Dental Check

Yesterday I went to Punta Leona to a little cove-like beach covered with coral instead of shells.  It was hard on the feet, but beautiful to look at;sadly, it was packed with people, the tide was high, and the rocks were slippery.  We stayed only about an hour, but on the way back took the dirt road along the beach at Hermosa where the turtle refuge was. I was so excited to have this refuge area so close to Bejuco, but it turned out that the long, long road led to nowhere!  The house for the refuge operations had disappeared, washed away in a storm!  The palm trees have some blight and many are standing reminders of our limited time on earth.  Even the beach was peculiar with black sand and waves that were sickly yellow and huge.  On the drive out we did spot this little fellow who looked as though he were smiling for the camera.  He was sleeping until we threw a few stones his way, and he slithered so fast into the water that I was SURE he was going to come up to the road for a revenge kill!  I hopped into the hot, muddy car.

TThis is a Northern Jacana, and when it flies, the underside of his wings are yellow - really lovely.

Finally, my favorite striped Green Heron showed up, but not ONE of these hidden gems would I have seen without my friend Carlos to point them out; he is one of those people who is so tuned into the natural world that he can see things the rest of us miss.  How lucky was that! I am still trying to figure out if this is the heron that barks, but I've written myself a note in my Garrigues and Dean bird book that it is the Bare Throated Tiger Heron that makes the barking noise that really can only be described as a kind of low level bark.  Over and out for yesterday's adventure!