Monkey News

At dusk the last couple of evenings, I’ve come across spider monkeys in the forest close to the house. So far, they are not enamoured by my presence, despite my excellent jungle clothing and attempts to make a non-threatening noise. See the Frankie Howard-esque reaction here…



They like to hurl sticks and some are big, like the one this one is about to fling. Indications have been made showing where the hand grips it and the extent of the twig.



There is a least one infant with them. One of the mothers urinated in my general direction. Had there been a slight gust of wind, I would’ve been covered in monkey piss. Here is another one telling me to feck off.



Don’t worry, soon we’ll be grooming each other like brothers as per the Attenbrough man off the telly.

The Frog and Bullock

I found another froggy down a tubular leaf and this time I had the camera. I like the result even though its taken at ISO 1600 (for camera bores!). With flash, you don’t get the nice ambience.



This was taken on the way back from Liberia after shopping last Sunday. The big hill is the volcano, Rincon de la Vieja, and San Gerardo is somewhere to the left of it, as indicated.





It has been business as usual this week – me finding bugger all caterpillars and them finding loads! In my defence, there are many distractions, such as menacing looking wasps nests like this one – apparently these babies are NOT to be disturbed, unless you want to end up with a pock-riddled face like Gordon Ramsey.




There was a nice sunset, despite all the rain and cloud.




I know my Mum likes photos of doors. I also know she likes me. So here is a picture of me and a door. Tis the door of mine ranch.




Also this week, I had a staring contest with a large-eared bullock… he reminded me of a disgruntled Jeremy Paxman.

Round and about

One good thing about the rain is that, while the forest at Santa Rosa is shedding its leaves at a speedy rate, the forest here is still lush and verdant. We’ve had a few sojourns into the forest so far to collect caterpillars for rearing. I am yet to get my eye in! But, you know, I keep getting distracted by vultures, white-faced capuchins, mantids, ants and spider monkeys, who showed their displeasure by raining down bullets of ca-ca on us, and many other things. I saw my first frog the other day. I had to squeeze it out of its leafy tube to have a look. It was rather plain. I want orange and blue ones goddam it! Osvaldo pointed out an ant which was huge, about an inch long. I had no idea they made them that big. It was beautiful as well, all velvety black with white markings and orange antennae. There are, however, zillions of enigmatic leaf-cutter ants and their huge nests. I haven’t seen any howler monkeys yet, but I can hear them at dawn and dusk. Their howling can be quite sinister, but I like it. Apparently, according to Winnie, the house is within the territory of a jaguar! Like, totally cool dudes. Unfortunately, I was not able to capture these amazing things on camera, but I did get an average picture of the majestic chestnut-mandibled toucan and a broad-billed motmot, which flew into my view as I stood wondering why I can’t find any bloody caterpillars!

Home away from home

I am now resident in San Gerardo - my home away from home for the next two months. San Gerardo is to the east of Santa Rosa and is situated in the shadow of the volcano, Rincón de la Vieja, in the national park of the same name at about 600m above sea level. The house I’m living in is an old ranch and has two out-buildings, one of which has been turned into a rearing barn for the caterpillars we find. The house is big and simple and old, but secure (it has metal doors to keep out Nicaraguan immigrants!).

Two of the local ‘gusaneros’ (caterpillar collectors) I’m working with, Gloria & Osvaldo, used to live here with their two kids so it has all the necessities including fresh water from the mountains. Sounds good but its not so nice when it dribbles out of the shower in a single un-heated stream! My room is on the first floor and is mucho comfortable. Gloria & Osvaldo have made me welcome and, despite my bad Spanish, we are building a good rapport. I am known to them as Felipe, which I think makes me sound better than I actually am!

The climate here is pretty inclement. Since I arrived its pissed it down almost constantly and the wind has been clattering the corrugated iron outside, which makes a hell of a noise. Temperature-wise its pretty mild, which suits me. It’s a big contrast with Santa Rosa, which was sweaty and dry. Gloria and Osvaldo...

Santa Rosa

Santa Rosa National Park is in the province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. It is the main biological research station serving a biodiversity project run by Dan Janzen & Winnie Hallwachs, now in its 26th year. The main aim is to catalogue the amazing diversity of butterflies and moths (mariposas), their caterpillars, food plants and parasitoids. There are more species of butterfly in this single province of Costa Rica than in the whole of North America. I am here as a volunteer and I will help to collect and rear the caterpillars, but will be based at a more remote station within the province, San Gerardo.

Santa Rosa is hot and dry. My first bird sighting was the impressive white-throated magpie jay. There were also some agoutis hanging around the dining hall. Here is a picture of the littler one of them (in case you are bored).