Daily Nature Fix: Wild Animal Sightings in Costa Rica. (Original Photos)

   Hello fellow nature fans.  Tonight's Daily Nature Fix is going to be a collection of wild animals we saw while hiking around Costa Rica in May of 2011.  It's hard for me to believe it's been over 5 years since we went on that trip.  I'm definitely itching to go back to the tropics.  Anyway, here are a few of the critters we saw:

^^^ This was the first animal we saw on the trip, and it was also the first wild monkey I ever saw.  We were on a small shuttle bus that was taking us to our first lodging and the driver spotted this guy in the trees and pulled over so we can take a look.  It was a male howler monkey and he was munching on some kind of vegetation.  The driver started "barking" at him the monkey replied with it's trademark howling back.  Sorry the photo is all washed out, the bright sun was right behind him, unfortunately.  :-/

^^^This is a basilisk, or "Jesus Christ lizard".  It was in a tree right outside of the place we were staying.  It's called a Jesus lizard because it can run almost 60 feet across standing water, thanks to it's slender feet and long toes.  I like the dinosaur-like crest it gets on the back of it's head.

^^^ Here are some leaf-cutter ants that are hard at work harvesting some greenery.  I was incredibly excited to see these guys marching across our trail because I have always wanted to see them in person. See them was on my mini-bucketlist.  An interesting fact:  the ants don't actually eat the leaves that they cut and take to the nest.  They stash them in special rooms and a mold grows on the pile of cuttings and THAT'S what they eat.  The ants freaking farm!

^^^ This fella was spotted on some foliage near the town of La Fortuna.  I'm not sure exactly what species it is, but I believe it's some type of longhorn beetle.  Really an impressive bug with some formidable chompers as well.

^^^ Despite the mandibles, I had to pick it up and get a photo with it.  This will at least give you an idea of size and scale.  I let him go safe and unharmed.  

^^^ This goofy looking bird is a three-wattled bellbird spotted in the Monte Verde cloud forest.  We could hear this thing long before we ever saw it.  It sat on the perch making one hell of a ruckus for a good 15 minutes before we even got close enough to see it.  It gets it's name from those three black dangly things hanging from it's face.

^^^Keeping to the bird theme, here was a flock of scarlet macaws we saw in a tree, not far outside of San Jose.  It was an incredible sighting being that i've spent my whole life only seeing them in pet shops or zoos.  Definitely my favorite bird sighting of the trip.

^^^ Back to the cold blooded critters.  This was a spiny tail iguana, I believe.  This big guy was taking a lazy day at the beach of Manuel Antonio National Park. 

^^^Here was my favorite amphibian sighting of the trip.  It was a red-eyed tree frog, or "gaudy frog" as the locals call them.  This was another case of hearing the animal long before seeing it.  My friend and I went out one evening during a rainstorm in Manuel Antonia.  We could he a frog calling awfully loudly near by and after a couple minutes of searching, my friend spotted him on some massive broadleaf. I was hoping to see some poison dart frogs on the trip, but this was equally as cool.

 

^^^ Lastly, an animal that everyone loves and a real highlight of the whole trip.  We spotted this female three-toed sloth with her baby clinging to her chest in Manuel Antonio national park.  We were fortunate enough to see one or two other sloths earlier in the hike so we knew what to look for.  It looked like a big ball of moss slows moving along a vine.  

    Thanks for reading! I post a nature-themed Daily Nature Fix blog every day. Please upvote if you enjoyed it and be sure to follow me @customnature so you'll never miss one!  See you tomorrow.  - Adam

***Daily Nature Fix is a daily blog showcasing the natural world.  It is all original content using photos, stories, and experiences from my own travels.***