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May 10 Hi Everyone: This morning, Diana, Joey and Kent took a back canal tour with a local naturalist who showed us some of the unique fauna and flora of the Caribbean lowlands, while Dana stayed behind and completed some journal work. The tour began with seeing many forms of Heron. The Tiger-Spotted Heron was very colorful. Next we saw all 3 known species of Toucan. The guide explained that Toucans are actually very aggressive and predacious. As we got further into the backwaters, we came upon a Caiman, (a small alligator relative ).
Top
right: Lizard seen on trail. Louis (Dr. Louis Jacobs, president of the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man at Southern Methodist University) arrived about 11:00ish. We gave him a tour of the Biological Station and the town of Tortuguero, then set off to climb Cerro Tortuguero ( Tortuguero Mountain ). The mountain appears to be the remains of a small volcanic event which has since eroded and is now covered in a brick-like soil called Laterite. The mountain supports dense vegetation. As you climb the steep slope, huge trees covered in large epiphytes, ( things like philodendron ), sway like drunken monoliths poking through the rain forest canopy. We reached the summit and enjoyed a view of the entire Tortuguero rain forest system and all enjoyed a cool drink of water.
On our decent back down the mountain, we ran into a troop of Mantled Howler Monkeys that seemed to enjoy Kent's rendition of a Howler Monkey call. As we were chatting with the monkeys Louis got bitten by an ant the size of a small car…oops Louis says it was 2 bites. We caught our boat ride back to the Station and had a nice dinner and we are up tomorrow at 4:00am for a very long day. Dana and Diana are walking the beach from mile 15 to the station, Joey is heading home and Louis and I are walking from the station to meet the Turtle Girls half way. Pura vida! |
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The
best the guide saved for last: we got in very close with a troop of
White-faced Monkeys that were as curious about us as we were about them.
As we floated through the back canals of the Rio Tortuguero system,
we realized that we were in an incredible ecosystem that seemed to go
on endlessly, a sight very rarely seen anyplace else on Earth.
