My Ocelot Adventure

The Guanacaste Tree.
The ocelot was found in the center of this tree.
Picture taken from high in the canopy in another tree.

Blurry photo of ocelot taken with point and shoot through binoculars.

It's about time I talk about one of the coolest adventures I have had while following monkeys. A few weeks ago I was on an evening run and ran into a group of monkeys I had been searching for. Given that there was not much daylight left, I had to note where the monkeys were and get up early the next morning to return to that spot hoping they hadn't moved far (they sleep through the night). Of course, that night I went to bed late and then my body decided to wake up at 3AM and run some statistical analyses on my data...why? Couldn't tell you. However, come just before sunrise I returned to that spot and found that group of monkeys at a fig tree nearby. Running on little sleep, I was hoping the monkeys would treat me relatively nicely and stay at the fig for a while so I could drink my morning coffee in peace, but alas, they are monkeys and decided to move on. At first we were moving at a constant and slow pace, then all of a sudden the monkeys took off running at high speed and alarming at the top of their lungs. This is not all that unusual when they see something that might be a threat to them and, specifically, their infants -a nice size meal for a boa or a cat. We stopped running when we reached a massive Guanacaste tree. Usually these bouts of agression result in the presence of a snake, so I proceeded to approach the very large Guanacaste tree trunk to situate myself underneath its branches and entangled vines where snakes tend to hang out. I was not finding anything through my binoculars, but I did start to notice that the monkeys were not looking in the branches or the vines, they were racing up and down the widely splayed-out Guanacaste branches alarming at something in the center of the tree. Whatever was at the center seemed mobile, more mobile than a snake would be, because the monkeys would quickly run away away after approaching it threatening it over their shoulders on their way to a safe distance. I realized in this moment that I should probably walk a sizeable distance away from the tree trunk as well. I tried looking down into the center of the tree from a pile of dirt that gave me a bit of elevation, but the creature was proving to be quite well hidden in a nice basin formed by the tree trunk. Luckily, there was a fantastic tree to climb right next to me with twisty branches -perfect to hang on to while I pulled myself upwards. I tried viewing the creature at each branch I reached, but I could not make out what it was until I reached the top of the forest canopy -that is how perfect this tree-trunk basin was as a hiding place from terrestrial animals. To my delight, sitting there calmly was a beautiful ocelot! At first it did not know I was there and seemed to just want the monkeys to go away so it could get back to sleep. The monkeys would usually be upset at me if I was in a tree while they were around, but they proceeded to "head-flag" me -a behaviour used to team-up with another monkey when a predator or a misbehaving monkey is pissing them off. Although the monkeys were treating me like one of them, as soon as I blew a mosquito away with one breath (because one hand was holding on for dear life to the tree I was in and the other was holding onto my point and shoot as I was taking a video of the ocelot) the ocelot made a quick turn with his head to see where such a strange noise came from. Our eyes met -his take up half his face. He seemed curious and weary at first, here was a very large monkey that did not look quite like the others. Keep in mind that the monkeys were still alarming at the cat, vocalizations that carry several hundreds of meters, yet the ocelot's hearing was sensitive enough to notice a strange and very faint sound among the surrounding loud noises and pin point my exact location high up in a tree. Eventually the ocelot started grooming itself, as if nothing was happening. Meanwhile, I'm hoped-up on sleep-deprived and predator-induced adrenaline, shaking from that and from whole-body muscle contraction as I maintained a one-handed and branch straddling grip to avoid a 25-30 meter encounter with the terra ferma from which I had just climbed with all of my gear and in no time at all. Needless-to-say, I was incredulously happy! I could not stop smiling! I am not a big-cat person and certainly do not go out looking for them (I actually prefer to see a coyote...did you know that they have piercing blue eyes here in Santa Rosa? They touch my soul...), but I had only ever seen an ocelot one other time and it was with several other people in 2009. We had been called out via radio to see the ocelot because the monkeys found it and it was in a good viewing spot. This time, I was alone with the monkeys and had no one to call! I stayed with the ocelot long enough (about an hour) to see the monkeys eventually leave it alone, so for a little while it was just me and the ocelot! This was truly a unique and liberating experience. I don't know if I'll ever spend that much time alone with a wild, solitary cat again in my lifetime. I am pretty darn lucky. My luck is emphasized even more by the fact that the monkeys had taken me to an area of their home range I had never visited before and we were quite far away from the administrative area (compared to where this group usually hangs out).

