Over the past two months I've had the pleasure of spending time in Panama for four weeks and immediately following herping Norway for two weeks. I apologize for the the vast amount of photos but with so many amazing herps it was hard to pick and choose these photos.
I'll start of with Panama. Most of the time was spent in the Bocas Del Toro region, although some trips were taken onto the mainland and the interior of the country. This was my first time visiting Central America and it definitely won't be my last. Biodiversity was extremely high and the locals were nothing but friendly. I went to Panama to take ITEC's Neotropical Herpetology course, loved every minute of it. It was a group effort finding all of the herps you'll see below.
Amphibians
Leptodactylus pentadactylus - These frogs are gorgeous...and huge! I've always dreamed of seeing one of these frogs.
Hyla colymba - Crazy looking colours and eyes.
Hyla phlebodes - Were quite abundant following heavy rains.
Hyla ebraccata
Bufo hematiticus
A glass frog - There was a huge down poor that last several hours, resulting in a fogged up DSLR.
Bufo coniferus
Rana vaillant
Agalychnis callidryas were one of the most abundant frogs. Everyone loved red eyes!
Craugastor spp.
Diasporus diastema
Bufo marinus
Gymnopis multiplicata
Everyone's favourite....including mine!
Oophaga pumilio
Phyllobates lugubris
Allobates talamancae
Silverstonia flotater
Dendrobates auratus - Poor photo, my camera did not enjoy the rain.
Lizards
Ameiva festiva
Ameiva quadrilineata
Ameiva spp.
Basiliscus basiliscus
Basiliscus vittatus
Basiliscus plumifrons
Corytophanes cristatus
Iguana iguana
Lepidophyma flavimaculatum
Lepidoblepharis xanthostigma
Thecadactylus rapicauda - This guy was amazing....and huge! Wish I had taken better photos.
Lepidodactylus lugubris
Gonatodes albogularis
Sphaerodactylus homolepis
Norops pentaprion
Norops lemurinus
Norops tropidolepis
Norops auratus
Norops biporcatus
Norops oxylophus
Norops humilis
Snakes
Pseustes poecilonotus
Leptophis ahaetulla
Mastigodryas melanolomus
Leptodeira septentrionalis
Geophis hoffmanni
Boa constrictor imperator
Imantodes cenchoa
Sibon annulata
Oxybelis aeneus
Cerrophidion godmani
Bothrops asper
Turtles and Caiman
Caiman crocodilus
Rhinoclemmys spp.
Rhinoclemmys annulata
Kinosternon leucostomum
Other notable animals
Howler Monkey
A few days after I returned to Canada I went to Stord, Norway for a couple days for my brother's wedding. Of course, herping was the first thing on my agenda. Not a lot of diversity but what they do have is several very interesting species.
Anguis fragilis were very common.
Bufo bufo
Vipera berus - I was only able to photograph this melanistic individual. Very flighty and defensive snake, very hard to photograph. Very happy to find this snake.
Once again I apologize for the large amount of photos, I hope you enjoyed them. I think I"ll stick to Canadian posts as they are a lot less painful to create, haha.
Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Moderator: Scott Waters
- Kevin McRae
- Posts: 110
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:28 pm
- Location: Manitoba, Canada
Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Looks like you had a great time in both places! Where on the mainland did you go in Panama?
Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Fantastic post Kevin! Very jealous of the Panama trip! haha I've been trying to plan a trip there for the last 3 years for herping and scuba certification.
Absolutely loved it all and love the photo of the G. albogularis - a great photo of a common species!!
Absolutely loved it all and love the photo of the G. albogularis - a great photo of a common species!!
- Brian Folt
- Posts: 79
- Joined: June 10th, 2010, 10:20 am
Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Cool photographs! What incredible diversity. I hope to one day photograph a caecilian also, and those pumilio morphs are remarkable as well.
I think your Norops humilis is actually N. lemurinus given the dewlap coloration. I believe your craugastorid frog pictured first (immediately following phlebodes) is Craugastor fitzingeri. Not sure about your glassfrog, but it may be Sachatamia ilex. Not sure about your "Craugastor spp.", but it reminds me of Craugastor steijnegerianus, and yours may be a species from that group.
