Author/Photos: Janelle Cannon Woke early one morning to join in on a sea turtle nest census. As our group walked the beach, I saw dozens of freshly dug crab burrows. These fast-moving crabs are digging machines! Manuel, who works at Osa Conservation, has been monitoring sea turtle nests for 14 years. The first nest we came upon had been pillaged by coatimundis. It was a thorough job. Only one intact egg remained. Most nests contain 100-150 eggs, so these are treasure chests of delicious protein for any hungry predator. Humans used to be the primary predator,...

Author: Rachael Eplee   As the Osa Conservation Wildcat program has shown us time and time again, cameras are an extension of our eyes into the forest.  They sit there quietly, waiting to witness what wildlife happens to unfold before them.  Our cameras on the ground have allowed us to track animal populations throughout the Osa Peninsula, giving us new perspective on the tendencies and patterns of the animals with whom we share a home. But are we missing something?  Look up!  As anyone who has been to a tropical rainforest knows,...

Photo Credit: Crisbellt Alvarado The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) recently held a major international, intercultural planning meeting last week in the Osa Peninsula. Attendees gathered from offices in Colombia and Suriname and also the ACT Headquarters in Arlington. Tribal representatives from six different partner communities also traveled from far and wide to participate. The meeting was the brainchild of Liliana Madrigal, Vice-President and Co-Founder of ACT, who also serves as Osa Conservation’s Board President. A native Costa Rican, Liliana helped found the Nature Conservancy’s International Program and Conservation International. She was...

Once, the idea that animals would go extinct was unthinkable; it was believed that the world’s resources were so vast that they could never be extinguished.   Yet, the dwindling numbers of so many well-known species such as the ferocious Tiger tell a different story.  Extinction is a natural phenomenon and should occur at about 5 species per year.  However, human intervention, climate change, and other factors, that rate is much accelerated and has been estimated by the Center for Biological Diversity to be 1,000 to 10,000 times the...

Bats Around the World When you hear “bat”, what do you think of? A small, hairy creature that is active  in the darkest hours of the night and who sleeps upside down? (That’s what I think of!)  And it’s true! But there is so much more to bats than that. Did you know that bats are the second largest order of mammals in the word? In fact, there are more than 1,300 bat species worldwide and they represent about 20% of all classified mammal species! And, they play a...

Have you ever seen the Exaerete, the bright green bee as long as your finger?  What about the Euglossa, known for it’s metallic blue, green, or red body? These insects and many others like them aren’t just any bees—they’re Orchid Bees.  The Euglossini (the umbrella term for Orchid Bees) are some of the most important pollinator insects of the Neotropics, known for their unique coloring, size, and even shape.  Their bodies can be partially metallic or covered in brown or black hair.  From Mexico to Argentina (and Florida...

Written by: Adam Parr Black-cheeked Ant-Tanagers (Habia atrimaxillaris) may not be most glamorous bird on the Osa Peninsula.  They lack the striking colors of a Scarlet Macaw, or Fiery-billed Araçari, and are mostly dull black, with just a splash of salmon in the throat and breast.  Their vocalizations won’t send a chill down your spine like the eerie pan flute-like songs of a Common Potoo, and consist instead of a slurred two or three note whistle of a song.  However, these superficially lackluster attributes belie a truly fascinating species, and...