If you look closely at the "V" in the large tree trunks, you can see the back of the ocelot's head. Their ears have large white bands on the back of them -a unique characteristic to the ocelot.

It eventually started to rain suddenly and fairly hard, which added an element of wildness to the whole experience, but the ocelot did not like that as I'm sure the basin in which he sat was quickly filling up with water. He got up and sat on the edge of the basin, then disappeared. He returned briefly, then disappeared again and that was it. I was astonished at how quickly he could escape my sight and yet, he waited an hour to do so. His stealthiness was humbling, another aspect of the experience that proved how incredibly lucky I was.

I took as many photos and videos as I could with my point and shoot (and sometimes through my binoculars), but none of them really turned out all that well. This is in part because of the limitations of a point and shoot camera, especially when taking pictures from above in a tree, and in part because the combination of my adrenaline-fuelled sweat and the environmental humidity fogged the lens fairly heavily. I have attached the best ones and the ones that were not too big here.

All of that and I was home by 10:20AM. That was the best morning coffee I had ever had.

Back to the Dry Season

On a more interesting note: the seasons have changed again here in Santa Rosa. As you can see as Pickles munches down on a Stemmedania obovate fruit the sun beams down on flowers around her and blue bird sky reaches out in the distance.

Traveling Through 3 Ecosystems in 12 Days

I left my forest of solitude for 12 days to attend a couple of meetings and hang out with friends I haven't seen in almost a year, but only for about a day (or an hour) each. In this 12 day period I went from mould-your-hanging-clothes humid weather with temperatures rarely dropping below 30 degrees Celsius to desert-like dryness and temperatures reaching 20 degrees below zero…yes, this is a 50 degree difference from what I am used to. I traveled through the tail end of Hurricane Sandy and full force through a snow storm in Edmonton, with the ladder delaying my flight to Victoria (how ironic!). I saw a couple of seals and a river otter playing in the ocean by the beach on "the island" where fall colours fell off trees. I flew back to the ice box that same night to dance like a maniac to Delhi 2 Dublin and party until the next morning -less than 24 hours before I hopped on a flight back to Costa Rica. Needless to say, I was a little tired, unsure of the time zone, temperature or what day it was upon my return. But there is no doubt I am (especially my water-deprived skin) happy to be back in this noisy, but vehicle- and city light -less jungle. Unfortunately, I am here only for another month, then I do not know when I will be back. Could be a few years. I have never known a place so well, it will be extremely difficult to leave. Having made contact with the "real world" if only briefly, but recently, reminded me that very few people will understand the loss and pain I will undertake come my departure. I will do my best to soak up every last minute...while I try to write a thesis at the same time. 

Searching for Monkeys in the Night

October 1st, 2012:

On my walk home after not finding any monkeys, I took my time, admired the fireflies (or luciérnagas, decided to name the bat that lives outside my room this), peered through the forest canopy with my new Maglite XL50 looking for critters and listening to multiple species of frogs sing loudly. Once I finally made it to the campground I spotted a large South American (I think) opossum. I took a few more steps and the sky full of brilliant stars caught my eye! I hadn't seen a clear night like this in a while. This really surprised me as the last few days had been more or less overcast all day and night even when not raining. This was a truly starry-night. As I kept walking along the main road, I was about to pass Janzen's yard when I heard capuchin alarm calls! What luck! I've been looking for this group of monkeys for two weeks. Little buggers are quite unpredictable these days.

