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Caño Negro Photos

The wetlands and the Río Frío that feeds them are two of the very best places in Costa Rica to see and photograph wildlife.

We’ve been to Caño Negro so many times I’ve lost count. We’ve bicycled, kayaked and taken motorized safari launches and every time we’ve seen something different and memorable.  Spider monkeys which are very difficult to see elsewhere in Costa Rica are relatively common, caiman (the central American crocodillian cousins of alligators) are everywhere and the birds innumerable.

Gallery forests where you can stand (or float) outside and look in are some of the best places for spotting wildlife because there aren’t all of those trees in the way.  Edges where water meets land are also particularly rich and diverse habitat because many resources come together there.  Caño Negro is composed nearly entirely of easily navigable gallery forest along the edge of the water making it perfect for wildlife photos.

 

Spectacled Caiman
Spectacled Caiman, Caiman crocodilus (Spanish-Lagarto, Cuajipalo or Guajipal). Lurking in the vegetation along the banks of the Río Frío in Caño Negro Wildlife refuge.
Cebus capucinus
White-faced Capuchin, Cebus capucinus (Spanish – Mono Carablanca). The gregarious capuchins commonly follow hikers, scolding and even launching projectiles from the treetops.
Crocodile with a Tilapia
Crocodile with a Tilapia – we’ve been told many times that there are no Crocs in the Rio Frio…guess again
sit on top kayak
What’s that? – Sue in a sit on top kayak Caño Negro
A typical sightseeing boat on the Rio Frio
A typical sightseeing boat on the Rio Frio
Wood Stork (Mycteria americana)
Wood Stork (Mycteria americana)
Southern Rough-winged Swallows, Stelgidopteryx ruficollis
Southern Rough-winged Swallows, Stelgidopteryx ruficollis (Spanish – Golondrina Alirrasposa Sureña). Caño Negro National Wildlife Refuge.
Casmerodius albus
Great Egret, Casmerodius albus (Spanish – Garceta Grande). The largest all-white member of the heron family. Many of the Great Egrets at Caño Negro are permanent residents.
Green Iguana roosting
Green Iguana, Iguana iguana (Spanish – Garrobo). Green iguanas perch in trees, commonly over rivers and if startled or threatened they will launch themselves into the air tumbling 50 feet or more before splashing in and swimming to a safer roost.
Sungrebe (Heliornis fulica)
Sungrebe (Heliornis fulica). It’s uncommon to spot a sungrebe perched where you can get a good look at their strangely patterned feet.
River turtle
River turtle
Birdwatching marshes Cano Negro
Some tours stop along the banks to allow passengers to approach the marshes more closely
Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Great Egret (Ardea alba) in the grassy wetlands of Cano Negro
Caiman with an Anhinga
Caiman with an Anhinga
Iguana iguana (Spanish - Garrobo)
Green Iguana, Iguana iguana (Spanish – Garrobo). Green iguanas are relatively easy to distinguish from their cousins the Ctenosaur or Iguana Negra because they have a much larger dewlap (the flap under the chin) and commonly hang out in trees like this one.
Launching Spider Monkey
Launching Spider Monkey – Central American Spider Monkey, Ateles geoffroyi (Spanish-Mono Colorado or Mono Araña). We often saw monkeys launching into the air to get from one tree to another.
Central American Spider Monkey, Ateles geoffroyi (Spanish-Mono Colorado or Mono Araña). We often saw monkeys launching from one tree to another but it required fortunate timing to get this dramatic picture along the banks of the Río Frío Cano Negro.
Central American Spider Monkey, Ateles geoffroyi (Spanish-Mono Colorado or Mono Araña). We often saw monkeys launching from one tree to another but it required fortunate timing to get this dramatic picture along the banks of the Río Frío Cano Negro.
Bikes in a boat Cano Negro
Bikes in a boat on the way from Los Chiles down the Rio Frio to Cano Negro
Low clearance.
Setting out for Cano Negro – Low clearance. Unstrap, unload, back out, re-load, restrap!
Gallery forests
Gallery forests are the thin strip of trees and associated plants facing a gap of some sort. In this case it’s the opening created by the Río Frío in Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge, but other sources of light gaps are roads, patures, tree falls, cliffs and land slides. Because of the availability of strong sunlight from the side as well as above gallery vegetation can be quite different from what’s growing surrounded on all sides by other plants a few meters away.
Mantled Howler Monkey Eating figs
Eating figs- Mantled Howler Monkey, Alouatta palliata (Spanish-Mono Congo). Feeding on ripe figs. Their diet is typically leaves but they won’t pass up tasty fruit in season.
Anhinga
Anhinga, Anhinga anhinga (Spanish – Pato Aguja). The kinked neck is a result of vertebrae modified to act as a type of hinge to accelerate their strike when spearing small fish. Anhinga’s pointed bills and broad tails contrast with the hooked bills and stubby tails of their closest relatives the cormorants.
