I wanted to hike Cabo Blanco, the first national park here in Costa Rica, which is less than 2 Km from here but decided as I was walking there that I wanted to take a different path....be adventurous, why not? It was a nice hike up the "mountain" and I got to see some different animals and some of the same ones...but I don't mind. The view was pretty and instead of coming down a path, I decided to follow an animal trail near a creek...I figured, all of the creeks will eventually make it to the ocean and I knew how to get home from there. I actually ended up coming out at the top of the waterfalls on the Rainsong sanctuary farm. I will be hiking the actual park next time.
 |
| I surprised this cute little deer as he walked out of the forest |
 |
| This is the animal trail I followed...one of |
 |
| Obviously this is a male howler monkey...howling |
 |
| The trail was being sneaky...looks like this is where the trail ended....I wasn't fooled, it was just a bunch of branches that had fallen. |
 |
| There were a bunch of these little green parakeets on one of the palm trees....good to know because we have one here at the sanctuary that will need to be released once he can fly. |
 |
| This is the trail up the "mountain" |
 |
| Bats! Found these guys in an abandoned house once I had left the real trail.... I was obviously trespassing...oops. |
 |
| He was eyeballing me...not happy with the flash. |
 |
| Beautiful, giant orb weaver along the path. |
 |
| Turquoise-browed Motmots. The funny thing was that I actually didn't see the second one until I upload the pics on my camera...I was really just trying to get a good shot of one of them ...bonus! |
 |
| I love all of the vines here! I have to control the urge to climb them every time I see them. |
LATER THAT DAY......WHAT YOU CAN DO WHILE WATCHING A MOVIE.
After I got back, I decided to put together a bunch of new mobiles for some of the animals...I actually got carried away while watching a movie and built about 9 of them.....well, at least there are extras when the animals destroy them!
 |
| Mobiles on display |
EVERYBODY LIKES CHANGE!!!!
I eventually got around to something I had promised many of the residents of the sanctuary....new and improved living quarters...well, new props anyways. Lola, the red-lored parrot, got her cage re-propped/rearranged and got 2 new mobiles. Charlie, the howler monkey, got his cage re-did along with a new mobile. He also got a new hanging basket for his leaves.....aka new spot for sun bathing. The Mexican hairy dwarf porcupines (AKA porkies) got their cage all fixed up along with some greenery (which they find tasty) and a new mobile. The squirrels got some of their branches rearranged as well as a new mobile. And, last but not least, Alejandro built a divider in the aviary so that both male rabbits could live in it together....I fixed it up so that the little parakeet could live there too....it is time to start learning how to fly!
 |
| Lola checking out the new mobiles. She likes the new branches up high too. |
 |
| Charlie's new digs....I had to get the branches off the floor....so I could lay down in there! |
 |
| This is what a very pitiful baby howler monkey looks like when he uses his leaf feeder basket as a sunny spot for a nap....He was out too! |
 |
| Papa porky loving his hibiscus leaves |
 |
| The porky's new props and mobile...they will enjoy them later...they are nocturnal. They were tempted to come out though...see the nose in the house. |
 |
| The bird aviary/new rabbit enclosure....each little boy gets half. You can see them sitting on opposite sides....trying to figure out how to kick the other one's butt through the fence....sigh, boys. If you look closely, you can see the parakeet. |
 |
| Enjoying a woody snack. She is very happy to be in a larger space....even if she can't fly yet... I had to give her zig-zagging branches to climb. |
VISITORS AT THE SANCTUARY...MIND YOUR HEADS:
The other day, while Edwin, Alejandro, and I were preparing the animal's breakfast, a very large iguana decided to drop in....not literally, this time...to supervise.
 |
| Coming down the tree to check things out |
 |
| Decided we didn't have anything for him. |
 |
| You look up to see a cute little squirrel eating a coconut about 20-30 above your head....Then, without much warning..... |
Another regular visitor to the sanctuary are the squirrels...ardillas. They are very cute but dangerous....not because they can bite............
 |
| HEADS UP!!!!The coconut that the cute little squirrel was eating, gets knocked loose and falls those 20-30 feet. This sucker could knock you out! |
The three of us were cleaning up around the turtle pond when we thought someone had fired a gun....right at us. I am surprised nobody hit the deck...we certainly all jumped....and somebody may have peed their pants. This coconut had fallen and had hit and bounced off the metal roof of the work area next to us. It had to of weighed about 3-5 pounds.....it was a green coconut full of coconut water. The squirrels drop them all the time and then they don't even bother coming to the ground to finish it.
AN EXCITING DAY (WELL, IF YOU LIVED HERE, IT WOULD BE);
This is really only exciting to those of you that have been here....you know who you are. :)
 |
| The de-tropical-grundged bathroom |
 |
| even the walls got washed off. |
 |
| My little bathroom cleaner helper.......a tailess whip scorpion |
 |
| helper #2....like a cross between a crab and a scorpion... without the stinger |
 |
| Just hanging out...thinking this is his territory....WRONG! |
 |
| Eating Charlie's leaves....while poor charlie has to stay in his cage. :( |
Luckily this guy wasn't around today...he didn't like the thunderstorm last night... so we were able to let Charlie out. YAY!!!
THUNDERSTORM (OR HURRICANE #2):
This one blew in yesterday afternoon. All of the electricity went out and it gets very dark around here when the lights are out. We got a lot of rain dumped on us very quickly...as you can see from my pics. Now remember, I live in what is kinda like an attic with basically a wooden floor and a tin roof. I have finally put up a rain tarp on one side of my house which, I didn't put down quickly enough last night because my hammock had already gotten wet. I also discovered a few more holes in my roof...which a few extra bowls took care of. The rain (and I think small hail) is so loud on my roof that I couldn't hear anything but the rain. Once I had fixed the rain tarp and had arranged my drip catchers, I just sat at the top of my stairs and played with my camera.
 |
| looking out from my "house" |
 |
| a lot of water. All the paths were flowing like rivers |
 |
| Rain coming off my roof. For those of you that have been here, you are looking toward the back corner near the gpigs. |
 |
| The turtle pond.....both inside and outside the pond.. they are almost the same depth. |
AFTER THE RAIN:
I thought I would walk around and see what the rain had done and I started hearing the frogs....managed to see some of the beauties.
 |
| red eyed tree frogs....the male is on top |
 |
| this cutie was hiding in a potted plant |
 |
| this red eyed tree frog had spied another on the branch above and was trying to figure out how to get there. |
 |
| the one on the top branch |
 |
| another pair of red eyed tree frogs |
 |
| The next morning, we looked out in the pasture next door and saw this giant tree that had been knocked over. |
 |
| this is looking directly at the bottom of the roots...that used to be under the ground. Wow! |
No comments:
Post a Comment