2019 Costa Rica Journal - Day 3 Part 2 - Esquinas Rainforest Lodge

After dinner we got together with Andrey for a night hike.  Andrey is very knowledgeable about the night critters around the lodge.

We started in the gardens near the swimming pool. Andrey seemed to be able to spot frogs everywhere! This Drab Tree Frog was sitting on a sign. With their sticky toe-pads they seem to be able to climb anything. 

 Drab Tree Frog

Drab Tree Frog

Next we saw a Common Rainfrog.  It turns out that most of these species have several different common names, depending on where you are. Biologists typically use latin names to prevent confusion, but who wants to call them "Craugastor fitzinger"??

Common Rainfrog

On the deck of the pool Audrey found this pair of frogs in what is called "amplexus". Amplexus is a mating behavior in which the smaller male grasps a female, in anticipation of her releasing eggs which he then fertilizes. What was unusual in this case is that the male is a Drab Tree Frog but the female is a Masked Tree Frog. Seems like the little fellow was a bit confused!

Amplexus - Male Drab Tree Frog on female Masked Tree Frog

We then headed out into the forest to investigate some small ponds. Here we found the largest frog in the area, the Smokey Jungle Frog, aka Central American Bullfrog. Correction!  Andrey has identified this as a Savege's Bull Frog.

Savege's Bull Frog

We came to a very small pool that was loaded with frogs and their egg masses. The most common was the Tungera Frog. These frogs make nests of foam when they lay eggs. But I apparently failed to get a picture of that species. What I did get was this Green Climbing Toad. 

Green Climbing Toad

The frog that Costa Rica is most famous for is the Red-eyed Tree Frog. It is used in a lot of advertising literature as they are cute and very tropical looking. We saw several of them near the final small pool. 

 Red-eyed Tree Frog

Red-eyed Tree Frog

The Red-eyed Tree Frogs on the Pacific side of Costa Rica aren't quite as colorful as their Carribean cousins, as those have orange feet. Here is a picture that we got two years ago at the Arenal Volcano Observatory. 

At Esquinas we also got to see several egg masses from the Tree Frogs. They are placed on the underside of leaves that overhang water, so that hatching tadpoles drop into the pond below. 

Red-eyed Tree Frog egg mass

As a final treat Andrey showed us the roost site of some Tent-making Bats. They were gone for the evening, but we came back the next morning to see them in their roost. 

Tent-making Bats

Tent-making Bats create their shelter by chewing through the ribs of palm leaves and causing them to fold over on themselves. The bats then roost beneath the "tent" which protects them from weather and predators. Pretty smart!

Tent-making Bats "tent"

Next: Golfo Dulce Boat Tour