of Costa Rica. Much of the coastline is protected as a national park. The area can be reached only by boat or small plane. There are no roads leading into or out of Tortuguero because it would be simply too expensive and impractical to build bridges over the honeycomb maze of rivers and canals.

Although there are few people to generate trash, there are also few people to pick up trash. Whatever might be floating in the ocean and washes up on shore will tend to stay there.

This raises the subject of litter, so I will address that now. Although Costa Rica has an amazing environmental ethic and has set aside more of its land for national parks and nature preserves than any other country -- 25% -- it does have a problem with roadside trash. The popular culture of preserving land for wildlife has not extended enough into keeping towns, villages, and roadsides clear of litter. There are efforts to improve that, however, and some communities, including Tamarindo, have had community clean-up and recycling days to remove litter.

In Tamarindo and Playa Langosta where we have our condos on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, our beaches are clean and we do not have aproblem with litter or debris washing up on the beach. In fact, Playa Langosta has maintained the coveted Blue Flag certification for passing the highest international standards for cleanliness of the beach and water.

Caribbean beach

This is a view of the Caribbean coast at Tortuguero. As I mentioned previously, the coastline is protected as part of the national park in order to provide a nesting site for sea turtles.

My guidebook states that visitation to the Tortuguero area did not really begin until the 1970's, when construction of a canal allowed passage to the area in small boats on inland waterways. Prior the inland water route, it was difficult to reach the area by boat because the sea in this area is rather rough and there is a lack of a natural harbor along the beach, as you can see in this photo.

This photo also illustrates the high humidity of the area. You can see that the mist from the ocean spray lingers in the air. This is a contrast to our coast on the Pacific side of Costa Rica, which has less humidity.

Opening a coconut

Tortuguero is on the Caribbean coast, and Costa Rica is tropical, of course, so that means that there are lots of coconut palm trees. This gentleman used a machete to slice open a coconut for us.

This occurred on the grounds of a research and conservation center for sea turtles that is on the narrow strip of land just along the beach. Costa Rica attracts environmentalists and students from around the world who come to study the plant and animal life and the potential effects of global climate change and other environmental subjects.

On our first trip to Costa Rica, when we toured around to various parts of the country, we repeatedly encountered young people from the USA and Europe who were in Costa Rica to study environmental topics or to work at various conservation projects. My wife made the comment that Costa Rica today is a magnet for young environmentalists in a manner similar to Paris of the early 20th century having been a magnet for artists and writers from around the world.

One of the young environmentalists attracted to Costa Rica is my niece. She spent one summer in college in Costa Rica, which was a perfect location because she was a biology major with a Spanish minor. The went to the sea turtle conservation center in Tortuguero for three days. She later obtained a Watson Fellowship, established by the former Chairman of IBM, which funds a very select group of college graduates to spend one year studying an environmental topic in parts of the world they had never been to previously.

She developed a program to study sea turtles and the effects of conservation and ecotourism on the people and communities near sea turtle populations. She wanted to go back to Tortuguero as one of the sites for her research but could not do so because she had been already been there for three days. So, she made the arrangements and set up a program for herself to work and do research for 3 months on Cayman, then 3 months in South Africa, 3 months in Australia, and 3 months in Panama. A nice gig, don't you think?

My niece has followed up her sea turtle studies during her fellowship by pursuing a Ph.D. in Marine Biology at the University of California at Santa Barbara. We are obviously very proud of her (and I neglected to mention that she was a star on her Bowdoin College varsity ice hockey team, but I imagine it is hard to keep up her ice hockey skills while studying tropical marine biology).

Room at the Tortuga Lodge

This was our room at the Tortuga Lodge. I took this photo to show the proximity of the room to the outdoors, as you can see the river outside.

The most remarkable feature of the room is that it did not have any windows! The walls on three sides were screens without any glass. There were shades for privacy, and the fourth wall was and interior wall for the bathroom.

There was a large overhanging roof so that the rain did not come in the windows. We had a second floor unit.

With only screens separating the unit from the outdoors, you can imagine that part of the experience is the exposure to the sounds of the jungle at night. Besides the birds, every morning we heard a pack of howler monkeys move through the area. It was amazing. They emit a low guttural sound that is incredibly loud.

