9/1/2009 Las Cruce Biological Field Station, Costa Rica
Crud, I've let my journal go for over a week and now have much to catch up on. So: 8/27 was by far the most eventful day, or at least evening. First of all, early in the evening we went herping in the gardens and nearby jungle trail. Not much seen by way of herps, excepting the common rain frog of which a picture was previously posted. On jungle trail, however, an amazing assortment of arachnids was seen, including what might have been a member of Ctenidae and what was definitely a Thelyphonid. At the end of the trail, however, was the coolest sighting, some form of large arboreal mammal of cat-like appearance. It being high in the tree, we cannot currently be sure of the identification. The two most likely IDs are either a kinkajou or a tayra of unusual color. Videos of kinkajous really show different movements, though, and tayra's just don't seem to have as light coloration as what we saw. The final option, extremely unlikely according to experts around here, was a young puma. Problems: extremely rare in this part of Costa Rica, only occasionally arboreal (described as "usually ground dwelling though very comfortable in trees"), and not likely to be as small. Also, one of the group is certain he saw a fluffy tail, ruling out kinkajou and making puma less likely. Finally, both the tayra and puma tend to be diurnal, though some characteristics indicate a possibly diurnal animal hanging out for the night. Observed characteristics: light brown or tan color, maybe lighter around jaw. Squarish snout shape, possibly with normal sized eyes for head (as opposed to over-sized eyes often seen in nocturnal animals). about 1 meter, give or take a quarter. Possibly fluffy tail. Behavior: mostly calmly sat in tree. After first fiveish minutes made a sudden move to nearby branches, otherwise showed no signs of being bothered by our present. Seemed to move with catlike-smoothness at times and jerky, rapid movements at others, plus I could have sworn I saw in cleaning itself (could have been head jerking movements of a tayra, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbWm3aD59vk&NR=1). Would sit close to tree, like in a crouch. As mentioned, mostly unresponsive to us, but the clicking noise of moving headlamp position invariable provoked response; it would immediately jerk its head toward us upon hearing. That's allot of writing about one animal, but not knowing what it was I want to get down all that we observed so it won't be forgotten. What made the night even more memorable, however, was what happened immediately afterward. A little after we returned to the field station, another pair of students (Tony and Dusty) ran back in telling us they saw what must have been a jaguar near the dining hall area. They were very convincing, and having just seen ourselves what we at the time took to be a large cat we got excited and followed them back out to get a better look. I should mention that they had fled immediately upon hear growl and seeing eyes. Assuming we would have strength in numbers, Tony, Dusty, Eyes, Jono, John, and myself went back to where they saw this creature. I don't think I can accurately describe the seen of us approaching the site; six grown men, in an outward facing huddle, flashlights sweeping the garden around us. John was carrying a 1m piece of rebar I found sticking in the ground, and Tony ended up picking up a huge woody branch, while I have tactical flashlight in defense position- a firm reverse grip held by my head. At one point Jono slipped and went down and the rest of us suffered an instant of terror as we hear him fall and yell and turn to see him slipping into a bush as if something had his feet. Finally we approach the spot where the beast was sighted, and in a bundle huddled down and looked around. Then- a pair of eyes; terror, exhilaration, then the realization that they were inside a fenced-in yard and finally a good look at the German shepherd, and everybody broke down laughing. I need to get to other things, but I do need to quickly mention the birding trip I took 8/31 in which we saw/heard 77 sp. of birds. Leighton Reid, a Sewanee alumn and co-founder of the great and noble Sewanee Natural History Society (of which I was patricial last year) led this epic expedition, and I can tell you he is an awesome birder. His knowledge of bird songs and ability to ID many sp. at a glance saved us great deals of time, as did his intimate knowledge of bird habitat in the area and where to try to call in certain birds. The most awesome birds seen had to have been the Great Tinamo, a flightless bird which resembles a cross between a turkey and a pigeon, and the white whiskered puff bird. Eventually I'll get around to posting the entire list of sp. seen to date, but don't have time now. Also seen but not of avian relation was a huge pack of coatis, which was absalutely awesome although Leighton says there almost a pest in abundance. These were my second identified non-US mammal, however, so I was exited.