STORY: Rainy Season & Lots of Critters.

Here is a view from our new house in the foothills near Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica.

Usually the sun rise over the distant hills and the trees and plants shine with the rain from the night before. 

By late afternoon it rains "cats and dogs."

We are now officially in the "rainy season" or "green season" as the tourist industry likes to call it. We made our move from the beach to this location just before the rainy season started and its a good thing because it pretty much rains every day now.

But, the nice thing about it is that the day typically starts out sunny and bright, like this morning as I am writing this post and enjoying the sunshine coming in through the windows.

The rainy season starts in mid to late May and runs though November, depending somewhat on your location in the country. So, you get everything done that you need to during the day and try to make sure you are home before the rain begins.

When it rains here, it usually rains hard. Driving at night in Costa Rica is not a good idea in the first place, but add hard rain and its just stupid. So, people tend to get together in the afternoon and head for home before dark, which is at around 5:30 here, year-round. 

We are actually really enjoying the start of the rainy season. The sound of rain is very relaxing. We just don't want to be caught out in it. So far we've done pretty well at it. We hear October and November produce the most rain here. Sometimes it rains for days on end non stop. Okay, so that might get a little tiring, but we'll get over it too.

Moving to a new house here wasn't easy, but we got it done with the help of some friends that had a truck. It didn't take long after we moved in to find out we were NOT alone! 

OWLS

The first to greet us was a family of Barn Owls. There are five in all –– the two parents and three babies. This is one of the babies.

They live in our third story, which we are not able to access because the staircase to the third floor was never built. These guys have been living up there for who knows how long. 

Barn Owls live virtually everywhere except for the coldest places on earth. They like to nest in high abandoned places such as church steeples, etc. 

Our new house provides a perfect place for them to raise their young. The only problem we have with them is that they are very loud at night, when they hunt and come back with food for their young. Now the young are also hunting at night and make even more racket. 

Well, that wasn't the only problem we had I guess. They also sat on the ledge above our entry stairs and crapped all over the stairs. We were waking up to a slew of white splatters and hair balls complete with little rodent sculls or whatever they discarded down on us.

We can open our doors and look at them up there looking down on us. Sometimes they land on a branch close enough to look into the house just to see who has invaded their privacy.

We had an exterminator come over and place some wire mesh along the ledge they were using for their toilet and that solved our problem. There is still plenty of room for them on the other side. Soon the young will be taking off on their own looking for new hunting grounds and I guess other Barn Owls. We assume the parents will stay.

BATS

Although I don't have any photos of our bats, we have plenty of them in the attic. They are a problem as they carry a lot of diseases and their guano has some bad stuff in it for us to breathe. So, the exterminator went up in the attic, clean it all out, stuffed the holes with mesh and blew the bats out with one of those professional blowers. We didn't want to hurt the bats, so we hope they have found a new home.

BIRDS

There are certainly some wonderful birds in Costa Rica. Moving from the beach we are seeing some new varieties. This is a Mot Mot if I am not mistaken. Check out its dart-feather tail.

My favorite birds are the Scarlet Macaws that frequently fly by the house. They have been endangered due to the selling of them on the black market. But, they are making a comeback in several locations along the Pacific Coast. Playa Hermosa on the Central Pacific is one of those places and we are lucky enough to be living here.

Macaws are called "Lapas" here. They mate for life and are rarely seen without a mate. You always know when they are nearby as they constantly squalk back and forth to each other. I heard that the other day a pair flew into the little grocery store in Esterillos Oeste, raiding the chips aisle before exiting the store.

We have seen as many as eight at a time flying around the house. They travel from the hills to the beach and back. They are attracted by all the Almond Trees in this area as that is one of their main diets.

This guy was in the tree the other day along with his mate. I think they might be Whistling Ducks, but I'm not sure.

There are many of these brown Robins here. I forget what they are called, but they are the national bird of Costa Rica. We have one nesting next to our house.

IGUANAS

Of course Iguanas are everywhere if you look. This one is sitting on the large tree in our yard. There are many varieties here and we think they are wonderful. Ticos don't like them because they eat their plants. Ticos like to eat them. Dogs are their enemies too, but they seem to reproduce in good enough numbers to overcome the pressure.

INSECTS

There are more insects here than I could imagine. This butterfly came to us recently for a photo op. I'll have to do a post just on insects some time.

Probably the hardest working insects of all are the Leaf Cutter Ants. This highway of leaf cutters is always full. Luckily there are so many plants growing so fast here that the leaves are hardly missed. 

This is one of their entrance holes into their underground farms. They don't actually eat the leaves, but instead use them to grow mold down in their chamber and then they eat the mold. At least that is what I have been told.

FROGS

We know that there are plenty of Frogs here because we hear them at night as soon as the sun goes down. But this little guy was seen in the yard the other day. He is very tiny and we picked him up in a plastic bowl to photograph. Little frogs like this are in danger and some of these are very poisonous.

MONKEYS

And last, but not least, are Monkeys. I took this photo a couple of years ago down in Manuel Antonio Park, about an hours drive south from here. He is a White Face Monkey, probably the most common. I am showing him here because we saw a family of these guys across the road from our house and in some trees the other day. I was surprised because they need a range with tree-to-tree access so they are not exposed to the canines that live whereever there are people. 

We can also hear Howler Monkeys in the distance. They stay farther away from populated area so they are harder to see......but their howls carry far.

So there you are, with another Critter report from Costa Rica. I've got to get back to my painting. 

Meanwhile, the clouds will begin building again because the cool air will come rolling down the mountains and hit the moist Pacific air.......and whalla! 

MORE RAIN