Honduras: Night Time Critters

After a long day of exhausting birding in the rainforest, wouldn’t you just want to relax with a delicious dinner and a cocktail? Yes, but then you’d also want to go check out the nightlife. And I don’t mean bars or clubs – I mean looking for the nocturnal critters that are now up and about to start their day, or night, I should say.

A large gecko - perhaps a Turniptail Gecko?

A smaller gecko - maybe Lepidodactylus lugubris

When we first arrived at the Lodge at Pico Bonito in the evening, we walked around the grounds with our flashlight and phones scoping out for some really cool bugs and herps that may be hanging about. But on our first full day out, we walked by a mercury vapor lamp with a white sheet set up on a frame of PVC pipe. Once we knew it was there, we would go every night to check it out, and it never disappointed. In fact, it delighted.

The moth sheet

Arctiine Tussock Moths - clockwise from top left: Halysidota atra, Amaxia sp., Phaeomolis lineatus, Idalus dares, Trichromia atta

Every night, we’d cover ourselves up in pants and hooded sweatshirts, not just to brave the much cooler evenings, but to also try as much as possible to see the night-time critters up close but keep them out of our ears and clothes. (Nick was not always so successful on the latter front). It was a Catch 22 at times – we’d want to get closer to see some awesome moths and bugs, but at the same time we didn’t want them flying or buzzing right in (or into) our faces. 

Bombycidae family

Come to the soothing green glow...

The “moth sheet” was always full of fun invertebrates – moths and bugs galore! They just couldn’t help themselves from getting close to that bright, greenish glow. There was a range of all sizes, from the tiniest pinky-nail sized beetles to the gargantuan almost hand-sized Sphinx moths.

A Satin Moth (about the size of a half-dollar coin) and a tiny other moth

A Satin Moth can look like a cross between a bat and a bunny. 

Adhemarius ypsilon

We acted like kids in a candy store, constantly saying to one another, “Oooooh, look at this one! Oh wait, this one is so awesome! Oh, you gotta come check this one out!” You get the picture. I never thought I’d be so giddy at the sight of moths, but when you see as many as we did and in such an array of colors, shapes, and sizes, you’d be pretty stoked, too!

Bombycidae sp?

Tiger moths (Hypercompe sp.) - Can you find the dog and puppy faces?!?

Some of these moths were just other-worldly with super “furry” legs and/or bodies. Others were just stunningly beautiful, as they had just the most vibrant colors and intricate patterns. We’d spend an hour or more just scanning every inch of that sheet, ooo-ing and awww-ing and snapping pics of some of the most incredible moths we’d ever seen. 

Flannel Moths

Lasiocampidae family (bottom right is questionable)

The sphinx moths were my favorite – so stealthy-looking and stoic. Once they landed on the sheet, they stayed in one place the whole time. When we attempted to pick them up, they totally lost their cool and flapped like crazy like a fish out of water. However, Nick was the sphinx moth whisperer, and he was able to coax them back to their zen-like state.

Nick with a Sphinx moth

Sphinx Moths - Pachylia darceta (bottom left), Xylophanes acrus (bottom right)

Nick coaxing the very large Adhemarius ypsilon 

We weren’t the only ones who were enjoying the plethora of moths and insects. A few toads would hang out right underneath the sheet waiting for a frazzled critter to fall towards the ground and become an easy meal. We mostly saw HUGE Cane toads, the size of grapefruits. But every so often, we’d also see what I believe were Gulf Coast Toads.

Cane Toad

Gulf Coast Toad

Now that we’re back home, we are now having a time trying to figure out what we saw and identify as best as possible, at least by family. This is no easy feat as some didn’t look like moths at all. Some looked like wasps or even cockroaches! In the rainforest, everything was wild and new and so exciting, even the most unlikely of critters. 

Sematura lunus - We saved this large, lovely moth from certain death by a nearby hungry toad 

Birding Las Vegas

Recently, my job had me going on another trip – this time to Las Vegas. I swear I have a legitimate and respectable job, and it just so happens that it has taken me to exciting places like St. Maarten and Las Vegas in the past few months. This time, however, Nick was able to come with me to also make this trip a fun weekend getaway. And what would a typical Vegas weekend be without including some birding?!? =)

Crane made of flowers at the Belagio Hotel

More cranes in the Belagio Hotel's botanical area

We were excited to once again explore the desert. We took about a 30-minute drive from the Strip to visit Red Rock Canyon. The landscape was simply beautiful, showcasing big rocks with various shades of red and orange. Some were sharp and jagged, while others were rounded and smooth. And we got to enjoy some Joshua Trees, with their delightful spikes of green cutting through the arid land.

Joshua Tree

The visitor center was a lovely building that also had some great outdoor displays with the gorgeous red rocks as its backdrop. In a pen outside was a resident captive Mohave Desert Tortoise. He was super adorable – larger and flatter than the gopher tortoises we were used to seeing in the Southeast. He also had an unusually large “gular horn,” the protrusion coming out from his plastron under his head. The naturalist there supposed that it may have overdeveloped due to an especially protein rich diet in captivity.

Leaving the visitor center, we headed down the 13-mile scenic drive, focusing on some of the “birdier” areas. At our first stop, we saw a welcomed familiar face – the Black-throated Sparrow. We had seen our first when we birded through Phoenix, AZ last year. He was just as handsome as ever, and he treated us to his lovely song, too.

Digiscoped pic of a Black-throated Sparrow

As we went on to our next main stop, we were delighted to see a similarly named cousin, the Black-chinned Sparrow. It was a lifer and the only one we saw the rest of our trip. Instead of being mostly black, buffy and brown like the Black-throated Sparrow, this sparrow was mostly gray with brown wings with just a touch of black on its chin and a sweet little pink bill.

Black-chinned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

As we walked around the brush, I swore I saw a low-flying hummingbird. But it turned out to be a very large sphinx moth, flashing its big patches of coraly pink on its wings, hovering and feeding with its long proboscis very much like a hummer.

As we walked, I just kept hearing this lyric in my head: "I've been through the desert on a horse with no name…"

Another familiar face from our East Coast days also made an appearance. The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher made its nasal little whine as it flitted amongst the shrubs. One even led us to its nest where we saw both parents together and then swapping places to stand guard.

Male Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers on their nest

We then headed out on a trail that led to a little oasis in the desert. A group of Ponderosa Pines lined a small creek. We caught sight of a few Costa’s Hummingbirds, which we had also seen in Phoenix. We enjoyed the lovely pops of pink and yellow of the desert flowers, but didn’t see much else for a while other than a few bugs and spiders.

We did keep hearing the repetitive calls of a mimid, but couldn’t locate one for quite some time. Then finally we got closer and closer to the singing, and there we found a Crissal Thrasher - our second lifer of the day! We got to see at least two of them as they took turns standing in a sentinel position at the top of a tree. The sun was beating down on us and the heat waves were strong, but we couldn’t have been more excited!

Digiscoped pic of a Crissal Thrasher

That was the last main bird of our trip to Red Rock Canyon, and it was a good one. We were super stoked about the 2 lifers we picked up, plus the cool moths and butterflies that we saw all around. A couple of nice non-birds that ended our day were some fun lizards basking in the hot Nevada sun. We got more than our share of that harsh sun, too. We both walked away with a little sunburn, but it was totally worth it for all of the fun we had!