Finally, some decent images of the Central American Coral Snake!
|
|
|
Mabuya
The bronze-backed climbing skink is in a pretty cool sounding genus: Mabuya. Incidently, it appears to be one of the only genera that has remained stable since Savage’s 2002 Herps of CR book. Many other genera have changed since and are published in Savage and Bolanos 2009 Zootaxa.
Mating season
There seem to be too many plants and animals for me to memorize and learn. I lack knowledge of entire groups of organisms – from what they are, to their ecological roles. I won’t even mention organisms in Domains, such as Eubacteria (although I just mentioned it…), but insects and plants are phenomenally diverse, even in Ohio, and I am overwhelmed with it… I need more time – well, that, and a bit of patience to actually look at the insects and plants. Little by little, I’m getting it, but in the mean time, I watch butterflies mate.
 |
 |
Juvenile Bare-Throated Tiger-Heron
 |
 |
95 degrees is both hot for me and hot for this tiger-heron. The heron sat, perched and panting on a log for several minutes, seemingly too hot to fly off.
The Second-Wave of Mosquitoes
| The mosquitoes are getting out of control. Walking through parts of the wetland, I litterally have difficulty seeing my feet, not because they are underwater, but because there are thousands of freshly emerged mosquitoes dodging my boots.
It seems that this is the second generation of mosquitoes, with the first potentially being left-overs from the dry season. It’ll be interesting, to say the least, to experience the exponential growth. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Decomposition-in-a-bag
 |
I’ve set out 200 mesh plastic bags to examine decomposition rates and changes in litter chemistry of four types of litter: freshly killed Eichhornia crassipes and Typha domingensis (or dominguensis depending on what paper you read), and the past seasons accumulated litter from both aforementioned species. The bags sit, baking in the sun, attached to 3-m poles of PVC, which actually may be too short given the height of Typha (cattail) around here. The two photographs of bags below show some test bags I set out a few days ago, with tadpoles skimming around the surface of the bag… potentially attempting to enter and process the litter themselves. The other photo is designated site E1. |
By the way, check out the excellent sewing job on the bags below… I can pump those out at a rate of 50 in 4 hrs now, although I started out at a much slower rate.
 |
 |
More Black-Necked Stilts
The Black-Necked Stilts have come to the wetland by the OET Palo Verde station.
 |
Hatchlings have come
The hatchlings are pouring out from the mountains towards the wetland. I’ve seen several more than these three, but these were the only ones I took photographs of, and, unfortunately, my camera lens was a bit foggy. Although it’s absolutely awesome to see these turtles, it makes me miss mine quite a bit.
 |
 |
Tringa sp.
Is this a Solitary Sandpiper, Tringa solitaria?
 |
 |
Gymnophthalmus speciosus
 |
 |
A new family of lizard for me, gymnophthalmids are known as specticled lizards because of the presence of a transparent eyelid. They are small lizards, and, according to Wikipedia, are also known as Microteiids because they are related to the Teiidae. There are also lots of Teiidae (whiptail) here in Palo Verde, mostly Amieva undulata and A. quadrilineata. This individual had a missing forelimb, which you can see in the picture on the right.