Wow! What a day we had on Ometepe! It was a great sign when I spotted gallinules, jacanas, stilts, and egrets right from the back porch of our hotel building. If I had to choose just one highlight of the morning, it would have to be this crested caracara (Caracara plancus), the first one I’ve been able to show you, only because I’ve been trying to get a presentable picture since I first spotted one when we first arrived in Granada.
The rest will have to wait for another day, because I have even more to show you from our afternoon. The island of Ometepe comprises two volcanoes connected by a low isthmus, and the isthmus is nearly split by a river that meanders through a wide wetland. After lunch, we rented a couple of kayaks and hired a guide to take us up that river. Our guide was quite good, but we had already seen just this morning most of the wildlife he was able to show us. There were a few notable exceptions, however, so here they are.
I’m thrilled to report that pacific screech-owls (Megascops cooperi) appear to be quite common here, because our guide found us a pair in a tree overhanging the lake before we even entered the river, a third one over the river, and we just heard a fourth out the window of our room back here at the hotel.
As I already mentioned, I saw gallinules first thing this morning, but they were of the “common” variety, which we get to see in Horicon Marsh nearly every time I visit. This afternoon, on the other hand, I got to see my first purple gallinule (Porphyrio martinica), which is a tad more colorful.
We’ve seen snail kites before, most recently in Belize, but I haven’t been able to get a portrait of one like this until today.
A sight to rival the owls had to be a small colony of proboscis bats (Rhynchonycteris naso) simply clinging to the underside of a leaning tree trunk. Man, did they blend in, and we had a heck of a time seeing them even when we were right under them. As my mom used to say, “if they were snakes, they would have bitten me.” Good thing they are “exclusive insectivores,” eh?
But wait, there’s more. This sleepy head is our very first common pauraque (Nyctidromus albicollis) and a relative of the common nighthawk we saw in Estabrook for the first time just last spring.
Lastly, back at our hotel, here is a western giant swallowtail (Heraclides rumiko), another first for me and only my fourth swallowtail species.
Once again, it is time for me to hit the sack, and I hope we take it a little easier tomorrow so I can catch you up a little more on all we saw today.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 