I’ve seen a lot of new snakes lately. This one was one of the most tame and coolest snakes. 
Adult dragonflies
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These dragonflies are everywhere, and their eyes are very reflective, like a mirror. How does one tell dragonfly families apart as adults, as in Libellulidae and Aeshnidae? I can do so with the larva, and have seen exhuvia of both families, but I’ve never had any practice with adults.
Remember this tree?
Does anyone remember the giant fruits produced by Plumeria? I think on the course trips to Palo Verde in January with Kent, Plumeria was leafless and had large hanging fruits, which we picked and opened on top of the overlook (Guayacan). Now it has flowers and is blooming.
Hoffmann’s Woodpecker
I’ve seen a lot of these, but haven’t taken many photographs yet. There is a pair that hang out around the station and make a lot of noise when I or another animal approaches them.
Rainbow or Sunbeam Boa
Loxocemus bicolor is a new species and family for me, although the family, Loxocemidae, is monotypic. It’s a beautiful snake that reflects a rainbow of colors in the sunlight. Additionally, it’s large, strong, and semi-fosorial.
Neotropical rattlesnake
After capturing this rattlesnake, Boa fed it a mouse, which it recently released as a brown, moist mush that appears to have permanently stained the bucket it was in with a horrible stench. The snake is a juvenile, and didn’t even have any rattle segments. It is the only one we’ve seen so far.
Long-tailed snake
I’m not certain about the common name in that (1) my source (the Internet) isn’t really reliable and (2) there was nothing long about this snake. (Don’t look into ‘2’ too much)
Another bite
Lesson learned: Coniophanes piceivittis has a painful bite due to rear fangs.
Yes… the photos are piss-poor, but I didn’t exactly have time to adjust the shutter speed.
Rolling, Rolling, Rolling
Two dung beetles rolled their ball of delicious fecal matter into between the buttresses of a tree. One appeared to begin searching for a hole that had been made previously, while the other waited.
I learned a little about depth of field with my camera today… so maybe next time, both dung beetles will be in focus.
Invading army ants
At the Catalina sector wetland, a group from Clemson and I discovered a stream of army ants (Eciton burchellii; I think) that had fanned out into a raiding swarm at one end. There were hundreds of hidden cockroaches, crickets, hemipterans and other insects fleeing the area that was being scavenged by the ants. A few insects appeared not to be bothered by the biting, stinging formacids, and soon became prey. We watched the wasp pictured here go from freely sitting on a leaf to being completely dismantled with little or no reaction by the wasp. The other picture is one of the soldier ants that was provoked by myself and others. At first I laughed at her futile attempt to protect her sisters, until I realized that she was merely distracting me with a pose while several others climbed up my camera strap…
