Trip 25
May 20 to 27, 2017
Day 1: Saturday: May 20th 2017
I just had my last cup of coffee and packed my suitcase into the car. I have a 40-minute drive to the airport in the city of David, Panama. I am sheading for Costa Rica to meet up with nine other Herpers for the 25th trip of COSTA RICA HERPING ADVENTURES. I had to take the long way around like flying to Panama City with an hour and half layover and then fly Panama City to Costa Rica. I got there around noon, the line to Immigrations was over an hour. Costa Rica packs them in everyday, so you can expect a wait at that time of day. Ten-minute taxi ride to the Hotel Areopuerto. One of our Herpers, Terry came in a day early so he was the first one I met at the hotel. He and I did a little herp talk to get acquainted. It was not long before Patrick arrived soon the three of us were sharing our herping experiences. Later in the afternoon John and his wife Ellen and their friend Lonnie. John was on the second CRHA trip; his first Nov 6, 2001. We had not seen each other since that time. But we email each other and He brought a pair of baby Ring Python from me 3 or 4 years after our trip. It was great seeing him again, I hope our next meeting is not 16 years like the last time. We had one Herper coming in today and he should have been here a couple of hours ago. He did text John, John told him the hotel was not at the airport. He told him to get a taxi and have him take you to The Hotel Areopuerto, he arrived. The hotel restaurant had been booked for a wedding that night so we ate on the terrace outside which was great. Soon we all were heading for our beds, travel days are tough and we all were feeling it.
Day 2: Sunday, May 21st 2017
Got up early and headed to the restaurant for my first cup of Costa Rican great coffee. I was the first of our group to get there but it was long for the rest to get there. Everyone ate as much as they wanted. Our cars were delivered around 8:30am after getting all the drivers paperwork done we were on our way by 9:30. We had a 3 ½ to 4-hour drive ahead of us. We would make one stop for a bathroom break and to by rubber-boots for those that did have leg protection for our night walk. We arrived at the lodge and I introduced everyone to Mark and his wife Donna and Pete. These guys came in a week ago to do a little herping in difference part of the country. This would be Mark and Donna 7th trip with CRHA and Pete’s 14 trip with me. I passed out the rooms keys for everyone to get their luggage settled their rooms. Time for lunch everyone ate like they had not seen food for a week. Next would a two-hour hike on a trail that covers both primary and secondary forest. We did find our first Eyelash Viper of the trip. After our hike we when back to the lodge. I toll everyone to rest up for a while and be in the restaurant by about 6 to eat dinner and we would start our night walk as soon as it was dark. I headed back to La Fortuna to pick up my friend and follow Herping Miguel. Miguel had been the wildlife guide for the lodge for several years and he knows the ground like the back of his hand. Miguel joined us for dinner, soon we were looking for our first snake. It didn’t take long before the cameras came and we were take photos of our first snake of the night. It was a nice Eyelash Viper.
Before we got to bed we had found 21 snake that night. And with the Eyelash we found during the day, we end up with 22 snake for are first day in the field.
We are looking forward to tomorrow!
