Rainforest living

 This morning neither of us found scorpions in our boots, however, later in the day we discovered a bat in the shower and two anoles on the bedroom wall.  This is true rain forest living.  

We went on a bird walk before breakfast, the highlight of which was seeing scarlet macaws in a tree rather than just flying overhead. After breakfast we took a hike through the rainforest, and learned a lot about that ecosystem... including watching what looked like light rain falling from the tall trees across a valley, but it turned out to be cicada pee! There are enormous numbers of cicadas, very noisy and some so large you can spot them by eye from 20 feet away. They are also a vital food source for monkeys and toucans, especially between fruiting seasons. On that walk we also watched red-capped manikins “moonwalk dance” on a branch and pale-billed woodpeckers taking food home to their nest (see below).

After chasing the sound of toucans all yesterday (only to hear that others had seen them) we finally got a good view today. On another hike after lunch we also saw a two-toed sloth, sleeping in a tree above us, and a howler monkey hanging by his tail to reach leaves to eat.  We heard from a young man from the local sea turtle (Olive Redly species) rescue hatchery, and then from the man who converted the land around the lodge from clear-cut farm fields back into rain forest, a labor of love that has taken 40 years.  It is inspiring to see the devotion to conservation and the visible success of both programs.