La Selva -- miscellaneous fun

As Carlos' and my month (actually a little more than that) at La Selva ends, I thought I would write one last blog post with some fun pictures of the random things I have encountered on this trip. We leave for Las Cruces tomorrow morning and I will be able to see new plants and animals at this high-elevation (~1200 m) pre-montane forest site.

This glass frog (Femily Centrolenidae) -- so named for its amazing transparent skin -- laid a clutch of eggs on the underside of a leaf next to the Stone Bridge. I have been watching the eggs and they are almost fully-developed. The small tadpoles are almost fully formed (after 2 weeks) and have begun dropping into the river below.

One of the researchers here is collecting dead animals that are found throughout the La Selva property and creating museum specimens. She showed Carlos and me her cleaned/stuffed 3-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus).

A White-necked Jacobin hummingbird (Florisuga mellivora) made a nest very near the CES trail and we have seen her incubating these eggs. Only one survived and now there is a scruffy baby taking up all the space in the tiny nest.

Here is a picture of me with one of the Astrocayum alatum palms that I grew from a seed during my dissertation. This tree is approximately 5 years old (palms are very slow growers)!

Here I experimented with my iPhone to take a panoramic picture. I had biked about 5 km down the STR trail and thought this was a nice scene of the river, my bike, and the trail.

One night I was invited to the house of one of the off-station researchers for dinner and we made  some delicious pad thai.

I like this cute little table sitting in the sun near the Lab Viejo in the lab clearing.

I found this cute frog on the sidewalk one night while walking back to my cabina from dinner.

I am not sure if the internet at Las Cruces will let me upload regular blog posts while I am there, but I will give it a try!