Day 3: Monday, May 22nd 2017
At breakfast there was a lot of enthusiasm for the actions we had yesterday, we where to find snakes and we found them yesterday. Will this good luck hold? Time will tell! Our plan for today is a 2 to 3 walk down the hill behind the lodge. We walk area every trip and have some luck once in a while during the day. On today walk we did not find any snakes. But things had changed a lots. The lodge has done in the six month since I was last near. A lot of the areas have been cleared under and around trees making everything look a lot better an easier to hunt. There was an old building that have been vacant since I been coming here. Now it looks new, all rotten wood has been replaced with a great paint job. They also put in a bathroom with toilets and a sink. In side the building area was turned into a museum with photos going back to the beginning of the lodge. About 30+ years ago this property as purchased to grow Macadamia trees for macadamia nuts. After many years of trail and error they gave up not that project. The built the Lodge and raised cattle. You could hours reading the interesting history of the whole area. I remember in the mid-seventies one of the big thing they were pushing to the expat coming to Costa Rica was buying property to grow Macadamia and Teak trees. On the drive from San Jose to the lodge you can see vast areas of Teak Trees ago the way. After spending some time in the museum we walked a little more down the the big Rancho that is in a mountain peak with a great view of the Arenal Volcano and Lago Arenal. Ok its time to hunt are way back to the Lodge and a lot of it is up hill. I went off trail quite a few time to hunt groups of tree that look like snakes should be hanging of the climbs. Finally, we made it back to the Lodge we all clean up and made it to lunch. I told everyone they were on their own until diner tonight. Most went to the pool and then rested up for tonight. About 3 o’clock the clouds started rolling in and I didn’t like the looks of things. By 4 o’clock we had a strong rain pouring down on us. After a couple of hours we had a little break in the rain. We were eating dinner by the time we were finished it was coming down hard. What to do? We could wait and see if it would slow down or we could go and find some snakes. We decided to give it half hour and then go. It did slow a bit. I’ve been in this situation before mostly by chance we get caught but this is going into a hard rain when you dry and you know you will wet like jumping into a pool in two minutes. But we are here to find snakes, so let go. We did find one Blunt-head Tree Snake. It was so hard to look up into the trees because tons of water were hitting your eyeball; they got a good cleaning better than Bloch and Loam ever could do. After a while we started to see lighting and headed back to the Lodge. We did find one Blunt-Headed Tree Snake on our night hunt.
Day 4: Tuesday, May 23rd 2017
Today like yesterday started with brilliant blue skies and plenty of sunshine. A little after breakfast one of the hotel staff told she had found a snake. It was just outside of one of our rooms so she just dropped a towel over it and found one of us. We needed an easy one after last night mage rain. It was baby Coral Snake; we all got cameras and photo this beauty and then took it to the edge of the rain forest and let him go. Later in the day another baby Coral Snake was found in the laundry which was not far from where we drop off the first one. We took photos of that one also and compared the snakes. There were two different snakes the same size. I say we these snakes must have just come out the eggs. While we were away from the Lodge another baby Coral was found at the front desk. They just got a broom and swept it away. That afternoon we went to La Fortuna to a friend of Miguel’s who is establishing a Sloth rehabilitation center. They had some Sloths on the ground and we had a chance of see them. We walked the area in two groups and one of the group got to see a couple of Sloths and my group didn’t, we did see two species if Dart Frogs auratus and pumlio, also a few lizards Ameivas and Anoles. That night after dinner it was raining but not heavy we got our gear on and we were ready to go then It really came. We wait a while and it slowed again. We hunted an hour and a half and then it came down heavy again, plus thunder and lighting. We called it a night. For day we got 2 CR Coral Snakes, 4 Eyelash Vipers, 2 Cat-Eyed Snakes, 2 Snail-eaters one Cloudy and one Lichen-colored; 10 snakes for the day.
