Friday was our free day. We didn’t have any tours scheduled.
I had briefly contemplated taking a zip line tour through the canopy, but my
thighs, while not as painful as the day before, were still far too sunburned to
think about sitting on straps.
It was delightful to lounge in bed listening to the birds’
dawn chorus. After what seemed like a long time, I got up to see if I could
spot what was singing. I’m not a good birder. I looked and looked through the
binoculars and saw only a leaf move in the underbrush in the general vicinity
of the sound.
I had typico with scrambled eggs for breakfast again. Unlike
the other days this week, I had time for two leisurely cups of tea while
looking over the ocean. I hadn't worn my watch all week because it was too hot.
I had no idea what time it was. I thought it must be getting late. Terry, who
had his watch, told me it was 7:45. I took more pictures of the flowers blooming around the La Paloma grounds.
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| Bromeliads blooming near the lodge |
We returned to the ranchero and sat on the deck watching
birds. We walked down to the beach at low tide. I took some pictures of the
tide pools for my lectures. Everything seemed miniaturized. I don’t know why
that would be. Tiny snails, tiny anemones, tiny barnacles. Not like the Pacific
Northwest. I barely saw a well-camouflaged crab. That will be a good photo for
Ch. 46.
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| The beach |
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| Camouflaged crab (center) |
I got soaked to the waist when I
tried walking around the rocks instead of over them. The water was much deeper
than I thought it would be.
I took my first shower of the day when we got back up the
hill. Shortly after that, there was a brief rain.
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| The view from the deck during a brief rain shower |
The rain really seemed to
bring out the birds. Diane pointed out the birds as I tried to get pictures.
The best picture I got was of a golden hooded tanager.
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| Golden hooded tanager |
In the afternoon high tide, Diane and I went kayaking again.
When we got to the launch, we saw a large crocodile swimming in the middle of
the river. I got in my kayak thinking that the croc would head to the other
side to make way for a motor boat that was coming up river. To my surprise, the
croc headed straight for me! I paddled frantically to get out of its path.
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| Crocodile coming for me |
We watched the sunset down by the pool for the last time.
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| The last sunset |
On
our way to dinner, I saw a toxic cane toad on the sidewalk. I needed a picture
of one of those too, and was very excited to see it. The cane toads are native
to Costa Rica but not to Australia. They were intentionally introduced to
Australia to control the unintentionally introduced cane beetle that came along
with the sugar cane that was really the only thing the Australians wanted to
start growing. The toads are out of control in Australia now.
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| Toxic cane toads can get to be 2.5 kg (5 lbs) |
I was ready for bed at 8:00. What had we been thinking when
we signed up for a night hike with the Bug Lady? We met at the lodge. The Bug
Lady, Tracy, passed out headlamps to all of us and instructed us on the on/off
switch and the white light/red light switch.
We saw many interesting things, such as a
net-casting spider. While most spiders are passive predators that weave webs
and wait for something to get caught. The net-casting spider weaves a net that
it holds in its feet and actively throws the net over passing prey. During the
day or when provoked, it folds itself up and looks exactly like a dead leaf of grass. |
| Net-casting spider with net at the ready |
The trapdoor spider digs a hole in the side of an
embankment, lines the hole with silk and weaves a little door of silk that is
covered with the same stuff as the rest of the bank. It take experience to spot
them.
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| Trapdoor spider |
The find of the evening, though, was an ocelot.
They are very rare, and we were very lucky to see it. My photo of the ocelot is
now on La Paloma’s Facebook page. Or so they tell me. I don’t Facebook.
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| A rare ocelot siting |
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