“Jesus Christ Lizard” Runs on Laguna Zoncho
Common Basilisk, female, left; male right at Laguna Zoncho, Finca Cantaros
The ability to run bipedally across water at a speedy clip anoints the Common Basilisk (Basiliscus basiliscus) with this special “Jesus Christ” moniker and makes it probably Costa Rica’s most famous lizard. The hind feet are equipped with adaptive flaps of skin that line the toes, allowing juveniles to skip across up to 20 meters of open water. (See National Geographic video below.) Larger, heavier males have the energy to run only a few meters; and if necessary, all Common Basilisks can resort to swimming and do it well. They apparently avoid swimming unnecessarily to avoid aquatic predators. When I walk on our lakeside trail at Finca Cantaros, loud splashing sometimes startles me as the big male races to deep grass cover from his sun-basking post on a fallen tree branch or trunk protruding from the water.
Male Common Basilisk at water’s edge, Laguna Zoncho
The male, reaching almost one meter in length, has a large head crest and sail-finned back resembling a miniature dinosaur. The female, with just a small head crest, is about half that size. Diurnal and omnivorous, basilisks eat invertebrates such as insects, scorpions, and fresh water shrimp; also vertebrates such as other lizards, small snakes, fish, mammals and birds; they even eat fruit and flowers. (The Common Basilisks at Finca Cantaros hang out near a productive fig tree by the lake). Raptors, snakes and opossums are their predators.
At about 1200 m elevation, we are 200 to 600 m higher than Common Basilisks are predominantly thought to reside*. Is climate change pushing them up the slope? Apparently we should get ready for more lizards, as in perfect circumstances, the Common Basilisk can populate an area at astounding density: two- to four-hundred lizards per hectare! So far–and these sightings are recent–we’ve seen only two at any one time. Since the two on the log in the photo above are a male and female, we certainly hope the conditions here are much less than ideal. May the populations of raptors, snakes, opossums and future generations of Basiliscus basiliscus be well balanced, for their sakes and ours.
Common Basilisk, male, resting over Laguna Zoncho
*R.W. Van Devender, Basiliscus basilicus, Costa Rican Natural History, p. 379-380, edited by Dan Janzen, University of Chicago Press, 1983, served as a fine reference to learn about the Common Basilisk. See also Twan Leenders, A Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica, p. 168-169, a Zona Tropical Publication, 2001, another fine guide.
Gland Central for Insects: Inga Trees
Extra-floral nectary, or gland, of an Inga sp. tree, offering liquid sugar
Over several days in the early morning hours, while passing two small Inga trees and stopping to look at them very closely, I noticed that some of the glands of the compound leaves (called extra-floral nectaries) were being visited by ants. These glands—a common feature of legumes like Inga—produce drops of liquid sugar, and as I looked further around both trees, I noted a number of other kinds of insects were either feeding at a gland, moving between leaflets, or hiding among leaf galls. Stingless bees, flies, miniscule earwig-like insects, a roach, a weevil, two species of beetles, and spiders were all visible, in addition to larvae (Lepidoptera?) rolled up in leaflets. Some insect visitors were certainly getting rewards, but I don’t think they were performing any services to the plant in return. There were no flowers, so no pollination was occurring, and there was herbivory—radical damage to some leaves. Since most herbivory occurs at night, I can only imagine the secretive leaf sucking and mining at Inga sp. during the wee hours.
Beetle (Coleoptera) moving away from the sugar trough
A good friend, landscape designer and native plant aficionado, Karen Arras, gave me the Inga trees as saplings several years ago to plant at Finca Cántaros. She knew they would be good for the soil of our nature reserve that had been previously degraded by cows and pasture. So I wondered what value does Inga bring to reforestation and restoration? Karen said it is a nitrogen-fixing legume in the Mimosaceae family. A lot of legumes, like beans, alfalfa and peas, produce unusual amounts of nitrogen. I accepted this on faith, and gladly planted the trees.
An Inga leaf with eight leaflets. There is one gland between each pair; note herbivory.
Another close friend, restoration ecologist Lynn Carpenter, Ph.D (UC Irvine, retired), told me this week what Inga species have done for her own reforestation experiment, ongoing. In 1992 she purchased 15 miles from Cántaros a large parcel of the most severely degraded, nitrogen-depleted pasture she could find, and then set about designing experiments to determine which tree species could grow and help heal the land. She learned in early trials that an Inga sp. was not only able to survive her eroded, barren soils, but given time, enriched the soil and helped native hardwoods Terminalia and Maria trees grow better. Lynn’s forestry experiments were designed to help local farmers find efficient (low cost) and scientifically-based methods for restoring depleted tropical soils so they can go back to being productive.
