The Night Tour with Tracie "The Bug Lady" and Gianfranco Gómez

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The Night Tour with Tracie "The Bug Lady" and Gianfranco Gómez

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Come explore the fascinating world of tropical insects and arachnids with Tracie "The Bug Lady" and Gianfranco Gómez on this one of a kind adventure trek through the rainforests of Drake Bay, Costa Rica.

09/10/2024

Juvenile Fer-de-lance Pit Viper (Bothrops asper) from last night’s tour. I walked right past this sneaky little guy and only saw him when I backtracked on the trail. It’s always exciting to encounter these beautiful snakes 🐍

16/08/2024

Masked Tree Frog (Smilisca phaeota) posing for us during tonight’s tour 🐸

14/08/2024

The sublime camouflage of the Dead Leaf Katydid (Mimetica sp.) photographed during tonight’s tour.

10/08/2024

The iconic Gaudy Leaf Frog (Agalychnis callidryas) photographed during last night’s tour at

04/08/2024

We had a great view of this Central American Woolly Opossum (Caluromys derbianus) during tonight’s tour. This marsupial is nocturnal and highly arboreal. They feed mostly on fruit and nectar, but they are also known to feed on bats and other small vertebrates. The name of their genus, Caluromys, roughly translates to “beautiful mouse” 😍

03/08/2024

We were starting the tour tonight and this beautiful moth landed on my shirt. As soon as I saw it I knew it was a Tiger Moth (Arctiinae) that I had never seen before. I wanted to photograph it, but it flew off. A few meters down the trail and it was on my shirt again, once again it flew off. I bit further up the trail Tracie told me the moth was resting on a tree trunk! By now it seemed like the moth was just begging to get photographed, so I took my shot. Turn out this is Cratoplastis diluta (Erebidae/Arctiinae). Such a lovely species. The forest is always full of surprises.

18/07/2024

It was a very different world when I moved to Drake Bay in 2002. There was no electricity, there were no cellphones, there was no airstrip and our internet was nearly nonexistent. In fact, most of the communication was done by marine radio. They were some primitive times. I remember one night, in 2006, one of the guests on our night tour told us about a book that had just been published: “100 Caterpillars” by Jeffrey Miller, Daniel Janzen and Winifred Hallwachs. We knew right away that we had to have it. I don’t recall how we did it, but we managed to order the book and got it to Drake Bay. I remember excitedly flipping through the pages for the first time, in admiration of the spectacular photos of the species featured in the book. I distinctly recall the sixth caterpillar featured: Nystalea collaris and I remember hoping to someday encounter this beautiful species. Nearly 20 years later, tonight was finally the night! I spotted this beauty, feeding on a vine, about 4 meters above the trail. The description in “100 Caterpillars” says of this species: “Appearing to be a pink-brown, rotted and torn leaf, or a jagged piece of bark, this caterpillar is one of the classical notodontid caterpillar life forms - a big rear end, small head, and grotesquely modified dorsum” a perfect description for a truly spectacular caterpillar.

01/07/2024

Dead Leaf Moth Caterpillar (Oxytenis sp.) showing off it’s false eye spots during last night’s tour. While at rest, the eye spots are not visible, but when disturbed the caterpillar raises it’s head and inflates it, revealing the eyes, which may startle a potential predator. As adults, Oxytenis moths mimic a dead leaf.

01/07/2024

Gaudy Leaf Frog (Agalychnis callidryas) photographed in situ during last night’s tour 😍

30/06/2024

Cool encounter from tonight’s tour! Watson’s Climbing Rat (Tylomys watsoni) is an arboreal rodent which is endemic to Costa Rica and Panama. These large rodents are capable climbers and can be found fairly high in the trees. They feed on practically anything and are known to feast on chocolate and soap. 🐀

26/05/2024

Kinkajou (Potos flavus) observed during tonight’s tour 😍

26/05/2024

Mesoamerican Tent-making Bat (Uroderma covexum) from tonight’s tour 🦇❤️🦇❤️

23/05/2024

Thomas’ Fruit-eating Bat (Artibeus watsoni) from last night’s tour 🦇❤️🦇❤️

20/05/2024

We found this beautifully patterned Pacific Broad-headed Rain Frog (Craugastor rugosus) during last night’s tour. This species is fairly uncommon on our trail, so we were excited to see it. It is an endemic species, known only from southwestern Costa Rica and western Panama. Their cryptic coloration allows them to blend in perfectly with the leaf litter, which is where they are normally found. Practically nothing is known about this species’ natural history, but it is assumed that it is similar to their closest relatives. Other Craugastor spp lay their eggs in the leaf litter and go through direct development in the egg, so fully formed frogs, not tadpoles, emerge from the eggs. The call for this species remains unknown and it is unknown how the females find their mates. Such a cool little frog! 🐸

30/04/2024

Common Blunt-headed Vine Snake (Imantodes cenchoa) feeding on an Osa Anole (Anolis osa) during tonight’s tour.

27/04/2024

A pair of very small, early instar Noctuid Moth Caterpillars (Heterochroma sp.) from last night’s tour.

26/04/2024

The Common Blunt-headed Vine Snake, or Chunk-headed Snake, (Imantodes cenchoa) is a common snake species in Costa Rica’s humid lowland forests. These snakes are entirely nocturnal and arboreal. A number of special adaptations allow this snake to stretch out far into the air from its support branch and sn**ch unsuspecting lizards from their perch while they sleep, without ever touching the lizard‘s resting branch and alerting it to its presence. These snakes have enlarged fangs located towards the back of their mouth and a mild venom which they use to subdue their prey. Despite their tiny neck, they can take prey up to ten times the width of their neck. I photographed this individual a couple of nights ago during the night tour.

10/04/2024

The mangoes are ripe and the Kinkajous are feasting! We encountered this individual during tonight’s tour 😋

12/03/2024

Watson‘s Climbing Rat (Tylomys watsoni) a fairly rare arboreal rodent encountered during tonight’s tour 🐀 🐀 🐀

01/03/2024

Dark Four-eyed Opossum (Philander melanurus) encountered during tonight’s tour 😍

01/03/2024

We encountered this young Central American Boa Constrictor (Boa imperator) during tonight’s tour. These are Costa Rica’s largest snakes and may reach lengths of approximately 4 meters. At that size they are apex predators which are known to prey on coatis, sloths, agoutis and even ocelots.

26/02/2024

From last night’s tour!

22/02/2024

Side-striped Hairstreak (Arawacus lincoides) from tonight’s tour. These tiny butterflies have two tails on the hind wings which wiggle while they are perched, creating the illusion that they are antennae. The darkly colored rear of the hind wings mimics the head and fools predators into attacking the rear of the butterfly. If a predator strikes the hind wings the butterfly will have a chance to survive, whereas a head strike would be lethal. The individual we encountered tonight apparently avoided a predator or two already, since it was missing one of its wing tails.
🦋 🦋

12/02/2024

Female Baird’s Tapir (Tapirus bairdii) encountered during tonight’s tour ❤️

30/08/2023

Crested Owl (Lophostrix cristata) from tonight’s night tour 🦉

Address

Drake Bay

Telephone

506-8701-7356

Website

http://www.thenighttour.com/

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