The best place to see an Eastern Kingbird in the Maya Mountain foothills is to keep an eye out for a flock while on the waterways, because they may perch on branches over water, flying with shallow, fluttery wingbeats as they dart out to snatch large flying insects.
Since the potoo is nocturnal, it sits very still in the daytime to avoid detection, and with its mottled gray/brown/cream feathers and stiff posture, it blends perfectly with dead branches.
Tiger Wandering Spider Read More »
This is one of Central America’s largest spiders, having a leg-span about two-thirds that of a tarantula but being much lighter-bodied. These are good spiders to welcome to your environment, as they are an important component of the ecosystem and help keep insect populations in check.
Tiger Wandering Spider Read More »
You can tell that the Star Sedge is not a grass by rolling the stem between your fingers – it’s not round, but three-sided.
The Ringed Kingfisher is the largest kingfisher in the western hemisphere, found around bodies of water from Texas to the southern tip of South America. It has an amazingly huge beak,
Wire wis grows at the edges of forest openings, and in disturbed areas, and if it finds anything to climb it will do so, twining around its host until it reaches a height of several yards. Interestingly, the wiry “vine” part is actually the mid-rib of a single hugely long leaf.
Polyphemous Silk Moth – Automeris excreta Read More »
This beautiful Automeris silk moth is closely related to the io moth of the US. Its most interesting feature is that while it blends amazingly well with the tree bark when at rest, if it feels endangered it flips its forewings up to reveal huge, startling eyespots on the hindwings.
Polyphemous Silk Moth – Automeris excreta Read More »
Bromeliad Helicopter Damselfly Read More »
Your first sighting of one of these giant damselflies might leave you rubbing your eyes in disbelief. For it is huge. When it takes wing against a dark forest background, all you might see are the wing spots, which gyrate in a circular pattern like helicopter blades
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Campbell’s Rainforest Toad Read More »
Sometimes at night I hear a low, lovely trilling call, lasting 5-10 seconds, sometimes repeated four or five times at fifteen second intervals. This is probably Campbell’s Rainforest Toad, one of my favorite sounds in the Jungle Night Orchestra
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Black-faced Antthrush Read More »
This little bird, a bit smaller than a robin, is unmistakable. Plump and perky on long pinkish legs, it darts across the forest floor with a jerky gait, tossing leaves to look for insects, snails, spiders and other invertebrates.
Black-faced Antthrush Read More »