Ant drinking at an Inga nectary.
Now really curious about Inga and how exactly it and other legumes fix nitrogen, I asked Lynn to explain it to me. First, she emphasized it’s important to know that nitrogen gas (80% of the air we breathe) is inert in air and air pockets in soil. BUT, certain bacteria can activate the gas and convert it to ammonium and nitrate (think explosive fertilizer), which the tree uses to build protein enzymes. The Inga’s roots release a chemical that attracts the soil bacteria, which invade the root. The invasion stimulates growth of lumpy root nodules that then become the bacteria’s new home. Why, then, does Inga give up to 20% of its sugars to these bacteria? Because it gets usable forms of nitrogen in return! This symbiosis keeps production of proteins by the plant humming. In fact, nitrogen is key to proteins and therefore ALL LIFE! Our beloved protein staple, the pinto bean, another legume vital to the health of Latin Americans, comes from relatives of Inga!
Colorful galls on an Inga leaflet attract tiny black insect. Galls are abnormal growths caused by insects, parasitic bacteria or fungi.
All of this activity is invisible to the oblivious, chemistry-challenged Foto Diarist, blinking in the fog, listening for birds, passing by the Inga trees at dawn. But now I’m pondering, thanks to Lynn’s mental prodding: might all those insects be getting much more than sugar at the glands–maybe some ammonium nitrate and protein, too? Do they get the same payoff from herbivory?
Firefly Photinus sp. drinking nectar at an Inga gland
A Roadside Hawk’s whistle pierces the air, and I wander home, intrigued, to breakfast.
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For further information about Lynn Carpenter’s project and helpful trees like Inga, go to www.rainprogram.org
Thanks to Federico Oviedo-Brenes of Las Cruces Biological Station we have a preliminary ID: Inga oerstediana, but we are waiting for flowers to be sure.
A slow-growing Inga tree. This one is seven or eight years old. At one point it appeared to have died, but then came back to life with many new shoots.
Homoptera-leaf hopper that sucks plant fluids
Captivating Trogons
Collared Trogon, male, Finca Cantaros, San Vito, Costa Rica
The Neotropical Trogoniformes is an impressive family: twenty-five species of remarkably attractive birds. For me, seeing a trogon in the forest is akin to being a whale watcher at sea and spotting a humpback breaching the waves–it’s that thrilling. To be able to spot two different trogon species from time to time in our own Finca Cantaros woods is immensely gratifying. Twenty-one years ago, there was only pasture; now there are stunning symbols of healthy rain forest. I am still looking for a decaying tree with a breeding pair: trogons are cavity nesters. Many years ago Alexander Skutch, an icon of ornithology in Costa Rica, saw a pair of Violaceous Trogon (now called Gartered Trogon) take over an inhabited wasp nest, attacking the wasps and excavating at the same time. He noted that the wasps did not attempt to sting or drive them away.
Black-throated Trogon, female, La Selva Biological Station, OTS
A moderately good whistler, I have successfully imitated the Collared Trogon’s call on several occasions. Early last Sunday I was able not only to “call in” a distant male, but to get a photograph of him (above) when he came to investigate.
To hear an 11-second recording from Xeno-Canto of the call of the Collared Trogon, click here and an audio player will open in a new tab/window. Then click the play ( ►) button. Close that tab/window to return to this post.
Trogons swoop in, take a perch, stick to it, rotating their heads slowly, looking around and up and down. Their behavior involves careful observation and strategic moves; they take their time checking out the area, staying still in moderately low branches–at times completely quiet–and sometimes staring right at the lucky soul who happens to be near. It’s a photographer’s dream sighting, but a rare occasion.
Once I saw a Gartered Trogon eating cecropia fruits. Trogons also feed on palm and other fruits which they pluck while hovering. Trogons have finely serrated bills which allow them to hunt and hold on to large insects, lizards and even small snakes. My mother, uncle and I, while visiting San Gerardo de Dota in Costa Rica’s mountains, were astounded when we saw a male Resplendent Quetzal (the most spectacular member of the trogon family) land near us on the ground in a grassy area, catch a snake, start to fly away, drop the wriggling snake, go back, pick it up, and fly away with it. We stared at each other in disbelief! It’s important to remember all those moments, when chance smiles upon you in a fine form of feathers.
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A superb reference guide from which I gathered some facts about the Trogoniformes is A Neotropical Companion-An Introduction to the Animals, Plants & Ecosystems of the New World Tropics by John Kricher, Princeton University Press, 1997.
Resplendent Quetzal, female, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica. Photo by Harry Hull
Resplendent Quetzal, male, Las Tablas, Coto Brus, Costa Rica. Photo by Henry Barrantes, Desafios Tours
Foto Diarist 