Tortuguero National Park – Costa Rica

R. Broadwell Wildlife Photography

 

 

 

 White Bats of Tortuguero

This was my first trip to Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica, and it did not disappoint.   We were lucky enough to get assigned to a guide who had recently discovered a roost for white bats.  These bats make a cut along the seam of a large heliconia leaf so that it folds over them like a tent where they remain completely invisible to predators.

 

 

 

 

 

Leaf Cutter Ant

Although I managed to get this shot of a spine-covered leaf cutter on a scheduled jungle walk, Tortuguero Turtle Beach Lodge has a meadow with many well worn-down trails of leaf cutter ants that seemed to stay active from morning until night.  These processions were beautiful as well as efficient as after twenty or so leaf carriers there would be an ant carrying a solitary pink blossom.

 

 

 

 

Two-Toed-Sloth

As we were riding our bus on the first leg of our journey to Tortuguero,  we came up on a two-toed sloth traffic jam similar to the bear jams you might see at Alaska’s Denali Park.  By the time the crowd cleared our sloth was thoroughly soaked with rain giving a Maurice Sendak Wild Thing impression for this shot.

 

 

 

 

Pygmy Kingfisher

Turtle Beach Lodge has boat rides through the jungle to see the nightlife.  Most interesting were the sleeping habits of birds.  This pygmy kingfisher, too shy to photograph during the day, remained completely motionless, allowing  the boat to get quite close to get this shot.

 

 

 

Slaty-Tailed Trogon

Although we spent most of our time on the property surrounding the lodge, we didn’t have to travel far to find stunning birdlife.  This slaty-tailed trogon was in full view watching the pond surface from a branch above.  There was plenty of invisible wildlife as well, as we discovered when, as this trogon flew off it surprised us by knocking a frog that was sitting on a nearby branch into the water.

 

 

 

 

Golden-Hooded Tanager

This golden-hooded tanager was just one of many brightly-colored birds that spent their time in the lodge’s orchard eating berries.  We would notice that it from time to time the orchard, normally loud with bird sounds would become strangely quiet.  Not surprisingly this would often coincide with a resident hawk had settled on a nearby tree to watch their activities.

 

 

 

Spider Monkey

 

One of the reasons we chose the Turtle Beach Lodge to stay at was because it was the most remote of the Tortuguero lodges and had the largest troops of monkeys on the property.  We were lucky to have a resident monkey who seemed to sleep on the roof of our cabin and would announce her presence each night by alternating from the front to the back of the roof, calling down to anyone below.  We got to hear the amazing sounds of the howlers, but the spider monkeys were the most entertaining as they went about their business  in the canopy throughout the lodge property.