On Jungle Time (Jenny)

Days start early in Costa Rica. Around 4:45am, the birds start calling to one another. These are not the earliest noises; in fact, insects buzz loudly once the sun sets, and throughout the night. But the bird calls are the alarm clock. Shortly after the birds start, the howler monkeys begin to howl. They can be over three miles away, and still audible. The sky brightens around 5am, the sun is fully up shortly after that, and so are we. We spend the first hour or so of our day just watching the jungle. Describing what we’ve seen each morning will sound made up; we couldn’t possibly have seen all that I’m about to describe! But that is the magic of Costa Rica, of her abundant rainforests and conservation efforts. This is truly paradise!

Today, we saw several toucans. They are fun to watch, usually showing up in pairs. They seem to like one tree. The aracaris pair (cousins of the toucan) show up and fight for a spot on the tree. This usually leads to one or more flying away. When we snap out of our hypnosis to get the binoculars or camera, the birds all seem to hop behind a conviently-placed leaf, just out of our sight, only to return to plain view when we put our devices away. I think the jungle is teaching us a lesson in these moments.

As if the toucans aren’t magical enough, a blue morpho butterfly floats into the scene. Yesterday, there were two chasing each other in magical figure-eight patterns. Blue morphos are large, vibrant blue, with brown underneath their wings. So when the wings are closed together, they look like leaves. But when they are open, a beautiful blue appears.

Then the hummingbirds show up. They love this bright orange flower near our porch. There is a large brown hummingbird- the largest I’ve ever seen. And one that has beautiful orange tail feathers and buzzes close to our heads. But my favorite is the blue hummingbird. He rests on the flower stem and appears to smile at us, picture perfect. We don’t dare move, lest we break the spell of the moment.

Today, a large group of white-faced capuchin monkeys showed up. They were deeper in the jungle, but we saw them in the background of our bird show. They always make me smile, especially when they lay with arms and legs dangling from a branch, as if in exhaustion.

It is late afternoon as I type this. The howler monkeys are howling again, signaling the beginning of dusk. The sun will be down in about 80 minutes, and the bats will be out.  Nature’s daily cycle signals the end of another day filled with Pura Vida.