6.Heliconid
Photo 6- The butterfly with stripes has very long narrow wings, well-suited for quick and maneuverable flight to evade flying predators. The stripes are good camouflage for sitting on a branch. I don’t know why it has those magenta spots, but I do love them!
7.Basilisk
8.Basilisk
Photos 7 & 8- These are basilisk lizards, the kind that can run fast enough to stay on top of water, as if they were little jet-skis. The males have crests on their head and back, something like dinosaurs. They usually live in trees, and these were very comfortable around our cabins at the Lodge. We had some living on our veranda, and they kept a careful watch on us so we didn’t get too close to them. They were very distrustful-- you would need a special loop on a fishing pole and lots of patience to catch one of these lizards.
9.Vinesnake
Photo 9- This snake was on the trail one day, and Greg and I cornered it so we could get a photo. This is a green vine snake, or Leptophis. It usually lives in trees, where they are very hard to see because they look so much like a vine. Note the thin and elongated body and head. This one was about 4 feet long. They eat lizards and are very fast-moving.