13th February - El Ramanso, Day Two, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica - The Night Walk

There is no twilight in the tropics, the sun sets and almost immediately it is dark.  So it was we were meeting for our night walk at 18:00.  From the reception we headed up the hill and into the trees, we could hear frogs calling and quite quickly the guide, Edgar, had found a Red-eyed Frog sat on a banana tree leaf.  This is the male, it has blue stripes on the flanks..  Even in the dark it is possible to take photographs with a bright torch and high ISO.

While the female lacks the blue stripes and was easier to get to.

The male once again.

There is a concrete pond by the side of the path and this is where the frogs breed.  So no surprise, a predator was close by, and this predator is something special, the Fer-de-Lance.  The name means "spearhead" due to the shape of the head and the fact it can strike with incredible speed.  This is the most dangerous snake in Costa Rica.

The large head is V-shaped like a lance and quite distinguishable from the neck. The eyes are rather large and the head is darker in colour on top and a light creamish-yellow on the underside.

Their colour and pattern varies, but the basic colour is normally shades of brown and dark grey.  Light coloured stripes outline the dark diamond shapes on the upper body and sides.

The fangs release a strong, fast acting hemotoxic venom which quickly coagulates the blood and breaks down capillary walls causing internal bleeding and swelling. It is a very aggressive snake and it is responsible for 99% of all human venomous bites in the entire Amazon Basin. 

The adults feed on all kinds of small animals including mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. Younger snakes prefer small lizards and invertebrates.  It is the young snakes that can be the most dangerous as they are not in control of the amount of venom they inject.

There normal size id between four and six feet, but some females are known to grow to nine feet.

So just feet from the main road was the most dangerous snake in Costa Rica, we moved away mulling this over.

Next was a Blue-throated Goldentail, a hummingbird on the nest in a tree, we left it in peace and walked slowly up the hill. Edgar pointed out a Common Basilisk or Jesus Christ Lizard due to its ability to run across water.  It was sat on a branch trying to merge into the branches.

Then a Whip Spider, it is an arachnid but unlike other spiders it only has six legs, the front two legs having adapted into pincers, very much like a scorpion.  They hang on the side of the wall and wait for prey to pass.

Nest was a real scorpion, this is a small one on the side of a branch.

In Santa Elena we saw an Orange-kneed Tarantula in a hole.  They are not found here but we did see an Orange-mouthed Tarantula and this one was high up on a tree and after this photograph went into a crack in the tree.

Then we came across another scorpion and an opportunity for Edgar to show us something unique found in Scorpions.  He had a UV light and this was shone on the scorpion.  They glow under black light due to a substance in their exoskeleton called the hyaline layer, which fluoresces under ultraviolet light. The exact reason for this glow is still unclear, but it may help scorpions avoid sunlight, find each other or confuse prey

Here is the Scorpion in normal light, it had caught a moth and was stripping the wings off.  You can see the body is dark, almost black.

Another snake and this one is very small, which is not possible to ascertain from the photograph.  The best description is it is like a shoe lace with a very wide head.  It is in fact a Blunt-headed Tree Snake.  Whilst not dangerous to humans it is mildly venomous and lives in trees and bushes.

We made our way along a trail and encountered a couple of wolf spiders taht I can't definitely identify.  They were about four inches in span and looked aggressive, in fact one took a moth that came too close.

We made our way back to the car park and checked the frog pond and the Fer-de-Lance was still there, but had moved and there was a better view of this snake.  There is something about getting a look at a creature that could, if it wanted to, kill you!

This was the first night walk we had done on our trips to Costa Rica and we both thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  We would be with the guide Edgar tomorrow morning and he said to us we were the only ones signed up so far.  So if it stays that way he would take us to some where special rather than a trip along the dust road.  Fingers crossed.