Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

  

  Previous versions of Peyton's message #7251827 « 10 Days in Panama (24 pics) »

  

Peyton
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off
10 Days in Panama (24 pics)


I\'ve gotten behind with putting together a post regarding my trip back in April, but teked and Edward Rotberg have been inquiring, so here it goes...

This was my first international trip....I am a natural science curator, working in the Living Collections division of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences...my professional background revolves around work with native reptiles & amphibians, and I\'ve been working with the captive care of various native and exotic herps for the past 3 years. Panama was always a place I wanted to visit because of its incredible amphibian diversity and cool reptiles too

Luckily, my friend whom had visited the country a few times previously also had an aunt who lived on the central Pacific side, so we had a place to crash and regroup with all of our gear.

When we first set out, we drove across the Carretera Interamerican highway, the only major highway that extends through the country and headed NW to the area around Chiriqui Grande and Changuinola. We arrived late into the night and after setting up camp, headed into the jungle for a night hike. Here\'s some pics from that night hike:

Wandering spider
1


red eyed treefrog
2


unknown anole species
3


The next day we started exploring for more diversity after waking up to a traditional breakfast of patacones and beef with peppers and onions It was the end of the dry season and just before the wet season began, so activity was sparse. We finally began seeing some of the phenomenal poison dart frogs from the country:

Green and black poison frog (Dendrobates auratus) - should have used a f-stop around f/10, but it hopped out of site before I got a better shot
4


the \'strawberry\' or flaming poison frog (Oophaga pumilio) - these frogs are tiny, small enough to fit on your index finger:
5



and another pumilio found beside the one pictured above - great variability in some places with these little guys:
6


After finding some cool diurnal frogs, we rested up and repacked for what would turn out to be a brutal night hike. With this being my first trip out of country, I brought a TON of gear...my camera pack probably weighed in at 50lbs...and most of that went with me every day

Our night hike was pleasantly interrupted with what will likely be one of my most memorable finds ever....this coral snake was crawling in the low vegetation just to the right of the mountain trail...the scary part was three people had already walked in front of me and potentially walked right over this snake! It was roughly 1m long and not very cooperative to photograph...my friend ended up with better photos:

Central American coral snake 9Micrurus nigrocinctus)
7


A few more snakes were found along this hike:

Imantodes cenchoa - a snake that specializes on eating amphibian eggs
8


another venomous...a juvenile hognosed viper, Porthidium nasatum:
9


At the end of this hike I nearly collapsed from the weight of my gear and the distance we covered (it wasn\'t horrible, but I\'m not in as good of shape as I use to be...
) I had cankles for 3 days haha.


We came back to Central Panama and did some exploring through areas my friend had traveled before...

El Cope - unfortunately lots of deforestation in the tropical dry forests
10


El Valle - a dry creek bed, resulting from water being diverted for water chestnut cultivation
11


Parque Nacional Omar Torrijos:
12


A cool snake that we found...a type of parrot snake, Leptophis nebulosus, a species that isn\'t well known from the area, and for a few months, I thought I actually had a new species to science...
13


a brilliantly colored climbing toad, Ollotis conifera
14


a sad sight was finding a magnificent snake, Rhinobothrium bovallii hit on the road just before we got to him. These coral snake mimics grow to 6 feet and feed upon other snakes...
15



One of my biggest interest was getting over to the Bocas del Toro archipelago to find the brilliantly colored pumilio that occur on many of the islands. What makes these frogs so interesting is the fact that each island has a different color variety.

Here are some of the sights and frogs we found while island hopping:

O. pumilio \'Darklands\'
16


O. pumilio \'Alimarante\'
17


O. pumilio \'Lower Pasatores\'
18


dolphins in Bocas:
19


O. pumilio \'Solarte\'
20


O. pumilio \'Colon\'
21


O. pumilio \'Bastimentos\' - this morph is variable, here are two individuals found side by side:
22

23


and last but not least, where I wanna live when I retire
24


10 days was surely not enough, and there wasn\'t enough Canon L glass in my bag to capture everything I saw...So I hope to go back to watch Solitary eagles soar in Fortuna, watch the sloths in the treetops, track down that crested owl and roadside hawk that got away, and find a damn eyelash viper if its the end of me!