A single howler monkey makes a howl that has been measured at 89 decibels. A train whistle at 500 feet (152 m.) is 90 decibels. You can imagine the tremendous sound of a whole pack of howlers.

During the next few days I will take you to the Caribbean beach at Tortuguero, then I will show some photos of poisonous animals that we saw.

Tortuga Lodge pool

This is the pool and a lounge at the Tortuga Lodge. The pool provides a nice place for a dip in the water too cool off if visitors have been out in the jungle on a warm, humid day. You would not expect to see resort amenities like this in a location as remote as Tortuguero.

There was little travel to Tortuguero until the 1970s. In the late 1960s a canal was dug to connect Tortuguero and other coastal areas with the town of Moin, just outside the largest town in the area, Puerto Limon. The canal is 113 km. (70 miles) that links various rivers, lagoons and waterways in the coastal areas. Before the canal, travel to the area was difficult because the maze of rivers and lagoons prevented the construction of roads into the area. The Caribbean coast in the region lacks natural harbors and has strong surf, so there was not convenient access by boat.

With the canal, visitors to the area are brought in by boats operated by the various lodges. The Tortuga Lodge is a leading place to stay for visitors who want to enjoy the wildlife in the area or who want to go sports fishing in the Caribbean. The Lodge has a very good restaurant and comfortable amenities that you would not expect to find in the jungle.

Tomorrow, I will show you what the rooms look like, and explain why the howler monkeys who roamed through the area a daybreak would provide nature's alarm clock.

Howler monkeys in trees

The top photo today is a howler monkey frolicking in the trees in Tortuguero. As we floated on the waterways, we were able to observe several groups of howler monkeys eating, or swinging from tree to tree.

The top photo is a typical vantage point for watching howlers. They present a challenge to photograph because usually they are seen when you are pointing the camera upward into a light sky background, and the monkeys, of course, are very dark. That produces a result like the first photo above.

To give you a better appreciation of howlers, I am posting the second photo of a howler up close. My wife took this photo while on a raft, although this was not taken in Tortuguero.

Howlers are appropriately named because they make an amazing noise. They travel in groups of about 6 in number, and the deep hoots or howls of a group can be heard a mile (1.6 km) away.

We had an unforgettable experience with howler monkeys in Tortoguero. Our room at the Tortuga Inn had screens for walls, as I will show in a few days. Each morning we had a group of howlers come by close to the room. It sounded as loud as a freight train coming through.

Turtle

Tortuguero is best known as the most important nesting site for sea turtles in all of the Caribbean. We did not see any sea turtles, as they are typically viewed either in the ocean or at night while waiting on the beach for turtles to come ashore to lay eggs, or waiting for the eggs to hatch and the hatchlings to make it down the beach to the water.

Although I could not show a photo of a sea turtle, I am showing a photo of one of the freshwater turtles that we saw during our tour of the backwaters of the rivers and canals of Tortuguero Naitonal Park. This is a black river turtle, also called a black wood turtle. They are 32 cm. (12 in.) in length. They are locally called tortuga del rio negra, and their scientific name is rhinoclemmys funerea.

Costa Rica has sea turtles and fresh water tutles, but not any land turtles. The fresh water turtles such as this one change their diet during their lives. When young, they eat insects and fish. As they get older, they prefer plants. They will walk on land when foraging for food, and of course lay their eggs on land. The turtles are protected from predators by their shell, except from crocodiles, who will eat them whole.

Although Tortuguero is located on the far side of Costa Rica from Tamarindo, it shares with Tamarindo the status of being an important nesting site for sea turtles. Playa Grande, located next to Tamarindo, is the most important nesting site in the Pacific for leatherback turtles. Their nesting site is preserved as part of Las Baulas National Marine Park, and the government and conservationists try to prevent nearby landowners from developing their property because lights visible from the beach can interfere with baby turtle hatchlings finding the ocean because they may mistake the lights for the moon and lose their bearings.

The park rangers in both Tamarindo and Tortuguero lead groups of visitors on night walks and stake-outs on the beach to try to see turtles laying their eggs while keeping the visitors at a safe distance where they can see the turtles, but not interfere with them.

