MAIACETUS: red-tailed squirrel

Thursday, December 11, 2014

December 11, 2014: Goodbye Costeño Beach

This was our last morning at Costeño Beach Surf Cam p and though I was a little sad to leave I was looking forward to moving on as we were heading back to Santa Marta for our last ocean adventure...scuba diving with Quimera Divers in Tayrona National Park!

Our taxi was not arriving until noon so I went for one last walk to spot any wildlife lingering in the area. This proved to be fruitful because, although I re-sighted many bird species from previous days, I also spotted some new ones to add to my Costeño Beach wildlife list, and these included: a Red-crowned Woodpecker (melanerpes rubricapillus), a Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus), Crimson-backed Tanager (Ramphocelus dimidiatus) and Greater Ani (Crotophaga major).

Overall, I had a great time at the camp and though I didn't do as much surfing as I'd hoped, due to my injured shoulder from an overenthusiastic first day out, I still gained further knowledge about surfing. I also had a great time chilling on the beach, hanging with fellow surf campers, tubing in the Palomino River, watching fireflies (and their glowing larvae!) in the dark of the night and observing birds and other wildlife of the Caribbean coast of Colombia. I was pretty happy with my final list of wildlife species observations and I identified 18 bird species, 5 insect species, 2 mammal species and 1 reptile species.

Here's the final list of species I saw these past five days:

Birds (18 species, 13 new):

Orange-chinned Parakeet (Brotogeris jugularis)

Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus)
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)
Bi-coloured Wren (Campylorhynchus griseus)
Yellow-headed Caracara (Milvago chimachima)
White-tipped Dove (Leptotila verreauxi)
Palm Tanager (Thraupis palmarum atripennis)

Blue-grey Tanager (Thraupis episcopus)
Streaked Flycatcher (Myiodynastes maculatus)

Female Green Kingfisher (Choloroceryle americana)

Squirrel Cuckoo (Piaya cayana)
Panama Flycatcher (Myiarchus panamensis)
Clay-coloured Thrush (Turdus grayi)
Orange-crowned Oriole (Icterus auricapillus)

Red-crowned Woodpecker (melanerpes rubricapillus)
Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus)
Crimson-backed Tanager (Ramphocelus dimidiatus)

Greater Ani (Crotophaga major)

Insects (5 species, 3 new):

Gulf Fritillary or Passion Butterfly (Agraulis vanillae)

Immature Common White-Tail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia)

Blue Morpho butterfly (Morpho peleides)
Crimson-patched long-wing buttefly (H eliconius erato hydara)

Golden silk orb weaver (Nephila clavipes)

Mammals (2 species, 2 new):

Red-tailed squirrel (Sciurus granatensis)

Red Howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus seniculus)

Reptiles (1species, 1 new):

Colombian Black/White/Gold Tegu (Tupinambis teguixin)

Not bad! 19 new species for me :)

By the way... if anybody sees a mis-identification of a bird species feel free to let me know...I still consider myself a novice birder so appreciate any input!

Streaked Flycatcher (Myiodynastes maculatus)

Clay Coloured Thrush (Turdus grayi)

These Red Ginger Lilies (Alpinia purpurata) is an ornamental herb and invasive species in Colombia. It is native to Papuea New Guinea and the SW Pacific

Red-crowned Woodpecker (melanerpes rubricapillus)

Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) likely scanning for insects

Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus)

Yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) on a palm frond

Yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) getting ready to take off

Yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima)...launch time!

Yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) in flight

Red-crowned Woodpecker (melanerpes rubricapillus)

Palm Tanager (Thraupis palmarum atripennis)

Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus)

Red-tailed squirrel (Sciurus granatensis)

Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus)

I love this view of this Lineated Woodpecker's (Dryocopus lineatus) feet clinging to the tree!

Crimson-backed Tanager (Ramphocelus dimidiatus, Probable female)

Red Howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus seniculus)

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)

I believe this is a Greater Ani (Crotophaga major) which is the only Ani species found exclusively in forested habitat adjacent to water

Monday, December 8, 2014

December 8, 2014: Costeño Beach Wildlife

Birding and surfing were the main activities of today and I was indeed a happy camper...well until my enthusiasm resulted in injury!

One of my favourite things to do while traveling and working overseas is to take quiet early morning walks, whether it be around my hotel or in a nearby forest or farm, with the hopes of spotting local wildlife. So, keeping with tradition I went for a wander along the sandy track leading from the main road towards the camp and beyond. This was another enjoyable venture and slightly different from yesterday's wanderings with our puppy friends (see post for yesterday). It was a lovely way to start the day and I saw a nice variety of birds, a dragonfly and squirrels including:

Tropical Kingbirds (Tyrannus melancholicus)

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)

Bicoloured Wren (Campylorhynchus griseus)

Yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima)

White Tipped Dove (Leptotila verreauxi)

Palm Tanager (Thraupis palmarum atripennis)

Immature Common White-Tail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia)

Blue-grey Tanager (Thraupis episcopus)

Streaked Flycatcher (Myiodynastes maculatus)

Red-tailed squirrels (Sciurus granatensis)

Female Green Kingfisher (Choloroceryle americana)

Upon returning to the camp I had breakfast and then spent the rest of the morning chilling on the beach and in a hammock watching the sea and surfers. I was hoping to take a couple of surf lessons while here at Costeño Beach Surf Camp but, much to my disappointment, the surf instructor was ill. We found out later that he, along with a couple other people at the camp, was sick from Chikungunya. Chikungunya is a mosquito borne illness occurring in Africa, Asia and the Indian subcontinent but, in recent decades has spread to the Americas including Colombia. I was disappointed to lose out on the instruction but I was glad to learn of the seriousness of the illness (before I too could get sick!) and and made sure I used my mosquito repellent and cover up as much as I could!

Although there was no surf instructor to guide me for my first time surfing off beautiful Costeño Beach I was lucky to have some knowledgeable staff and fellow surf campers around to help guide me through the waves. What a treat it was to be surfing in the tropics with no wet suit, like I have to use for surfing on Vancouver Island, to restrict my paddling! I was so happy to be in the water I ended up paddling around and trying to catch waves for a couple of hours. Of course, I learned another lesson from my enthusiasm...to learn when to stop and avoid overdoing it.

I finally had to call it a day when, much to my disappointment, while I was paddling around attempting to catch waves I felt my right shoulder go out on me. I also learned I chose to try surfing in some sloppy less-than-ideal conditions for Costeño Beach...ahh the joy of being an inexperienced novice surfer! This shoulder injury was such a disappointment especially because I've had to deal with dislocating kneecaps for most of my life but never had a problem with my shoulders. I've started seeing a wonderful physiotherapist for my knees (and it's made a HUGE difference to my knees and quality of life) but it appears next time I'll be seeing him for my shoulders.

Given my shoulder was now injured I called it a day for surfing and headed back to shore...to, once again, chill out on the beach. I guess I can't complain about that :)

By the way, thanks to the folks at the Facebook Bird ID Group of the World for helping me identify and confirm the bird species I photographed today.