Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica - August 2005 Well here I am back in the Osa peninsula of Costa Rica, one of my favorite parts of the world. This two week trip is focused on getting more images for my upcoming book on this amazing area. Goals for this trip include getting some nesting Sea Turtle pictures, trying to get Jaguar pictures by finding Turtles killed by the cats on the beach, getting better American Crocodile pictures, working on more forest scenics, and then as always just capturing what wonderful wildlife presents itself to me. My first two days where spent with Fabian Sanchez, a local biologist, who is putting together a new Sea Turtle conservation project on the Osa Peninsula near Carate. His project is focusing on three main Sea Turtle nesting beaches on the Osa... Carate, Oro, and Piro. Upwards of 1,500 Sea Turtles use these three beaches , which cover 10 km of beachfront, to lay their eggs on each nesting season which runs from July to Dec. There are three Turtle species that nest here on the Osa... the Black or Pacific Green, the gigantic Leatherback, and the most common the Olive Ridley. Fabian and his volunteer assistants spend each night in the nesting season patrolling the beaches by foot and ATV. They record all nesting Turtles and collect eggs of Turtles at risk by predators and poachers for incubation in their protected hatchery for future release back into the wild. The two nights that my assistant Rausel and I spent with Fabian were very productive. We spent about 8 hrs. patrolling the beach with Fabian and saw about 15 nesting Olive Ridley Turtle! It’s so exciting to follow the bulldozer like tracks of the Turtles up the beach to find a mother Turtle digging her hole and depositing the 100 or so golf ball sized leathery white eggs into cavity and then seeing her gently cover the nest with sand with her hind flippers and head back to the ocean. Olive Ridley Turtles complete the entire nesting procedure in about 30-40 min. On our last night on the beach, we did come upon a fresh nest that had been poached by local people. The eggs are used for baking and also as a bar appetizers or "boca" which is supposed to have virile affects.
After our time with the Turtles, Rausel and I flew into Sirena Biological research center in Corcovado NP. The lowland moist tropical forest is the biological heart of the Osa. We spent the first four days checking the local beach between Sirena River and Corcovado River for Turtle kills and Jaguar tracks. During the Turtle nesting season, Jaguars switch their main diet from White Lipped Peccary to Sea Turtles. They patrol the beaches at night looking for a Turtle that has come up to nest. Once the Turtle is killed, the Jaguar will return to feed on the meat for several days. Our hopes were to find a fresh kill and then set up a blind near the Turtle for photography of the Jaguar. We did find some Jaguar tracks on the beach one of the trips, but never found a Turtle kill. As the full moon was starting to come around, the Turtle activity gets slower as well as our chances. So once again... no Jaguars! Oh well... we had good photo opportunities with several other animals like American Crocodiles, Hummingbirds, Red Brocket Deer, and Forest scenics. I was also lucky enough to spent the entire time with local naturist and Corcovado guide Mike Boston. Both him and his partner and Crocodile expert Laura Porras were conducting Crocodile research in the area and Rausel and I were able to spend several nights helping them with their work.
Other Recent TripsClick on the thumbnail image to view a short report of my recent trip.
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