More Lizards from Puerto Rico

Juvenile, Rincon

Where I grew up in Northeastern Ohio, there weren't many lizards.  The county to our east had a few populations of five-lined skinks, but I never saw a wild lizard in Ohio until a visit to a State Nature Preserve in Southwestern Ohio.  But in Puerto Rico, lizards abound.  The familiar green "chameleon" of my youth, actually the green anole native to the southeast United States, has several relatives that live in Puerto Rico.  In fact, no fewer than 13 Anolis species have been described from this unincorporated territory of the United States.  Here are a few Anolis species that I encountered during out trip one year ago.

Adult female? -  Guanica State Forest

Rincon

Adult Male?  Guanica State Forest

Puerto Rico was fabulous- We'd be there again if we weren't expecting another baby- March 6th is the due date, and Megan's TOTALLY ready!

Tom

Fast Action on the Tennis Court

Last year at this time, Megan, Weston, and I were in warm and sunny Puerto Rico, and I was apparently watching (and photographing) the endemic Puerto Rican Ground Lizards (Ameiva exsul)

The End!

-Tom

Bats!

Birds weren't the only thing Megan and I saw in Puerto Rico-  Unbeknown to most of the vacationers at our villa, several trees in the playground area housed colonies of these bats during the day.  They were really pretty big.  Puerto Rico is known to be home to 13 different bat species- including the big brown bat.  Perhaps this is what these are, but really, that's just a guess.

This is my contribution to this week's Camera Critters Meme.

The Puerto Rican Woodpecker

Female Puerto Rican Woodpecker, Melanerpes portoricensis

Isn't this a cool bird?  The Puerto Rican woodpecker was the last endemic bird that I saw on our week long trip to Puerto Rico.  And I didn't have to travel far.  Just on the edge of our little "villa" complex was a small low-lying forest.  I had staked out the area at the beginning of the trip and didn't see much.  But on the next to last day, the woods adjacent to the tennis court was full of action, including the drumming of a male and female Puerto Rican Woodpecker, the fourth and final endemic bird of Puerto Rico I was able to photograph.  The female above has less red than the male, pictured below.

If you missed the other endemic birds of Puerto Rico, be sure to check out Adelaide's Warbler, the Puerto Rican Tody, and the Puerto Rican Vireo.

Tom

Guanica State Forest Puerto Rico- A Photo Essay

Although I've been showing images of birds and wildlife, at heart I'm an ecologist.  My brain wants to understand how things work- and how things interact.  Without a critical understanding of the physical conditions of a place, and the plants that are able to survive in these conditions, you can't fully understand the animals. Guanica is a great example of how plants evolve to survive under harsh environmental conditions. The Guanica State Forest is a United Nations world biosphere reserve, an international designation denoting that this is a globally significant ecosystem.  Over 700 species of native plants dwell in this amazingly well preserved tropical dry forest.  I could spend five years learning the flora of this place, and I'd still be learning new things each day.  For now, I am only armed with photos, but the next time we go to Guanica, I'm hoping to learn the names of a few of the more charismatic plant species.

Tom

Adelaide's Warbler- Puerto Rico Birds

Adelaide's Warber, Dendroica adelaidae

A few steps from the Puerto Rican Tody and the Puerto Rican Vireo, Megan and I quickly saw this beautiful little warbler.  Since there are several warblers species that winter on the island, I had to look carefully, but this species turned out to be Adelaide's Warbler, yet another Puerto Rican endemic.  From what I've read, this species lives on the island year round, and doesn't migrate north like the warbler species we see passing through North America.  And this is a relatively new species to science.  Up until about 2000, it was considered a subspecies, but now ornithologists consider it to be a full blown species.  For more photos and information about this neat little bird you'll want to check out this post at 10000 birds.

Tom

Puerto Rican Vireo

Vireo laterimeri, the Puerto Rican Vireo

Just seconds after finding the Puerto Rican Tody, Megan and I spotted our second endemic bird, this true vireo that only lives in Puerto Rico.  An inquisitive individual wanted to see what exactly we were doing with our cameras.  This bird isn't quite as colorful or shocking as the Tody, but it was amazing to spot another endemic bird species literally seconds after we saw our first.  And yet mere seconds later, we saw our third endemic species, Adelaide's warbler, which I'll show tomorrow.  Birds of Guanica State Forest, I hear you calling us, hopefully we'll be back next year too. 

Tom

The Birds of Puerto Rico- The Puerto Rican Tody

Puerto Rican Tody, Todus mexicanus

Hi Friends-

Before my memory of the tropical island of Puerto Rico fades, I just need to start showing some of my images from the trip.  Before we left, Megan got me a fantastic book by Mark Oberle entitled "Puerto Rico's Birds in Photographs".  What a fantastic book.  With over 15 species of endemic birds on the island, I was very excited to see birds that I could see nowhere else.  Although I had my brain in full-on naturalizing mode, I was paying very close attention to the birds, and keeping track of all the species that we encountered.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be intermixing my posts of Ohio's natural history with a few images from Puerto Rico.   I hope you enjoy these amazing birds.  And although Puerto Rico sounds like an exotic destination, it's only a 4 hour flight on US Airways from Charlotte-  it is close.

Here is the Puerto Rican Tody, the first endemic bird species we ecnountered on the island.  This bird was in a dry forest in Guanica State Forest on the southwest shore of the island.  Megan saw this one first and said "tommy, there's a ruby-throated humming bird, right there!"

Well, it's not a hummingbird, but it surely does have a ruby throat!

Tom

The Brown Pelican

I've always thought that Brown Pelicans weren't all that interesting, but actually, they are really quite cool. They can look downright awkward from some angles, like they were sewn together by a crazy taxidermist, and from others, they are just really graceful, well put together birds.

We were lucky to have a brown pelican and magnificent frigatebird roost on the property of our home for seven days in Rincon, Puerto Rico. Needless to say, these birds of the coast provided ample photographic opportunities.

Tom

Snowbirds

The dark-eyed junco, one of Ohio's "snowbirds".

Megan, Weston and I are going to do the "snowbird" thing this year and fly, courtesy of U.S. Airways, to Puerto Rico and hang out in the beach town of Rincon with her grandmother. She's a true snowbird who visits the island territory for several weeks each winter. We'll have just one week of winter reprieve, but I can't wait to escape the ice and snow of Ohio for the warm beaches and surf of Peurto Rico.

Having never been to the Island, I'm in need of advice. Have you visited Puerto Rico? Have you naturalized or birded the island and have any tips for us?

Tom

After writing this post, I re-thought my desire to escape my rather comfortable life for a trip to Puerto Rico, while those in the nearby island nation of Haiti have no opportunities to escape their dire predicament. Here is a link to the Red Cross donation page.