Here are some pics of plants and animals we see here. We see a lot of birds and butterflies in addition to the critters we have shown here, but all our pics of said birds and butterflies are lousy at best. A far better camera, complete with fancy lenses and special parts and camera bits would be necessary, and there is no way we are carrying that much stuff around. A camera the size of a deck of cards it about what we are willing to do. **
We see tons of Heliconius butterflies,
and lots of other butterflies of varying types and styles. 
Imagine seeing a mobile, fluttering bouquet every time you go outside.
In the bird department, we have seen tons of wild parrots, seagulls, pelicans, weird pointy looking sea birds that look like teradactyls, orioles, and birds with very very red bellies that look like they are wearing black suit jackets over red vests. The hummingbirds here are as common as pigeons in New York.
We also see loads and loads and loads of oropendula birds. Luckily, we have been able to view several different specific varieties of oropendulas, and they are really cute and have lovely songs! They make very interesting tear-drop shaped nests that hang down like a woven grocery bag from the branches of trees. Check this link for pics of their neat nests.
Last night we saw 2 caymen gators in the swamp. They look like a chunk of tree root or drift wood with orange eyes. They stay incredibly still, and were not interested in us in the least. Caymens eat bugs, and fish, and little birds if they can get them, and ill-behaved children as well as the elderly or infirm.
In the swamp, we also saw a possum-like guy in the trees. He looked like a cross between a rat and a cat.
Yesterday Ian spotted and watched a group of white-faced capuchin monkeys in the jungle. I was taking a nap on the beach, so I unfortunately missed it. He said they were just hanging out up in the trees eating fruit and picking bugs off each other. How awesome!
We also have become very used to sharing space with lots of lizards,
including this little gecko who hangs out in the light fixture over our table, and this big lizard that goes to work each afternoon eating bugs on the fence below our balcony. The guy on the fence is about 9" long from tip of nose to tip of tail.
We see tons of Heliconius butterflies,
and lots of other butterflies of varying types and styles. Imagine seeing a mobile, fluttering bouquet every time you go outside.In the bird department, we have seen tons of wild parrots, seagulls, pelicans, weird pointy looking sea birds that look like teradactyls, orioles, and birds with very very red bellies that look like they are wearing black suit jackets over red vests. The hummingbirds here are as common as pigeons in New York.
We also see loads and loads and loads of oropendula birds. Luckily, we have been able to view several different specific varieties of oropendulas, and they are really cute and have lovely songs! They make very interesting tear-drop shaped nests that hang down like a woven grocery bag from the branches of trees. Check this link for pics of their neat nests.
Last night we saw 2 caymen gators in the swamp. They look like a chunk of tree root or drift wood with orange eyes. They stay incredibly still, and were not interested in us in the least. Caymens eat bugs, and fish, and little birds if they can get them, and ill-behaved children as well as the elderly or infirm.
In the swamp, we also saw a possum-like guy in the trees. He looked like a cross between a rat and a cat.
Yesterday Ian spotted and watched a group of white-faced capuchin monkeys in the jungle. I was taking a nap on the beach, so I unfortunately missed it. He said they were just hanging out up in the trees eating fruit and picking bugs off each other. How awesome!
We also have become very used to sharing space with lots of lizards,
including this little gecko who hangs out in the light fixture over our table, and this big lizard that goes to work each afternoon eating bugs on the fence below our balcony. The guy on the fence is about 9" long from tip of nose to tip of tail.
We also learned that many of the bats here will put a notch in the underside mid-spine of the fan-palm leaves so the huge leaf bends over. The fan-palm leaves are about the size of the hood of VW Bug. The bats then use their little custom-made fan-palm tent as a shelter during the day. What clever little guys!
In the pics below, the star fruit is fruit from Jared´s eco orgo veggie wonderland. The handsome kitty is Hansi, a very special and wonderfully sweet cat who lives at the hostel where we rent a little apartment. I don´t know what the other plants are, but they are lovely.
Here´s the scoop- let´s have a DHFF trivia contest! Whoever can properly identify the most plant species wins a pie. All runners-up get a batch of cookies. Email me your entries, I will post them on this blog so our droves of readers will know what these plants are, and you will get a pie or cookies. I´ll send you your cookies once we get back to the States.
**We LOVE our travel camera. After doing some research (which for us means calling Charlie and asking him what he thinks we should get, then ordering it), Ian and I got an Olympus Stylus 790 SW that is both shockproof and waterproof. It is the perfect camera for us.
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I have the same camera and it is all kinds of rad. I once got a bathtub shot of my 1 year old niece's bum. 1 year old bums are so damn cute. Awesome camera!
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