Costa Rica Night Walk!!

/ Ed Armstrong
We had a spectacular sunset as we enjoyed dinner!! Afterwards, we went on a night walk with a local guide. It was amazing to see creatures that thrive at night!!

Our first encounter was a poisonous frog!! Our guide held the frog by the back of his body to avoid the area where poisonous substances are secreted.

Our next encounter was this small snake. Our guide said that this snake was not poisonous. However, I do not like to be too close to snakes!!

This is another view of our friendly snake. I thought it was interesting that he had a white color on part of his head.

Our next encounter was a Costa Rican scorpion. There are a number of different scorpions in Costa Rica. Our guide found this guy in a tree and sort of scooped him into a plant “wrapper.” He carefully opened the wrapper with two rocks so we could see him. This guy was quite a bit larger than most of the scorpions I have seen in Arizona.

This is another view of the same scorpion to show that he glows under a black light.

We next came across this friendly frog. He patiently sat looking at us as we photographed him.

Our next discover was a tarantula sitting on a tree trunk. As long as we kept some distance, he did not seem to mind being photographed. As we walked closer, he moved inside the tree.

We next discovered this amazing spider. She had quite a large web and seemed to be waiting for a large bug to be caught in her web.

We next discovered this frog that was enjoying the night!! He seemed happy to be photographed!

This little guy is the star of the show!! This is Red Eye Tree Frog and he is very famous in Costa Rica!! A photo of this guy is the lead photo for the tour I am on. He is small, but his huge red eyes capture everyone’s hearts!! We were very excited that we were able to find one of these guys!!

Our last night creature was this amazing bug that had two green lights on the front of his head!! When he was getting ready to fly away, he had an orange light start on his abdomen and then he flew away!!

The next morning, I got up at 5:30 am to photograph birds near the lodge. The lodge staff put out fruit on some nearby branches for the birds to eat. I have been infatuated by this bird for the past few days. I love the brilliant orange color and jet black feathers. He moves around quickly, so he is hard to photograph.

I love the gorgeous colors of all the Costa Rican birds!! They are amazing!! Many people in our group have a strong interest in discovering these birds!

The birds really seem to enjoy bananas!!

I really like to blue colors of this bird!!

Brilliant yellow feathers are so gorgeous!!

I really like this bird!! His colors are amazing!!

This cute guy seemed to be quite intrigued with being photographed!!

This rotund guy was very happy enjoying his banana!!

I loved the colors with this bird!!

The multiple colors of this guy were beautiful!!

I thought this yellow and black combination was fantastic!!

This guy was a happy eater!!

Fruit is very popular with the birds!!