We saw a bunch of trogons at Lalo Loor. I think this one is a northern violaceous trogon (Trogon caligatus). All trogons (or maybe just all male trogons, and some of the females) have brilliant colors. They´re fun to watch as they perch, slowly cock their heads, and check out their surroundings.
JP knew how to handle tarantulas, and kept this one calm enough so that he could turn it over and show us its fangs. I definitely don´t recommend trying this, and probably wouldn´t attempt it myself!
This turniptail gecko got out of the bag when we were trying to release it and jumped on Miles´ head. The numerous tiny folds on its toes allow it to stick to just about any surface, including Miles´ baseball cap.
The iguanas at Punta Prieta liked to hang out in the plants near the buildings of the resort. I really liked the vibrant colors on this juvenile iguana (Iguana iguana).
A pair of laughing falcons roosted near the trail to the cabin at Lalo Loor. They would make their laughing call whenever they caught something, which was a signal to us to run over with our cameras. The laughing falcon in this photo is holding a large snake. We weren´t able to identify any of the snakes they caught.
Another photo of the brown vine snake, acting aggressive because it felt threatened.
This brown vine snake was quite the biter, but I never handled him, so I didn´t have to experience that!
This large bird-eating tarantula was very gentle and graceful as it explored my shirt. I bought this awesome shirt at a mall in Ecuador. I´m not sure if you can see this, but the top of the shirt reads "University" and the middle says "Property of City Jail" and below that "Amsterdam". It´s so random and unrelated, I love it! I think the middle symbol is supposed to be like the Abercrombie and Fitch logo.
Me with the tarantula as a brooch.
This cute long-furred wooly mouse opossum came into our cabin and ran through our rooms. I love his black eye rings and cute ears.
Leptodaira septentionalis, a juvenile cat-eyed snake I found.
Lubber grasshopper, sitting on my field guide.
I´ve labelled all those photos, and eventually I will get around to labelling all my photos on the blog!
Magnificent frigatebirds (Fregata magnificens) in flight.
Miles and I saw this mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) on one of our morning birding trips. The howler monkeys also liked to stay near the cabin, and we were woken up numerous mornings to the sound of their calls.
I think this is a centipede, hanging out on the underside of a trunk.
Miles holding a tarantula.
Name sign for the Galapagos tortoise at the beach resort.
This is the communal web of the neotropical colonial spider. Each spider defends and feeds from its own section of the web. At first, I thought they were baby spiders. But they are full grown, and can build really large webs that covered large sections of the trail.
This forest dragon (Enyaloides microlepsis) was my first major find at Lalo Loor. I found him sleeping on a branch. They are also known as red-eyed dwarf iguanas, but I prefer the name forest dragon.
Here´s a better look at the orange dewlap on the Anolis bitectus.
I got some great photos of this brown vine snake (Oxybelis aeneus) because it was aggressive and acted like it wanted to strike us or our cameras. It puffed up and opened its mouth to try to make itself look bigger.
Paul with tarantula on his face.
JP saw this pauraque (Nyctidromis albicollis) nesting on the ground, protecting one small egg.
View from the north beach at Punta Prieta.
View from the beach at Punta Prieta.
We found this common bird snake (Pseustes shropshirei) resting near our cabin at Lalo Loor. It was really pretty and large, and aggressive when provoked.
Here´s the bird snake rearing up and striking. I stayed far away when it was aggressive, and only handled it when it was more calm. It got bored of us quickly and stopped striking when it realized it wasn´t making any progress and that we weren´t really going to eat it.
The building on the edge of the cliff is the restaurant of Punta Prieta, which had stunning views of the ocean and magnificent frigatebirds.
Motmots are known for their long, racket tail feathers. This feather is from a blue-crowned motmot.
Rainbow on the beach at Punta Prieta.
Another photo of the striking bird snake. You can see how high it could lift itself off the ground.
I don´t know what the common name is of this frog, a Scinax quinquefasciata. It´s from the treefrog family (Hyla).
JP with the whip scorpion on his face.
This is what happens when herpetologists get bored in the field. JP and Paul had fun putting strange animals on their faces. I refused to do that, although I did let the tarantula crawl over me. JP decided to find something non-venomous to put on my face, so he suggested this snail. I thought that was just too gross, but JP didn´t mind the slime. It´s like an episode of Fear Factor! Actually, I´ve never seen that show, so I don´t know what they use.
We found this mystery snake near Jamas, but were unable to identify it. I really liked this snake, it was so graceful and calm and didn´t seem to mind being handled. Maybe it was a new species!
A more natural shot of the mystery snake.
This snowy throated kingbird liked perching near the restaurant at the beach resort.
Stick grasshoppers, like the one in this picture, look like Ents (from the Lord of the Rings) when you look at them close up. They have funny little faces.
I loved the colors on this leaf lizard (Stenocercus iridescens). They were pretty common at Lalo Loor.
The pink, yellow, and blue on the underside of this lizard were really bright; I´m not sure if this photo really shows that.
Another picture of the sleeping Galapagos tortoise.
I liked the red and black pattern on the abdomen of this tarantula. It makes it look extra fierce!
I saw this sleeping Galapagos tortoise, Geoche lonehoodensis, at our beach resort. He was pretty friendly when he was awake. I´m excited about seeing the real thing and visiting the Galapagos tortoise breeding center when I go to the Galapagos next month!
I like the way this frog, a Jordan´s casque-headed treefrog (Tetraprion jordani) seems to be looking directly into the camera. The skin on his head is co-ossified to his skull, which makes it really bony and protects him from predators. Or maybe drying out. I can´t remember which =)
These turniptail geckos (Thecadactylus rapicaudata), liked to hang out on the trunk of the banana trees.
Here´s a view from the Pacific Trail at Lalo Loor.
This whiptail scorpion is actually not a scorpion, but a member of the Arachnid family (same family as spiders). I don´t think it was venomous.
You can´t really tell in this photo, but this wolf spider is carrying lots of tiny baby spiders on her back.
The nest of this black vulture (Coragyps atratus) was in the base of a tree. The mother let us get pretty close to the hatchlings, but then flew out of the tree the next day when we passed by.
This anole, Anolis bitectus, had a large orange dewlap (flap under its chin used to attract females during breeding season).
We saw a bunch of trogons at Lalo Loor. I think this one is a northern violaceous trogon (Trogon caligatus). All trogons (or maybe just all male trogons, and some of the females) have brilliant colors. They´re fun to watch as they perch, slowly cock their heads, and check out their surroundings.
JP knew how to handle tarantulas, and kept this one calm enough so that he could turn it over and show us its fangs. I definitely don´t recommend trying this, and probably wouldn´t attempt it myself!
The iguanas at Punta Prieta liked to hang out in the plants near the buildings of the resort. I really liked the vibrant colors on this juvenile iguana (Iguana iguana).
A pair of laughing falcons roosted near the trail to the cabin at Lalo Loor. They would make their laughing call whenever they caught something, which was a signal to us to run over with our cameras. The laughing falcon in this photo is holding a large snake. We weren´t able to identify any of the snakes they caught.
Another photo of the brown vine snake, acting aggressive because it felt threatened.
This brown vine snake was quite the biter, but I never handled him, so I didn´t have to experience that!
This large bird-eating tarantula was very gentle and graceful as it explored my shirt. I bought this awesome shirt at a mall in Ecuador. I´m not sure if you can see this, but the top of the shirt reads "University" and the middle says "Property of City Jail" and below that "Amsterdam". It´s so random and unrelated, I love it! I think the middle symbol is supposed to be like the Abercrombie and Fitch logo.
