By Day and By Night on the Rivers of Tortuguero

Boating by Night, from 8PM until Midnight:

We saw several Spectacle Caimans. A Caiman is a reptile in the crocodile and alligator family.  They are more slender than crocs and alligators, but just as ferocious. The only predators of the caiman are humans and jaguars.

It was so interesting to shine our flashlights into the trees above our heads to look for sleeping or sleepy birds! This is a Chestnut Bellied Heron or Agami Heron. It is now called the latter.

A Great Egret

This is a long nosed bat. It was hanging on a tree about one foot from my head! We were so surprised that it wasn't flying around gobbling up insects!

This is a male Ringed Kingfisher.

I loved this picture when I saw it later.  This is the kingfisher in the above picture, flying away.

American Pygmy Kingfisher, is the size of A hummingbird.

Agami heron

And by boat by day:

We saw several caimans throughout the rivers.

These are wild orchids, growing out of a mossy log.

There were few boats on the Suerte and Tortuguero Rivers, but the ones we did see and ride in were similar to this one. Some had rooves and some did not.

A nest of the Tiger Heron.

Here is the young Tiger Heron in the same nest.

A close up of the caiman's eye. This caiman was right next to our boat!

Long nosed bats spending their sleepy day on the side of a tree that overhangs the water. We were within inches of these bats!

Some of the parts of the rivers were so narrow that our boat would just about touch the greens of each side of the river.