Bolita- Day Eight

Another beautiful morning with singing birds and tropical air. Today we tried to hike the longest trail around the mountains and down to Rio Tigre. Unfortunately due to a tornado blowing acoss his property earlier in the year and it being off season the trail hadn't been cleared yet. Trust me this is a big job because some HUGE trees had fallen over. Chris and I crawled over many and I almost fell down a hill in the process. Eventually we turned back but all that effort wasn't for nothing because we got a new species just on the part of the trail we could walk. A Pug-nosed Anole was brightly coloured and well camouflaged on the side of the trails we were clamoring up.

Pug-nosed Anole (Norops capito)

Later in the day after a short period of rain we did the long trek up to the got-to-go lookout. On the way up we took a connecting trail where we found many dart frogs! This was my first time seeing a juvenile dart frog in the wild. They have much similar patterns as the adults but with a smaller size and more contrast between the colours. There were many litter skinks and whiptail lizards crawling around in the afternoon heat.

Litter Skink

There were still huge trees to climb over and the going was very slippery and muddy. It was very tough work and in the end we didn't find the got-to-go lookout but because so many trees being down had some amazing views anyways. We had hiked the same forest as Corcovado National Park without the $80 boat /guide fee and were finding a tonne of wildlife. Bolita was quickly becoming out favorite place in Costa Rica. The Osa really seamed to be the last place where Costa Rica really was still Costa Rica.

Juvenile frog (rain or tink?)

Our night walk tonight took us back down the first trail we ever went down at Bolita and back to the small stream and waterfall.  A few new species showed up on this walk but we surprisingly didn't hear any glass frogs at that stream.

Orb Weaver Spider

Water Anole (Norops aquaticus)

Common Rain Frog (E. fitzingeri)

 There were a lot of common rain frogs along the trail. These guys were the most common frog species we saw in Costa Rica and can be quite variable in size and colouration.

Common Rain Frog (E. fitzingeri)

Common Rain Frog (E. fitzingeri)