Tropical King Snake

I was just reading away in my hammock this morning and decided I wanted more coffee. I, of course, was in barefeet as I disembarked my hammock computer in one hand empty smoothy glass in the other, then stepping over my hammock to slip on my shoes on the other side I turned around only to see a tropical king snake -maybe a foot away from mine- slither from the porch onto the forest floor and disappear into the grasses. I got enough of a glimpse to notice that the black stripes sandwiched the yellow stripes not yellow on black, so I knew it was a coral mimic and not the real thing! Coral snakes are quite venomous, whereas king snakes are relatively harmless yet they mimic the colouration of a coral snake to ward-off predators who don't know the difference.

Here is a picture of another time I saw a tropical king snake in the wee hours of the morning (you can see it is dark in this picture!). These snakes are very difficult to capture on film -they're so fast! But you can see the black on yellow stripes here.

My work

I'm sitting here in front of my computer, two books and a scientific journal -all of which are open- and I hear capuchin lost calls in the distance. It sounds like Seria, a frequently lost female in one of the capuchin study groups who is old and senile. I wondered if I should drop everything and run into the forest hoping I catch up her just so I can census that group? Then I wondered, how many people sit in front of their work and their computer wondering if they should stop what they're doing to chase after monkeys?

This photo is Mrs. Weasley, not Seria. I don't have any good photos of Seria, probably because she's hideous. You probably didn't think a monkey could be hideous, but you haven't seen Seria.

The Late Wet Season has arrived

The forest is changing once again. Finally I am seeing the changes from the early to the late rainy season that I have heard of for so many years. The rivers are flowing, the forest is teaming with GREEN and all of my clothes and belongings smell of mould -I love it all!

Sitting on the mouldy couch, reading papers, writing, constructing presentations, I hear evidence for monkeys nearby. The audible evidence is water falling from branches the spider monkeys are using to swing from tree to tree! The photo I have here was taken from the monument on top of a hill looking south. I captured one of the spider monkeys hanging from the tree staring out at the view. Man, I'm going to miss casually seeing those guys as well as most other living things in this jungle as I sit on the couch doing work...

I'm back...for now

OK, lots to tell, little time. I have been away from the blog for a number of reasons for which I will leave until another post perhaps. Since my last post I have been to Guatemala, Tortuguero, Ometepe, Canada, England, and back to Costa Rica again. I am currently living on my own in Santa Rosa chasing monkeys when I'm not analyzing data and writing my masters thesis. I could not wish for a more perfect write-up setting than alone in the jungle (in a house, for logistical reasons). I saw an ocelot the other day and could see a number of things as soon as I wake up in the morning and open my bedroom door, such as tinamous, anoles and "venados" or deer. Right now, as it is nighttime, my front porch is lit by moonlight of the Disney-movie variety opaqued by hazy clouds, but large, half crescent and horizontally posed steaming through the mist. The frequency of insect songs is high and constant but punctuated by calling nightjars. I can't believe I eventually have to leave this place.

I hope to provide you with details of my adventures in the near future.

Turtles!

Well we're well into the early wet season, but I'm a little behind in these blog posts. Many organisms tend to emerge after the first rains start the build. Here I have a couple of wonderful turtles! Once the rains started, I was seeing at least one turtle per day. Here are two that I saw within half an hour during a walk home from the monkeys in the afternoon. I love seeing turtles in the wild, there's an aura about them that donates instant happiness as soon as you come across them. Perhaps one can attribute this feeling to their utmost innocence; certainly a "flight" response animal (besides snapping turtles of course), but in their unique way of fleeing into their portable home. No one can argue that this behaviour is not cute as hell. 