Caiman

This is a close up of a caiman. Caiman are similar to crocodiles, only smaller. They are only about 2.5 meters (8 ft.) in length. They are not as aggressive as crocodiles and are generally considered not to be a threat to people. You will also notice that they do not have as large a set of teeth as crocodiles, and they do not have the the large tooth that protrudes upward from the lower jaw about 4 teeth back from the tip of its mouth.

Caiman are common in Tortuguero. On our boat ride meandering through the backwaters of Tortuguero, we saw more than 10 caiman in three different locations within the span of about an hour.

We saw some children swimming in the main river at the town of Tortuguero. Although that was not in the narrrow waters within the park where we saw the caiman, that would still be too close for my comfort.

Juvenile snowy egret

This juvenile snowy egret is one of the many water birds that can be viewed at close range while gliding through the rivers and wetlands of Tortuguero National Park. There are 309 different species of birds in the park.

This photo shows the difference between a juvenile snowy egret and an adult. Juveniles have a yellowish green color on the back of their legs, and that coloration is visible in this photo, if the photo is enlarged by clicking on it.

Snowy egrets are medium sized for egrets, with a height of 64 cm. (25 in.) and a wingspan of 1 meter (39 in.). They are known locally at garceta nivosa. Their scientific name is egretta thula.

Snowy egrets are found in the coastal lowlands of both the Caribbean coast, where Tortuguero is located, and the Pacific coast, where Tamarindo is located. The climate of the two coasts is quite different. I talked about the huge amounts of rainfall in Tortuguero yesterday. In Tamarindo on the northwest Pacific coast, we have dry sunny weather much of the year.

Tortuguero: "Nature's Venice"

Tortuguero is sometimes called "Nature's Venice." It is a maze of rivers, canals, lagoons, and tidal wetlands. The area gets 5,000 - 6,000 mm. (196 - 236 inches) of rain per year.

You can see from these photos why it is necessary to take a boat to float through the jungle to see wildlife, as it would be impossible to walk far amidst such wetlands.

It is very helpful to be escorted by a guide, as they are expert at seeing wildlife that you might miss, and they are very knowledgeable. Also, they know their way back after cruising around in the maze of waterways, which do not have street signs, of course, and leaving a trail of bread crumbs would not help one navigate your way back.

My wife asked our guide what was the most dangerous thing that has happened to him in the jungle. He said that once he was in an area of the waterways from which there was only one canal in and the same canal out. When it was time to head back at the end of the afternoon, a large tree had fallen across the canal completely blocking any passage.

He thought about whether he would have to spend the night in the jungle with a boat load of tourists. He probably would have been most afraid of the tourists. Fortunately, he was able to radio for help and the park rangers sent out another boat to retrieve everyone.

Happy St. Patrick's Day. What could be greener than the tropical vegetation of Tortuguero?

Tortuguero National Park entrance

This is the entrance to Tortuguero National Park. Most visitors arrive and tour the park wetlands by boat, as the hiking trails do not cross the maze of rivers and canals. That is why the park entrance booth faces the water.

Parque Nacional Tortuguero is 190 sq. km., or 73 sq. miles. It also includes a marine protected area that extends 22.5 km (14 miles) out to sea, and 39.5 km (19 miles) of shore line are protected.

As reflected by the painting on the front of the rustic park entrance, there are manatees in the area. There are also howler monkeys, spider monkeys, white-faced capuchin monkeys, jaguars, ocelots, tapirs, caiman, 309 species of birds, and 60 species of frogs!

The manatee population in the park is stable, and perhaps increasing, despite the fact that they are a threatened species. Manatees are sometimes called a sea cow, and they are like a walrus without tusks. They are 3.7 meters (12 ft.) long, and weigh 1 ton (907 kg.).

Manatees are rarely seen because they spend most of their time under water, and they prefer the lagoons in the west end of the park, whereas most visitors spend more time in the waterways closer to the coast. My National Geographic guide book for Costa Rica says that the best way to tell that there are manatees is to watch for bubbles floating up, and the book goes on to explain that the bubbles are a byproduct of the aquatic plants that the manatees eat.

One of the more unusual animals in the park is called the greater, fishing, or bulldog bat (Noctilio leporinus). It is a large bat that swoops over the water and catches fish with its finger and toe nails. We did not see one, but we did see, and I will show you in the days ahead caiman, examples of the abundant birds, a poison dart frog and eyelash pit viper.