I would like to hear more about this tropical herpetology course. Which group/school put on the course, and who were in the instructors?
I think your Norops humilis is actually N. lemurinus given the dewlap coloration. I believe your craugastorid frog pictured first (immediately following phlebodes) is Craugastor fitzingeri. Not sure about your glassfrog, but it may be Sachatamia ilex. Not sure about your "Craugastor spp.", but it reminds me of Craugastor steijnegerianus, and yours may be a species from that group.
I would like to hear more about this tropical herpetology course. Which group/school put on the course, and who were in the instructors?
- Martti Niskanen
- Posts: 363
- Joined: June 11th, 2010, 11:19 am
- Location: Helsinki, Finland
Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Good stuff. I'd pick Panama for the herps and Norway for the views. Nice to see you got herps in Norway. But no Zootoca?
- Kevin McRae
- Posts: 110
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:28 pm
- Location: Manitoba, Canada
Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Thank you all for the kind words, it was a great trip.
Jon - I spent time a few days in Boquete, Panama City and a few days on the mainland of Bocas Del Toro. Have you spent time in the country?
CCarille - You should start planning your trip! You can do both in Bocas. It's inexpensive here, makes it an easy herping destination. I did some snorkeling on the reefs and was amazed by the biodiversity.
Brian - Thanks for the ideas on the Craugastor. I wish I had keyed them out in person as with photos it made it very difficult.
The course is with the Institute of Tropical Ecology and Conservation. They are based out of Gainesville, FL but run the Bocas Del Toro Biological Station on Isla Colon. They run several sessions each year but I believe only one herpetology course. The professor for the course is Peter Lahanas. I'd recommend this course to anyone interested in herps! http://www.itec-edu.org/index.html
Martti - I very much agree! No Zootoca, I know they lived on the mainland nearby but I did not see any on the island of Stord. No locals knew of any lizards and I couldn't find any publication that they live on the island.
Jon - I spent time a few days in Boquete, Panama City and a few days on the mainland of Bocas Del Toro. Have you spent time in the country?
CCarille - You should start planning your trip! You can do both in Bocas. It's inexpensive here, makes it an easy herping destination. I did some snorkeling on the reefs and was amazed by the biodiversity.
Brian - Thanks for the ideas on the Craugastor. I wish I had keyed them out in person as with photos it made it very difficult.
The course is with the Institute of Tropical Ecology and Conservation. They are based out of Gainesville, FL but run the Bocas Del Toro Biological Station on Isla Colon. They run several sessions each year but I believe only one herpetology course. The professor for the course is Peter Lahanas. I'd recommend this course to anyone interested in herps! http://www.itec-edu.org/index.html
Martti - I very much agree! No Zootoca, I know they lived on the mainland nearby but I did not see any on the island of Stord. No locals knew of any lizards and I couldn't find any publication that they live on the island.
Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Kevin - Yeah, I have it all planned out... just running into a backstop every time I try to come up with the $.
Being down by Panama City, did you get into the Darien (supposed to be some great birding around here) at all and while you were in Boquete did you go to Volcan Baru (I'm curious as to how the areas were in both... diversity, etc)?
Being down by Panama City, did you get into the Darien (supposed to be some great birding around here) at all and while you were in Boquete did you go to Volcan Baru (I'm curious as to how the areas were in both... diversity, etc)?
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- Posts: 661
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 12:17 pm
- Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Great Post, Kevin!
I've been spending at least a week a year in Panama for the past 7 years (not always for herping) and there are probably a dozen species in your post that would still be lifers for me. I especially enjoyed your pumilio shots though. I've seen them at a few spots on Bastimentos and on Cristobal, but have never had the chance to track them down at any other locality. Thanks for sharing.
Chris
I've been spending at least a week a year in Panama for the past 7 years (not always for herping) and there are probably a dozen species in your post that would still be lifers for me. I especially enjoyed your pumilio shots though. I've seen them at a few spots on Bastimentos and on Cristobal, but have never had the chance to track them down at any other locality. Thanks for sharing.
Chris
Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Great post, they are all fantastic animals but I am absolutely blown away by Gonatodes albogularis and Sphaerodactylus homolepis - never even knew they existed and now i HAVE to see them.
