We found this on the Puma Trail. Got one shot of it before it flew off like an alien ghost with streaming white waxy appendages.
Sent the photo to Albert Thurman and he identified it as a fulgorid plant hopper. Which kind of fulgorid remains an open question.
The Volcan Hiking Club spent the weekend here at Mount Totumas and we made a trek up in La Amistad National Park on Sunday. This is Phil Heuber who organizes the treks for the hiking club. Our destination was Mr Estrivi’s pastures which are in the park and his homestead was grandfathered in when the park was established. It is a beautiful location as his pastures are full of old growth trees covered with orchids and bromeliads and his land is surrounded by old growth forest with stunning views
A big hollow tree provided some of us shelter from the rains.
Reinaldo
Janet
Jeff
Curtis
David
The Group got excited when a male Resplendent Quetzal perched exposed on a branch high up a Mamecillo Oak tree
Gorgeous Scenery and wonderful lighting as the rains lifted and diffused light made the whole pasture glow
The bright light on the open pastures allows orchids and bromeliads to grow all the way down the trunks of the trees to the base. Each tree held its own botanical garden of diverse plants.
It was a great hike!
The rains drifted up early this afternoon and buckets fell, we were shrouded in mist and rain, and then shortly before dark the rains stopped and the clouds parted revealing a breathtaking scenery. From loud pellets of rain to silence broken by the song of the Black-Faced Solitaire.
We have no guests at the moment, it was only Alma and me and sweeping views…
The lodge with Mount Totumas in the background
The scarlet flowers of the coral bean tree (Erythrina sp.) popped in this late afternoon light.
Now that is a trail sign for the cloud forest!
Check out these short video clips of an agouti and mountain lions that our game camera picked up this month. We had the camera at the junction of the Big Tree Loop and the La Amistad trail. You can hear Three-Wattled Bellbirds calling in the back ground.
These big cats are common here and add a sense of deep wilderness when walking the trails here at MTCF
Sunny mornings have clear vistas down the valley to the Pacific coast. Small clouds start to swell and inhale moisture growing throughout the day and by afternoon becoming massive, 30,0000 feet tall and anvil shaped dropping sheets of rain and lightening. Tongues of these clouds drift up the mountain valleys and cover our forests with mist.
These clouds mixed with sun create the perfect soft oyster light. Here our guests Leandro, Laura and Alma are enjoying the show of clouds and light on the deck of The Bellbird Lodge.
Cloud Forest aptly named.
Alex and Daniela visited recently and during their 3 day stay managed to walk all of our marked trails and added a trek with Reinaldo up to the top of Mount Totumas. Alex is a hobby botanist in his love of trees and he shared with us that he has about a dozen species of oaks in his home in Texas. Here are some of the photos he took during his visit where you can recognize his deep appreciation of these patriarchs of the forest.
Daniela dwarfed by a Giant Mamecillo Oak Quercus bumelioides at the top of Mount Totumas
Alex also dwarfed, but this monster is locally called an “Aguacaton”, member of the Avocado family (Lauraceae)
Approaching the peak of Mount Totumas the trail moves through an under story of mature palms.
A lone giant Mexican Elm Ulmus mexicana
The identify of this white barked tree that peels like a sycamore is one of the trees in the cloud forest we still have not yet identified.
Beautiful lighting as clouds move through the primary forest found at the top of Mount Totumas
Sceloporus malachiticus Green Spiny Lizard
A small frog at the top of Mount Totumas that we haven’t seen before
Bromeliads in the mist laded micro climate of the Bajareque Trail.
Forest canopy seen from the deck of The Bellbird Lodge
Alex and Daniela on the peak of Mount Totumas at 2630m