Day 5: Wednesday: May 24th 2017
Today after breakfast we didn’t have anything plan as a group and everyone did as they pleased. I head for the Amazonia which is an area that they started back in 2008 and collapsed with the economic turn down of the time. This area has horses grazing so the grass is not to high and is easy to walk. This is the area where 0n Trip 20, we found the False Fer-de-Lance (Xenodon rabdocephalus). That was was the only time I had seen this snakes. At first we though It was the real thing and catch it in that frame of mind. We were trying to bag it when I noticed the eyes had round pupil and was not our venomous friend. That was a great find; I had never heard talk of that specie nor read any articles on that snake before or since then. Another time I was walking this area I was on a small hill and looking in a field below me when I noticed several large rocks in the distance. As I looked I said to myself that I have never noticed those rock before. About then I saw one of those rock moved and then another moved Earthquake? No they were animals, I start to walk forwarded them and a little further and I recognized them as Collard Peccary’s. This was the first time I had seen them in the wild, there was 15 of them according to my count. So here I was again doing a solitary walk again poking around to see what I could see. A short time later on another small hill I saw 2 White Tailed Deer running around chasing each other. From the distance I was from them I could not tell if they were male and female. I watch them for 15 minutes just felling that I was where I belonged watching nature unfolding this show just for me. I started walking back to the lodge happy to have seen the deer. I didn’t see a snakes on my little walk but that OK. I know I’ll do the same thing on my next trip. We had lunch and some of us met at the pool for a swim and laying around in the sun. Finally, a day without clouds could this be a sign we might not have rain again tonight. The though made me a little excided, time will tell. Later I the afternoon Patrick found me and he was excited, he had just caught a 5 to 6-foot Parrot Snake. I said let see it and off to his room, the snake was a beauty. After dinner there was just a little sprinkle come down it looked it could go either ways
We were hunting an area hoping to find a snake, when I heard a noise in the brush. I moved in quietly and saw an Armadillo, as I was watching him hunting for insects. I noticed that it was not the common 9 Banded Armadillo. It was an Armadillo I had never seen before. About that time it noticed me and took off running and after a moment so did I. When I chase Armadillos, I’m able to catch one about 50% of the time. But this was not one of those times. He ran into a group of palm trees which had 5 or 6 inch spines. I wisely stopped before getting stuck. This Armadillo turned out to be the Naked-tailed Armadillo (Cabassous centralis). We got a break and made the best of we could end up with 12 snakes for the day.
Day 6 : Thursday: May 25th 2017
After a great breakfast I said to myself that things are not so good with all this rain and the number of snakes we have found are below what is normal. We have two nights left for herping and we are at the mercy of the rains. If the nights are clear, we should be OK. Our area for tonight hunt is generally productive but you never know. Tonight’s area starts in back of the Lodge and we head into the fields with citrus groves. Some night are slow and some are great. A few trip back we found 4 snakes in one trees. There was a Parrot Snake, a Red Ringed Snail-eater, an Eyelash Viper and a Bird Snake. We need a lot of trees like that. That was the most snakes we ever found in one tree. And actually the Bird Snake climbed into the trees from a near by tree while were taking photos of the other snakes. We can use a little luck to get things back on tract. During the day we hunted around and no one found any snakes. The rain was off and on but not hard or long in duration. After dinner things looked good as far as the rain concerned. We got to the groves and had not seen a snake yet. But by the time we left the groves we had found 2 Eyelash Vipers and a Blunt-headed Tree Snake. From the groves we moved into hilly area which was hard to walk do to the land have cattle on it. With this much rain we have been having the cattle sink into the mud and leave a hole. Which of course you can see at night so your are in and out of the holes and it is slow going. Mark, Patrick and I kind of left the main group and work our ways to the road that ran up to the Lodge. It took us about an hour to get near the road when Mark spotted a Fer-de-Lance on the side of a small hill. By the time Patrick and I got there the snake got into a hole and was lost, so no photos of that one. A few minutes later we were on the road. We hunted around and Patrick came up with a Cat-eye Snake. After a while we could see the lights heading our way from the other group. I took them a long time getting to the road. They spent a lot of time taking photos of the 5 more Eyelash Vipers and another Cat-eye Snake, plus a Sibon.We had an hour clime to the Lodge and on our way we found three more snakes. We ended the day with 15 snakes!!
Day 7 Friday: May 26th 2017.
Our last day in the field, it comes on every trip and with a little pressure to find more snakes and see if we can break our record of 104 snakes Trip 23. With the rain we had on this trip we don’t have to concern ourselves with records. Of all trip this is the worst by far. Very few trips have hard rains and it’s a hard rain but it’s not day after day. I can only remember 3 or 4 trips that had remember rains. Well no since in winning about we have to face whatever comes our way. We still have tonight and during the days it’s been clear so far. The late afternoon clouds came our way with a couple on light showers. This was our last dinner as a group so we all want to eat hardy so we could stay out longer if we have to.