Cormorant gulping down a fish
Cormorant gulping down a fish
Canopied motor launches are a great way to spend a day on the river and in the wetlands
Canopied motor launches are a great way to spend a day on the river and in the wetlands
Black River Turtle, (Rhinoclemmys funerea, Spanish-Tortuga Negra del Río or Jicote). On a log sunning along the banks of the Río Frío in Caño Negro Wildlife refuge.
Black River Turtle, (Rhinoclemmys funerea, Spanish-Tortuga Negra del Río or Jicote). On a log sunning along the banks of the Río Frío in Caño Negro Wildlife refuge.
Seasonal flooding
Seasonal flooding beginning each June changes the landscape dramatically in Caño Negro National Wildlife Refuge. If you look carefully to the right of the pair of trees at center you can see a Great Egret fishing where cattle may have grazed a few months earlier.
Gourd Tree, Crescentia alata
Gourd Tree, Crescentia alata (Spanish-Jícaro or Guacal). Some undetermined feature of Crescentia branches make them particularly suited for epiphytes and they support possibly the highest densities of orchids and bromeliads of any tree in Costa Rica. Seasonal flooding beginning each June changes the landscape dramatically in Caño Negro
Great Egret, Casmerodius albus
Great Egret, Casmerodius albus (Spanish – Garceta Grande). The largest all-white member of the heron family. Many of the Great Egrets at Caño Negro are permanent residents.
Gray Necked wood rail (Aramides cajanea)
Gray Necked wood rail (Aramides cajanea)
Lilly pads
Lilly pads
Olivaceous Cormorant
Olivaceous Cormorant Phalacrocorax olivaceus (Spanish – Pato Chancho, Cormorán Neotropical). Cormorants’ feathers are relatively easy to wet reducing their buoyancy and allowing them to stay submerged to pursue the small fish they hunt.
Jesus Christ Lizard
Basilisk, Basiliscus basiliscus (Spanish-Chisbala flying bullet or Lagartija Jesucristo). Taking a break from walking on water.
Belted Kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon
Belted Kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon (Spanish – Martín Pescador Norteño). These largish fishing birds are often seen perched on branches overhanging rivers and canals and if you wait patiently you may see one plunge into the water like a missle when a fish passes below. Listen for their cackling, crackling rattle of a call when in flight.
Welcome to Cano Negro
Welcome to Cano Negro
Tour Office, Cano Negro
Tour Office, Cano Negro
Kayak right up to the bar
Kayak right up to the bar near Cano Negro along the Rio Frio
Super Caño Negro
Super Caño Negro
Soda
Soda
Ringed Kingfisher
Ringed Kingfisher Ceryle torquata, (Spanish-Martín Pescador Collarejo). Perched on a branch overhanging the Frío river waiting for a fish to pass below.
Ox cart hauling sugar cane. It's becoming less common all the time, but in addition to the decorated carts posing for photos with tourist we still occasionally see oxen carts doing real work.
Ox cart hauling sugar cane. It’s becoming less common all the time, but in addition to the decorated carts posing for photos with tourist we still occasionally see oxen carts doing real work in rural areas.
Caño Negro Boat
We spent the day exploring the wildlife refuge along the Río Frío and on Lago Caño Negro then had the boat deposit us at the small village of Caño Negro on the western shore where we continued our bike tour.
Biking Cano Negro
We were promised the road out of Caño Negro village towards Bijagua was “totalamente plano”…If this is absolutely flat I’d hate to see a hill…
Green Iguana, Iguana iguana (Spanish - Garrobo).
Green Iguana, Iguana iguana (Spanish – Garrobo).
Many bird species
At least half a dozen different species in a single frame
Spectacled Caiman, Caiman crocodilus
Spectacled Caiman, Caiman crocodilus (Spanish-Lagarto, Cuajipalo or Guajipal). Doing his best imitation of a log while sunning along the riverside
Riverboats on the Rio Frio
Riverboats on the Rio Frio
Boat on the Río Frío
Boat on the Río Frío
Howler monkey (mono congo) howling
Howling
The Cano Negro Village entrance
The Cano Negro Village entrance to the Wildlife Refuge – most commercial tours enter from Los Chiles near the Nicaraguan border and go up the Rio Frio
Great egret fishing in the Rio Frio
Great egret fishing
Kingfisher staring intently into the waters of the Rio Frio
Kingfisher staring intently into the waters of the Rio Frio
Anhinga and great egret
Anhinga and egret share a log perch
Rio Frio flooded in the rainy season
Rio Frio flooded in the rainy season
Sue in a sit on top kayak Caño Negro
Sue in a sit on top kayak Caño Negro
A lagoon
A lagoon
Dock and Bar - Cano Negro
Kayak right up to the bar near Cano Negro along the Rio Frio Costa Rica
Herding Cattle
Herding Cattle to fresh pasture on a seasonal island in Caño Negro

Ray & Sue

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