Long Time No See, Mr. Grew A Beard

---

---

Dropped off my friends and met my family today at the airport in San Jose. The last few days at the station were fun, I caught a caiman!!! Casey and John were a big help, thanks a bunch to the both of them for their help in this.

I even got to conduct a 6-day predatory study. It isn't the most detailed work in the world, but at least I got data that I can tinker with. My main study ended with 106 observations and about 33 (I think) morphological measurements. Good enough, I hope, especially since this may very well be my only field season (unless some magical thing happens and I get money for like a winter trip or something...).

Right now we're heading to the Fiesta Resort, near Jaco, Costa Rica on the Pacific ocean coast. Should be a change, my family was never big on the roughing-it/exploring side of things, but it will be nice to relax for a while. It was great to see them again, and they didn't recognize me with the beard haha. My dad broke out laughing and my mom was nuts. Ah, memories.

I showed them all my pictures and they loved it. They said this trip made me more mature and everything. Strange, I feel different too.

PS - Must be the beard.

---

Photos

Finally Something Slower Than Me
Saw this two toed sloth right near the station. Never seen one before, so this was an amazing first.

This is Coffee You Don't Drink
This snake actually reared up and flattened out like a cobra when we unearthed it. After that intial display it calmed down and was easy to handle. Very small too, like a litter snake. It has this color pattern to mimic venomous elapids (like corals and well, cobras too).

More Eggs, Definetly Turtle Eggs This Time
These eggs fit the description of caiman eggs to almost perfection. Length, weight, and width were exact. But a closer examination showed them to be turtle eggs. Just goes to show that science is mere speculation without the research behind it...

The Basilisk Strikes Back
Saw this guy or a similar adult male earlier in my trip here, and now found it again on the roadside. This, along with the eyelash viper, is another first for El Zota. Sweet. I also saw juveniles of these guys down in Cahuita.

Hermit Hummingbird, Where is Your Nest?
These birds make nests under palm leaves, just as pictured. Very cool looking. There were two babies in this one.

The Red-Eye Leaf Frog
This guy was caught by some kids in the primate class. Full grown, it was really neat to see and get photos of. This is my favorite of all the tropical non-dart frogs. Ever.

Crikey! We're Hunting Caiman Tonight!!
Self-explanatory. Although, I should add that at one point I stepped in what I thought was just the sandy bottom, and really was a mass of swamp-like mud and sank in pretty deep. Folks, these are the memories that last a lifetime...

The Caiman Hunters
I dove into the river, John held the flashlight so I didn't lose a hand. The caiman was about 3ft long. It took me a while to get up the nerve, the thing sat there staring at me haha. But I got him, that I did. Next time, it's a 5-footer I'm going for...

The Station, on My Last Day
Had to take a few last minute shots of the station and everything. It was such a great experience, I recommend it to anyone interested in the research life.

The Station, cont'd
The main sign as you enter up the path to the station.

The Road
The road on my last morning, no more hikes, no more observations. Well, at least no more observations for a while haha...

The Last Night On Earth (Or El Zota)
We snuck in beers and snacks into the cabin and had one last night of cerveza fun. It was great.

Comments

[casey]

you call that research
just speculation eh? glad we could look that one up so we know for sure now. :) ps- i heart cerveza