In addition to turtles, we often find many adult insects emerging, bird songs amplify the chilled forest fog, and the monkeys stop resting and starting running almost non-stop! In particular, this is a time when the short-lived insect congregations grace us with their presence. First, the fireflies gradually build in number over a period of a week or two until they reach capacity, yes, capacity In. The. Jungle. Picture a firefly disco that enables three-dimensional views of the forest in pure darkness during early hours of the night. It's completely mind-blowing! This level of firefly density lasts only one or, if you're lucky, two nights in the year. Possibly my favourite night of the year in Santa Rosa, however, I have yet to experience the late rainy season from September until December. I'm very excited to see the kinds of rain I will experience then! Second, the adult sexual termites (that's what entomologists call a caste within a social insect family that usually possesses a pair of wings for the sole purpose to fly out of the colony to mate) gravitate towards all light fixtures. Therefore, our well-lite buildings in the park are flooded with flying termites! This, however, is more fascinating than disturbing especially since the termites are busy with one thing on the mind, and it's not to bite or disturb humans...This event lasts ONE night in the year. Quite a remarkable behaviour if you ask me. However, this year, in Santa Rosa, not only was the flood of termites less dense than previous years, but it was about a month and a half late! The rains commenced way too early this year. We were experiencing relatively heavy rains in February! We are not supposed to have rains like this until May! This has really put a wrench in a lot of the natural processes in the forest. For example, Santa Rosa is a tropical dry forest and most of the tree species here are deciduous, therefore loose their leaves. However, because of the early onset of the rainy season this year, the leaves on the trees started to grow in April when they are not supposed to grow again until early or mid-May. I am guessing this disruption facilitated the irregularity in termite sexual emergence. Regardless of whether you understand the science behind this story, the point is that the irregularity I'm talking about should sound familiar to you. It seems as though there are many irregularities happening worldwide especially this year and mostly to do with climate. That is an increase or decrease in rain, storms, temperature, etc. Everyone knows of at least one story of some irregularity happening nearby to them. Should you be alarmed? I think so. What can we do about it? I'll get back to you. For now, take note that this story is not unique and there are many similar stories that directly or indirectly effect humans around the world. 

Photos: 

Top: Kinosternon leucostomum adult. Bottom: Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima juvenile. 

Little Garden in a Big Forest

I often have moments of blissful scenes while following the monkeys through a forest that sometimes seems like it would love to eat your skin and your soul. Here, while with my favourite monkey group -Guanacaste- we came across what looks like a little garden. It was low-canopy forest that was very green and enclosed compared to the surrounding forest in this area. The monkeys were nice and low and EXTRACTIVE FORAGING -a very important behaviour I am trying to document as much as possible. They were being very playful and the juveniles seemed to be watching the older monkeys as they opened fallen fruits to obtain insects from within them. It is times like these that I am reminded that what I do is pretty magical -watch wild monkeys.

Semana Santa in León

The week before and including Easter (a.k.a. Holy Week) is called Semana Santa in Central America (a.k.a. when the entire ismuth shuts down and goes wild). In the heart of León, at the cathedral church square, there were artists putting together a wonderful form of art! The nicos were taking wood shavings, dying them with bright colours and making a picture in a frame with them. The were spectacularly bright and it was an interesting sight amongst the hustle and bustle of the center of town and in the middle of the road nonetheless! Each piece depicted a Christian theme or figure and I never saw the final product, but I imagine these pieces would have been a main spectacle for the Semana Santa celebration.

Murals of León

I knew I wanted to walk about the town of León because I had read about the plethora of history to be unfolded here. I had planned on wandering on my own and finding my own way, I had not planned on meeting Maria. I ran into una nica viejo, an elderly Nicaraguan woman, who had not only lived through the revolution and civil war of the mid-1990's, but had a burning passion to teach those around her of what happened in these hard times. Had I not run into Maria, I would have walked past most of the history even though it was painted on the city walls! Maria took me through the intricate details of each mural, pointed out each symbol and explained its significance. I had walked by some of these murals and noticed them, but had no idea they had deep meaning. I treated them like most murals you would see in Canada: a work of art that may have some meaning to the artist or a specific group of people. These murals meant something to the entire country of Nicaragua. Each had their story or multiple stories entwined around each other in an incredibly powerful display of artistic license. All of the murals looked brand new, like they had just been painted. This is because they were touched-up in preparation for an important anniversary -that of the death of the four students and professor. These five highly-intellectual individuals were murdered on the street because they were actively rebelling against the government at the time. They are depicted in one mural shown in the picture above. More murals, plaques, and statues were found all over town in commemoration of these individuals. It was so touching. I can't imagine living in a city that had so many visual reminders of its history. I've been to Europe, this was different. The colours were so vibrant and the art so contemporary, it was utterly surreal. The other picture above is a fraction of a two-walled mural in a corner of town that represented a timeline of events that lead to the end of the civil war and a bright new beginning for the children of Nicaragua.

