Giant Silk Moths
I know I’m easily distracted, and I know I should have been preparing for an RTPI Foundation Board meeting, but I could not pass up the opportunity to get a closer look at the beautiful creatures hanging out on the light post in front of RTPI this morning. I should have known that I would not be able to sneak out of the building carrying a butterfly net and a step ladder without anyone noticing… Two giant silk moths on the same light post! A Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) and a Luna Moth (Actias luna) were enjoying a little daytime nap before continuing their mission: to...
Read MoreHarlequin Darner
I was very jealous of Twan once I saw this! He took a quick photo of a Harlequin Darner (Gomphaeschna furcillata) that was visiting his yard earlier this week, a beautiful, friendly and often interactive dragonfly species that can be found in the early spring in a variety of wooded, and of course wet, habitats. Harlequin Darners are known to land on you if you are standing in the woodlands, avoiding your net and then deciding your hat or the leg of your pants is a good place to hang out. They have landed on my head, my arm, my chest, my leg, my foot…and I want to have one find me soon!...
Read MoreLesser Sac-winged Bat (Saccopteryx leptura)
This is a Lesser Sac-winged Bat (Saccopteryx leptura), very commonly found in the bathrooms and facilities at Cocobolo Nature Reserve! This individual started to call a bit after having been netted, and a few more bats quickly came to investigate. Sean was surprised how close some of them got to him on his way out of the bathroom with his new friend, but it sounds like it was a friendly mammal meeting nonetheless. Photographed by RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser for the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project in Panama while on assignment for the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural...
Read MoreSpeckled Tanager (Tangara guttata)
The Speckled Tanager (Tangara guttata) is not a species that Sean expected to capture and photograph. Common in premotane/humid forests, Rara Avis in Costa Rica is the perfect setting. This bird could be seen in mixed feeding flocking in the main open area of the preserve, and when it was actually caught it stuck out like a shimmering gem in the net. Photographed by RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser for the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project in Costa Rica while on assignment for the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History.
Read MoreKentucky Warbler Recapture and Cabo Blanco Birds
The first session of our fourth year at Cabo Blanco is in the books. Cabo Blanco is Costa Rica’s first national preserve, established over fifty years ago. The preserve is mostly one generation of forest that has re-grown over a 60-year period. It was once all primary forest, but was cut down for farmland. We start the morning walking up a winding trail to our banding station tucked away near a few fallen trees. Along trails we’ve secretly cut are twenty well-placed mist nests to catch a wide variety of avifauna that uses the preserves habitat. Once we reach the base camp every morning we...
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