Passing through Phoenix

 On our way to Costa Rica, we wound up with a flight change that left us with about 30 hours to cool our heels in Phoenix, Arizona on the way down and again on the way back. Rather than pout in an airport hotel, we were delighted to find that the area around the airport is both surprisingly walkable and full of neat places to go. Our first destination was the Pueblo Grande Museum, which had a nice series of displays and walking trails about the first nations people of the area.

 There was also the Desert Botanical Garden, which offered a wide range of cacti, butterfly gardens, other flowers/plants, and a nice place to have lunch. I was very taken with the size of the saguaro cacti and thoroughly enjoyed seeing them all over the place. My one regret was leaving my fisheye lens in the hotel for our all-day walk so that I didn't have the chance to get a nice spherical planet of these enormous plants.

Hole-in-the-Rock is a neat geological formation that you can walk up and climb through, so we managed to fit that in on our way back to the hotel. The Hohokam (resident first nations) had used this spot as a means of tracking the seasons, and a site at the Pueblo Grande Museum was where light shining through this hole would be observed during solstices or equinoxes.

Spectacled Caimans

 Caimans were the second and smaller crocodilian we saw in Costa Rica, with the males being up to 6ft long and the females being somewhat smaller. Their diet consists of invertebrates and fish with a few pigs thrown in for the larger adults. Like many of their Family, they have mastered the art of patiently floating along and trying to look as much like a log as they can to any short-sighted prey.

 We saw a few baby animals as well as the larger adults. The babies tend to stay closer to the edge of the water and tuck in among the grasses. The young are interesting in that the temperature of their nest will determine their gender upon hatching, with warmer temperatures producing females and lower temperatures producing males. While we (falsely) think of reptiles as laying their eggs and then abandoning them, caiman mothers will not only raise their own young, but are known to cooperatively babysit for one another.

 While not as outright terrifyingly huge as the American crocodiles were, Caimans are still pretty impressive reptiles and pack more than a little dinosaur quality to their appearance. We were never in any danger from these creatures, but there was one night walk where the lodge kept caimans on the grounds and we could hear one consistently moving towards us from the darkness.

Vulture Variations

 Costa Rica has vultures the way cities have pigeons: they are practically everywhere you go. Unlike pigeons, which we typically lump all together as "winged rats," there are 3 distinct vulture species in Costa Rica and we were lucky enough to see them all. Turkey vultures are the same species we have here in Canada. They hang in the air with a distinctive "V" shape to their bodies and search for their food by smell and sight.

 In contrast, black vultures (which we do not get in Canada, but which are also found in the southern USA) hunt entirely by sight. To help them spot prey, they fly higher than turkey vultures, and will often rely on their motions, or those of predators, to help them locate a meal.

 King vultures are the largest of all (except for condors) and fly the highest. We saw them twice and Kathryn was very good at spotting their distinctive white fronts (compared to the turkey vulture, they have the inverse colour pattern). They typically fly highest of all the vultures and often rely on both other species to locate kills. Despite their enormous beaks, they rely on other birds to open up a carcass and then use their larger size to drive the others away.

Forest Mammal Grab-Bag

The forest is home to many small mammals, some of which are very cautious and rare while others are quite inquisitive and common. White-nosed coatis were a common sighting across the country and always a delight. These relatives of the raccoon often occur in large social groups of females and young, while adult males tend to be solitary. They are quite bold around people and climb trees on occasion, which helps make them easier to photograph.

 Central American Agoutis are one of 11 members of a family of large guinea pig-like rodents about the size of a rabbit. They are fairly common sights and frequently grazed on hotel grounds but are shy and easily startled, but when just the pair of us were out on walks we could get quite close. We have seen them in Mexico as well, and they have a fairly extensive range throughout the Caribbean and South America.

 We also saw a single Collared Peccary at La Selva. Everyone was very preoccupied chatting or watching some Motmots, and Kathryn had to practically shout at people to get their attention to see it as it snuck by in the background. While pig-like in appearance, they are apparently fairly distant relatives and easily differentiated by their downward tusks and scent glands.

Zip Lining

 Costa Rica is famous for (and the inventor of) zip lining, and in the Monteverde cloud forest there was a bit of time set aside to do just that. It's based on a pretty simple harness that loops around your waist and a thick glove you use to brake if needed. I found it very relaxing and apparently exuded an aura of calm enough to help a few others in our group get into the swing of things.

 Once you're geared up and strapped in, you get a shove and gravity does most of the rest of the work for you. Kathryn is seen below starting her journey from one of the decks. The operators run a pretty slick routine there with a handful of guides staggered across a few platforms so that once you get moving you can have a group of 20 people spread out fairly thinly and rarely feel like you're bunched up and waiting your turn.

 There were several dozen platforms all in all with lines as short as a little over a hundred meters, to the long line at the end which was over a kilometer. The two longer runs were done tandem to make sure that each group had enough weight to not get stuck in the middle and slow the whole thing up. Running a camera with your left hand while braking with your right and holding your wife with your feet is pretty tricky, so we don't win any cinematography awards for our footage down there, but the screen grab below at least shows the height and view from one of the lines.

Basilisks

 Basilisks are common lizards in Costa Rica and we were able to see all three of the regional subspecies, starting with the Green Basilisk. Mythology-fans and D+D players will be disappointed to hear that these basilisks are unable to turn people to stone with their gaze, but do retain a unique defensive ability all the same. Frequently called "the Jesus Christ lizard" by the locals, their feet have evolved in such a way that they can run on their hind legs across open water for significant distances. Being good ecotourists, we did not disturb the animals, so we haven't seen this reaction firsthand.

 The Striped Basilisk is a smaller animal and quite good at blending into its surrounds on the Caribbean side of the country. The picture below spoils this ability somewhat by being so zoomed, but on that spot at the end of our hike it took a moment to pick it out from a pile of driftwood even at a short distance.

 As we have stated many times over by now, Costa Rica LOVES variations of wildlife, and the Brown Basilisk (below) is a Pacific-only variation of the Striped Basilisk. We found this animal when we were out looking for squirrel monkeys and it was perhaps too cold and lazy to want to move, so we were able to get quite a nice portrait of it.

Tamanduas

 Costa Rica is home to a single species of medium-sized anteater and we were incredibly lucky to see them twice. The first sighting was up in a tree in the forest at Carara, where we were able to watch this one trundle around and scratch for quite awhile. Their eyesight is very poor so they rely primarily on smell and sound to find their food, and we were apparently quiet enough that it was not too concerned by our presence.

 Despite their comedic look, they can be dangerous when cornered, and are know for injuring overly curious dogs that get too close. Since they are equipped with enormous claws for tearing open termite mounds, they can cause quite a bit of damage if provoked. This one looks pretty relaxed and mildly embarrassed by such talk as he scratches his head with his back leg.

Rounding out our set of three, here is the best look we had, as one stopped to drink from a stream in Corcovado. You can really see the peculiar colouration of their body which makes it look like they are wearing either pyjamas or a life-jacket. This one continued to showcase their poor eyesight by walking directly towards us and passing within a few meters of us after his drink.