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New Website, New Blog, but the Old Blog Archive remains: September 28, 2023

After many years of wanting a real website, this month I finally have a website designed by the very knowledgeable Rey Rey Rodriguez ( TheMindOfReyRey ). My old blog,  Vacation-Travel-Adventure .com  continues with the same address but it is located in the "Archives" tab on my new website  https://www.ceciliaclark.com/ . The new blog which is a continuation but with much better resolution for 4K screens is now at  https://www.ceciliaclark.com/blog .

Caño Negro Boat Tour, Costa Rica: December 17, 2021

Howler Monkeys watching me

Today was our day for the Sky Tram/Zip Line Tour. Since it was raining, since seeing the Volcano was impossible, since we had already had a wet, but thrilling zip line Canopy Tour at Pacuare, we replaced it with a visit to Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge. The boat trip begins at Los Chiles which is just five miles from the border with Nicaragua. We had rain at Caño Negro but the pontoon boat had a roof on it so the rain didn't slow us down.


The first animals we saw were Howler Monkeys. They are the second loudest mammal in the world behind the Blue Whale. We did not have the pleasure of hearing their howls on this day.

Howler Monkeys are normally black with some golden brown on their sides. Here at Caño Negro there are two Howler Monkeys, an adult male and a juvenile male, with minimal melanin so their coats are quite golden and almost orange. A third melanin deficient monkey, a female, lives with another troop. The condition is called Pheomelanism.



A line of evenly spaced Long-nosed bats
A Caiman in the swampy area around the river
Green Iguana-male
Green Iguana-male
We saw lots of Green Iguanas. In their breeding phase, males turn orange. We saw one macho Green Iguana with a harem of at least seven females sprawled over a tangle of branches. He looks very pleased with himself.

Male Green Iguana and his harem
Close up of Green Iguana and harem
Basilisks are called "Jesus Christ lizards" because when they jump from where they are resting, it looks like they are walking on water. 

Emerald Basilisk-male
Emerald Basilisk-female
Amazon Kingfisher-male
Amazon Kingfishers (left-female; right-male)

Anhinga also called Snake Bird because of the way it snakes it neck when it is swimming

Neotropic Cormorant with gorgeous Turquoise Eyes
Boat-Billed Heron
One of the Rain Intervals
Spider Monkey
White-Faced Capuchin Monkey

Most of the males we saw today were more colorful and attractive than the female of the species. As Dan says, it is only in the human animal world that the female of the species is required to look pretty. However, in some more advanced societies like the Maasai or in Niger's Wodaabe that is not so. The men dress and makeup to attract a mate.

We saw lots of birds for which I don't have a decent photo: Great Potoo, Green Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, and some common ones like Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Little Blue Herons. 

We really enjoy seeing wildlife and this was the perfect day trip with Marcos from Caño Negro Tours.

Next stop: Tomorrow Arenas Del Mar on the Pacific Coast

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