Sorry there weren\'t any birds or cuddling charismatic megafauna, but thats not my style

Hope you all enjoyed, I could have rambled more, but I didn\'t wanna bore yall



Jun 30, 2009 at 03:26 PM
Peyton
Offline
Upload & Sell: Off
10 Days in Panama (24 pics)


I\'ve gotten behind with putting together a post regarding my trip back in April, but teked and Edward Rotberg have been inquiring, so here it goes...

This was my first international trip....I am a natural science curator, working in the Living Collections division of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences...my professional background revolves around work with native reptiles & amphibians, and I\'ve been working with the captive care of various native and exotic herps for the past 3 years. Panama was always a place I wanted to visit because of its incredible amphibian diversity and cool reptiles too

Luckily, my friend whom had visited the country a few times previously also had an aunt who lived on the central Pacific side, so we had a place to crash and regroup with all of our gear.

When we first set out, we drove across the Carretera Interamerican highway, the only major highway that extends through the country and headed NW to the area around Chiriqui Grande and Changuinola. We arrived late into the night and after setting up camp, headed into the jungle for a night hike. Here\'s some pics from that night hike:

Wandering spider


red eyed treefrog



unknown anole species



The next day we started exploring for more diversity after waking up to a traditional breakfast of patacones and beef with peppers and onions It was the end of the dry season and just before the wet season began, so activity was sparse. We finally began seeing some of the phenomenal poison dart frogs from the country:

Green and black poison frog (Dendrobates auratus) - should have used a f-stop around f/10, but it hopped out of site before I got a better shot



the \'strawberry\' or flaming poison frog (Oophaga pumilio) - these frogs are tiny, small enough to fit on your index finger:




and another pumilio found beside the one pictured above - great variability in some places with these little guys:



After finding some cool diurnal frogs, we rested up and repacked for what would turn out to be a brutal night hike. With this being my first trip out of country, I brought a TON of gear...my camera pack probably weighed in at 50lbs...and most of that went with me every day

Our night hike was pleasantly interrupted with what will likely be one of my most memorable finds ever....this coral snake was crawling in the low vegetation just to the right of the mountain trail...the scary part was three people had already walked in front of me and potentially walked right over this snake! It was roughly 1m long and not very cooperative to photograph...my friend ended up with better photos:

Central American coral snake 9Micrurus nigrocinctus)



A few more snakes were found along this hike:

Imantodes cenchoa - a snake that specializes on eating amphibian eggs



another venomous...a juvenile hognosed viper, Porthidium nasatum:



At the end of this hike I nearly collapsed from the weight of my gear and the distance we covered (it wasn\'t horrible, but I\'m not in as good of shape as I use to be...
) I had cankles for 3 days haha.


We came back to Central Panama and did some exploring through areas my friend had traveled before...

El Cope - unfortunately lots of deforestation in the tropical dry forests



El Valle - a dry creek bed, resulting from water being diverted for water chestnut cultivation



Parque Nacional Omar Torrijos:



A cool snake that we found...a type of parrot snake, Leptophis nebulosus, a species that isn\'t well known from the area, and for a few months, I thought I actually had a new species to science...



a brilliantly colored climbing toad, Ollotis conifera



a sad sight was finding a magnificent snake, Rhinobothrium bovallii hit on the road just before we got to him. These coral snake mimics grow to 6 feet and feed upon other snakes...




One of my biggest interest was getting over to the Bocas del Toro archipelago to find the brilliantly colored pumilio that occur on many of the islands. What makes these frogs so interesting is the fact that each island has a different color variety.

Here are some of the sights and frogs we found while island hopping:

O. pumilio \'Darklands\'



O. pumilio \'Alimarante\'



O. pumilio \'Lower Pasatores\'



dolphins in Bocas:



O. pumilio \'Solarte\'



O. pumilio \'Colon\'



O. pumilio \'Bastimentos\' - this morph is variable, here are two individuals found side by side:





and last but not least, where I wanna live when I retire



10 days was surely not enough, and there wasn\'t enough Canon L glass in my bag to capture everything I saw...So I hope to go back to watch Solitary eagles soar in Fortuna, watch the sloths in the treetops, track down that crested owl and roadside hawk that got away, and find a damn eyelash viper if its the end of me!

Sorry there weren\'t any birds or cuddling charismatic megafauna, but thats not my style

Hope you all enjoyed, I could have rambled more, but I didn\'t wanna bore yall



Jun 30, 2009 at 03:13 PM





  Previous versions of Peyton's message #7251827 « 10 Days in Panama (24 pics) »

 




This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.