Tortuga Lodge in Tortuguero

The question may arise, where can one stay in a jungle surrounded by a maze of rivers and tidal wetlands? An excellent answer is the Tortuga Lodge. How does one reach the Tortuga Lodge? The answer is only by boat.

The Tortuga Lodge is surrounded by jungle, but it includes resort amenities, such as a very good restaurant and a swimming pool. I will show a photo in a few days of the swimming pool area and will also show a photo of our room, which was unlike your typical hotel room, but, most importantly, successful in keeping outside everything that should remain outside. But first, I will take you out on a boat excursion into the jungle.

The Tortuga Lodge has a fleet of boats lined up in front like taxis at a cab stand in front of a hotel. Guides will take visitors on boat trips into the maze of rivers, canals and tidal wetlands to look at wildlife close up in the jungle.

The Tortuga Lodge is only a short boat ride from the town of Tortuguero, which is very small, and it is close to the little airstrip. Across the river from Tortuga Lodge is the narrow strip of land that forms the Caribbean shoreline with a beach that is the most important nesting site in the Americas for the green turtle. I will show the beach in a week or so as well.

Tortuguero from the air

These two photos show Tortuguero from the air. I thought they would give a good orientation to the area. Tortuguero is in the northeastern part of the country, on the Caribbean coast, near the Nicaraguan border. You can see the Caribbean Sea in both of these photos.

Tortuguero National Park and the adjacent Barra del Coronado National Wildlife Refuge preserve the coastal low land jungle and provides a habitat for many animals, especially birds. The area is dominated by rivers and canals that separate the low land jungle areas. There are so many rivers and canals that the only way to reach Tortuguero is by small plane or by boat. There are no roads into Tortuguero.

The top photo shows the narrow strip of land where the town of Tortuguero is located. Across the river is part of the national park. From the town of Tortuguero or from some of the lodges, visitors can take boat excursions into the jungle.

In upcoming posts during the coming week, I will show you some of the animals, the lodge, and the Caribbean beach, which is an important nesting site for sea turtles. The animals I will show include one of the deadliest snakes in the jungle.

Whitewater rafting

Whitewater rafting is a very popular activity in Costa Rica. The abundant rainfall in the mountains and the high changes in elevation over a relatively small territory produces ideal conditions for whitewater rafting.

Costa Rica has a well developed infrastructure for tourism because tourism is its number one industry. Whitewater rafting tour operators are regulated by the government and conform to international standards, including requirements that people wear helmets, as you see in this photo.

Ecotourism and adventure tourism are part of the attraction of Costa Rica for many visitors. Whitewater rafting and zip lines are two of the many options in Costa Rica for tourists who like adrenaline rushes to spice up their vacations.

There are good rivers for rafting in most regions of Costa Rica, except the tidal lowlands of the Caribbean coast, where we will go next for the photos that I will post in the next week or so.

This photo is of a group of rafters that included four people who stayed in one of our two condos in Tamarindo. I am showing the photo with their permission. They chose a river in the Arenal area for their rafting excursion.

Tree fern in a shaft of light

I liked the way this fern in the forest caught the light in a way that makes it appear that it is floating in air. Ferns are common in Costa Rica, and this is one of the more common types of ferns.

Ferns are distinguished from other plants by the fact that they do not produce seeds, flowers or fruit, but they are vascular plants with tissues strong enough to grow upward and erect. They are therefore a bridge between lower life form plants and more developed plants.

Without seeds, flowers or fruit, they reproduce by producing and releasing spores. That is the method of reproduction of plants such as mosses. Yet ferns grow trunk, branch and leaf structures capable of supporting themselves and carrying water and nutrients from the soil to distant leaves. Indeed, in Costa Rica some ferns grow as large as trees.

The fern shown in this photo is, I believe, commonly referred to as a tree fern, which has the scientific name of cyathea multiflora, which is also called helechos aborescente. It grows from sea level to as high as 2,100 meters (6,900 ft.) in damp forests.

Tomorrow I will show you a sample of a popular, adrenaline-rush tourist activity that I have not previously shown on this website, and then we will go on a field trip to the northeastern Caribbean coastal area of Tortuguero.