Miguel, Jim, Pete’ Lonnie, Mark, Donna, Kris, Terry
Sitting: Patrick, Ellen & John
After our last dinner we met outside our rooms everyone talking and getting ready for our hunt. Pete came out of his room and was doing a high step dance. I did not think he could get his legs high. He had just stepped over an Eyelash Viper right in front of his door. I said ta lease we are not going to get skunked tonight. Tonight we are heading for red frog mountain, the only place around we may see the red and blue dart frog (Oophaga pumilio). I personal like this place we found some very interesting snakes there and I’m hoping it happen again tonight. We got into the cars for a short ride. Pretty soon we were there, some thing new they put in concert posts that we could turn side ways and walk trough, instead of climbing under the bob-wire fence. Soon we were getting into the area and I’m listing for somebody yelled Snake! Within a few minute I heard Snake! being yelled! Hearing that and not have any rain was music to my ears. And to make it even better I was looking at a snake I had never seen before. It looked to me to be in the Racer family. Very close to us I heard Snake again. It turned out to be another of our first snake. Over the past couple of trips I noticed that we are finding two snakes at a time. And they are male & female which leads my to believe it’s the breeding season in this part of CR. So, on the May trips once you spot a snake look hard around you, you may just find another near by. The racer we where new species for CRHA, Blotched Racers (Drymobius rhombifer). The rest of night we had no rain and more snakes. We found a Halloween Snake, 3 more Eyelash Vipers, a Fer-de-Lance, 2 Cay-eye Snakes, 3 Hog-nose Pit-Vipers, 2 Lichen-colored Snail-eaters. And including the Eyelash that made Pete dance early in the evening we totaled 15 snakes for the day. Making our trip total 74 Snakes and 74 tons of rain per Snake.
Day 8 Saturday: May 27th 2017.
I usually don’t review our travel day back to San Jose, but this trip has been unusual with all the rain. And so was our travel day. Patrick, Terry and I were in one car with me driving. The trip back to the Hotel Areopuerto usually takes 3.5 to 4.0 hours depending on traffic and road conditions. We were rolling along talking about our trip. When the traffic was slowing down I didn’t have a good feeling about this, maybe an accident? We finally we got to the road block. They were turning car around because with all the rain a bridge was washed away. We had to re-route ourselves. I called Miguel and explained our problem. He said that he ad his wife needed to go to a university that was on the new route we would have to take. He would be very happy if we could talk them with us. I said you bet we will glad to take you. A half-hour later we had them in the car and we were on our way. The 3.5-hour trip turn into a 6-hour trip. But we got a lot of new country. This type of problem can come up any time that why I tell all the Herper on the trips to plan on fly home on Sunday. We make to the Hotel Areopuerto and the rest of the crew were already there. The hotel had the restaurant book for a big wedding that night. So, we got to eat in the garden. Perfect atmosphere with band playing the music. I would like to do that the next time too.
Another Trip added to my old wet Snake Bag!!
Jim
Statistics for Trip 24
| Bothriechis schlegelii | Eyelash Viper |
31 |
| Bothrops asper | Fer-de-Lance |
4 |
| Imantodes cenahoa | Blunthead Tree Snake |
6 |
| Leptodeira septentrionalis | Northern Cateye Snake |
8 |
| Micrurus mosquitensis | Costa Rican Coral Snake |
3 |
| Ninia sebae | Red Coffee Snake |
3 |
| Porthidium nasutum | Rainforest Hognose Pitviper |
3 |
| Leptophis ahaetulla | Parrot Snake |
1 |
| Sibon longifrenis | Lichen-colored Snail-eater |
1 |
| Sibon nebulatus | Cloudy Snail-eater |
6 |
| Pseustes poecilonotus | Bird Snake |
2 |
| Drymobius rhombifer | Blotched Racer* new for CRHA* |
2 |
| Rhadinaea decorata | Elegant Litter Snake | 2 |
| Ninia maculata | Banded Coffee Snake | 2 |
Total Snakes for Trip 25 74~~~