Las Peñitas

A tiny fishing village 20km west of León, Nicaragua with nothing much other than a helluva lot of soul. Don't expect to live in any kind of luxury here, but that's the best part! The limited accommodations in number as well as conditions is exactly what attracts the most wonderful people you'll ever meet. Expect a handful of tourists that all speak fluent spanish (or pretty damn near close to fluent) and define what "down to Earth" means. When I wasn't kick-boxing the ocean (because the waves were a wee bit strong), dragging a surf board (because I couldn't ride it) and swimming-on-the-spot (not because I miss aerobics classes up north, but because the current wouldn't let me move forward), I was simply drinking beer and learning about the lives and adventures of three Brazilians, a Swede, an American, a Guatemalan, and a Mexican and they were all absolutely invigorating. Yet another place I didn't want to leave and that I'll revisit one day, although, because of its gorgeous location, I fear "real tourism" might infiltrate and ruin its carisma sometime in the next decade. Here's to hoping that doesn't happen.

Montezuma

How is it that a person can fall in love with a place so hard having been there only a few days? Also, is it possible that a place can be addictive? For someone who usually runs in the opposite direction from consumerism and an invariable lifestyle, Montezuma has completely consumed my daydreams. I have contemplated living there for a month at a time or forever and somehow working my career around finding a way to live there. Now, I don't think I'd act on any of these impulses, well, maybe I could live there for a month, but I would be worried I'd be sucked in like every other expat that currently lives and works there. The economy is run by tourists, but the shop and restaurant owners seem to be mostly expats, so where are the ticos? They work *for* the expats. Seems a little messed-up, but everyone seems happier than ever. I don't think I encountered one unhappy person in Montezuma. It's like someone burned 100 pounds of cocaine in the center of town and now everyone is addicted, but in euphoria.

What's not to like? There's everything you could ever want in a place in the world. Montezuma has endless beaches with nearly no one on them, preserved and protected jungle, gorgeous waterfalls, FANTASTIC FOOD, lively bar, great people, great places to live, clean water, and I'm sure I've missed 10 more positive things. However, now that I'm back in my monkey routine all I want to do is surf and buy jewelry and clothes…but why?

The Beach

The length, the beauty, the serenity, the pristine sand, the greenery, the character, the precise way of life, the happy/healthy/the truly wild wildlife -all things that describe this beach and what every beach in this country should look like and would look like had hotels, restaurants and human waste not replaced the trees and more than half of the sand as if we own such beauty, as if we know what beauty is. Corcovado knows no hotels, hostels, or bars. The biggest altered piece of land is the small airstrip that is maybe 500 or 600 meters long. Yes, there are a few of them, but I welcome the facilitation of educating people rich enough to come to paradise via small plane just for the day Jurassic Park style! Visiting untouched wilderness has a much more effective and memorable impact than reading a conservation pamphlet or seeing an advertisement on the TV. Corcovado is one of the best managed national parks I have ever been to.

Corcovado: Tapirs

It took me 7 and a half months to find my very first tapir and I searched every day. That includes a 10km hike in the middle of the night (tapirs are nocturnal)! Once I found one, I cried like a baby. Since then I've seen a handful, but that is still very few given I've spent nearly 14 months in Santa Rosa, Guanacaste. Until...Corcovado. Apparently tapirs are running around like water in Corcovado, we saw three in 24 hours! Tapirs are endangered in each region of the world that they are found, including Indonesia and other parts of Asia. They are like hippos on stilts. They are truly fascinating giants of the forest!

