Red-Eyed Tree Frogs

The red-eyed tree frog is one of the most popular and recognized animals in Costa Rica and even on the Earth. Apparently people go to Costa Rica just to see these little animals, which is a task made all the harder by the fact that (1) they are tiny (2) they are nocturnal (3) they get quiet when you get close. There are, of course, places that have these frogs in captivity, but we think that counting animals you see that way is cheating, so we made sure to come see some of our own.

This is no easy feat mind you, based on the 3 reasons given above. However, I did have an ace up my sleeve given that Kathryn is incredibly sharp-eyed AND passionate about seeing everything she possibly can on holiday. It is still beyond me how she managed to find the frog below though. This was about 40 feet in the air, among the leaves and in the pitch black. The photo below was taken with a 400mm lens and has all the flashlights in the group on it, but to the naked eye with a fraction of that light it looked like a slightly lighter leaf.

 Our sighting the following night was a little more co-operative, as this fellow was maybe only 15 feet away and perched at a more reasonable level (the one below is the same one as the top photo, just from the side rather than the front). I particularly like how its legs dangle down below where it gripped on with its feet.