In this picture you will notice a bird picking at the tapir's side -a yellow-headed caracara. This symbiotic relationship is mutual, the caracara supplements its diet with "garrapatas" or ticks, which rids the tapir of the blood-stealing ectoparasites (I am not a fan, the irritation lasts for weeks and I seem to be a magnet for them. I need a pet caracara). If you zoom-in you'll see that the tick is quite large and situated itself in a den of open flesh...yum.

Up next: wild feline and volcano...soon.

Corcovado: Best sighting by far

An eyelash viper (Bothriechis schlegelii). Absolutely gorgeous. Seen within the first 3 hours of being on trail entering Corcovado. Our guide caught site of a toucan off trail in the forest, pointed it out, started to continue on the trail to get a better view of the toucan...almost ran into this. Pretty venomous, but not quite as bad as the fer de lance -a very aggressive snake we saw later that night right next to camp :) I love reptiles. I mean, how can you not? Look how beautiful! All the green, red and bits of yellow. And, yes, this genus is known for modified scales above its eyes that remind humans of eyelashes, hence the anthropomorphic English common name (the spanish common name is Oropelo or gold skin to represent an all-yellow colour morph found in this species). If you look closely, you can see 3 or 4 scales above the eyes in this photo. Not to mention their long evolutionary history, enabling specializations like venom -one small bite and they kill something 50 or 100 times their size...I'm impressed.

Frog capture by raptor, check.

The next picture in the sequence. Sixteen minutes into the adventure...

Corcovado

This is the first picture I took within the first 15 minutes of entering the surrounding forests of Corcovado national park. We had yet to officially set foot in the park before laying eyes on the first of many sitings of the Common Black Hawk foraging in a stream. Hundreds and thousands of song birds and insects singing all around us, trees tower over our heads as we trekked along a dirt "road" in a collectivo (chicken bus) into the seemingly endless jungle. Here, and with a sequence of photos capturing the black hawk catch his prey, we start a journey of 4 days and 3 nights in what ticos refer to as "el paradiso de Costa Rica" -Corcovado.

Monkey walk

You never know where the monkeys will take you. Could be a bromeliad patch (a wall of ground-dwelling cacti more or less), could be impassible acacia trees with their mutualistic partners -las hormigas-, could be underneath a giant Africanized bee hive without warning, because, come on, who doesn't want to get stung a hundred times while eating a delicious protein-filled nest? The adventures are endless. I would never have seen the number of snakes, cats, and other predators that I have without the faithful alarm calls from the monkeys. I owe them a lifetime's worth of great wildlife sitings!

Mesa vista

I am lucky enough to stumble upon views like these all the time. This picture should leave you with one thousand answers as to why I do what I do and get up as early as I do...

Endless beautiful fauna

A coral snake (Micrurus nigrocinctus), however I didn't see its head well enough to confirm that is was not a mimic. Beautiful regardless.

Evolution, in the flesh

A katydid camouflaged to look like a leaf! How can anyone deny natural selection when animals such as these exist?

My kinda lifestyle

In between reading "Eating Dirt" by Charlotte Gill in my hammock just outside my bedroom, I watched a fly catcher snack under a blue bird sky...un dia muy tranquila.

Could not believe my eyes...

I've spent a year of my life studying white-faced capuchins in the tropical dry forest of Parque Nacional Santa Rosa and each time something smaller than the monkeys is found by the monkeys it has been eaten. However, as you can see, don't mess with opossums, they make up for their size with their viciousness!

El Nacio

An Olive Ridley sea turtle hatchling, one of the many wonderful things I have seen in these very fast couple of weeks in Costa Rica. This is my third time visiting this paradise-filled country. I am incredibly lucky to have the number of sitings, experiences, memories that I do from this place. For those of you who have wondered where I am, why I'm never around and why I keep returning to places far from civilization, wonder no more. You will have more than enough of an understanding even if you skim through the pictures and never read a word of this blog...welcome to my life.