- Mike Pingleton
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- Location: One of the boys from Illinois
- Contact:
Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Fantastic!
-Mike
-Mike
- Hans Breuer (twoton)
- Posts: 3230
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- Location: Kuching, Sarawak (Borneo)
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Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Very nice, thanks a lot! Did you use a different camera in Norway?
Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Hey there, I am also interested in hearing some details about the herpetology course down there. Were these species identified by the professor? Some of the species and groups in the Neotropics are certainly confusing, such as the Craugasor polyptychus you have pictured, but some of these identifications are quite off. Hyloscirtus colymba is an endangered species generally found in the premontane regions. The frog you have labeled as such is the common lowland species, Hypsiboas rufitelus.
A couple of other corrections that I remember seeing:
Your Hyla (Dendropsophus) phlebodes is Scinax elaeochrous
Your Leptodactylus pentadactylus is L. savagei
Your Silverstoneia flotator is another Allobates talamancae
I'm not saying this to be a jerk, but to remind you to double check your facts and take your time when identifying species you're not familiar with. You saw some really neat herps while down there; be sure to do them justice.
-Don
http://www.rainforestdon.com
A couple of other corrections that I remember seeing:
Your Hyla (Dendropsophus) phlebodes is Scinax elaeochrous
Your Leptodactylus pentadactylus is L. savagei
Your Silverstoneia flotator is another Allobates talamancae
I'm not saying this to be a jerk, but to remind you to double check your facts and take your time when identifying species you're not familiar with. You saw some really neat herps while down there; be sure to do them justice.
-Don
http://www.rainforestdon.com
- Kevin McRae
- Posts: 110
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:28 pm
- Location: Manitoba, Canada
Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
CCarille - We did spend some time in Volcan Baru. We did see quite a few herps in the park. Although the landscape was reason enough to go!
Chris - I couldn't get enough of the pumilio, Bastimentos is a special place.
Hans - Same camera was used. Much different conditions though.
Don - Thanks for the advice. Species mis-identifications definitely was a mistake by myself. Coming from a province of only twenty four species of herps makes it a great challenge when traveling somewhere with such diversity. Unfortunately some mistakes were as simple as mislabeling photos/inserting the wrong photo such as the Silverstoneia flotator. What are the differences between Leptodactylus pentadactylus and L. savagei? I used J. Savage's book for identifying most species however L. savagei is not present in the book.
Chris - I couldn't get enough of the pumilio, Bastimentos is a special place.
Hans - Same camera was used. Much different conditions though.
Don - Thanks for the advice. Species mis-identifications definitely was a mistake by myself. Coming from a province of only twenty four species of herps makes it a great challenge when traveling somewhere with such diversity. Unfortunately some mistakes were as simple as mislabeling photos/inserting the wrong photo such as the Silverstoneia flotator. What are the differences between Leptodactylus pentadactylus and L. savagei? I used J. Savage's book for identifying most species however L. savagei is not present in the book.
Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Your Phyllobates lugubris photo with the tadpoles on its back is very special. I was happy to see that. I also enjoyed the Vipera berus. How did you find it?
Terry
Terry
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- Posts: 64
- Joined: July 4th, 2013, 3:21 pm
Re: Herping Panama and Norway - Photo warning
Great report, good numbers of herps can be found with the proper amount of people searching! Good upbeat for my upcoming trip back into Panama in one months time, spending most of my time in the El Valle area after a couple days in the Canal Zone.
Chris - The Canopy Lodge company is opening their project "Camp Darien" in January of this coming year. They have already done many trial runs and it has proven to be fantastic per communications with their advisors. When I was last in Panama in 2011, there was no access to the Darien (without some sort of guide at LEAST) for Americans. It was reportedly blocked off due to the strong amount of drug trafficking that occurs. But with Camp Darien open next year, many people will get to enjoy the endemics that the Darien has to offer. Panama is the favorite place I have visited thus far in my travels.
Chris - The Canopy Lodge company is opening their project "Camp Darien" in January of this coming year. They have already done many trial runs and it has proven to be fantastic per communications with their advisors. When I was last in Panama in 2011, there was no access to the Darien (without some sort of guide at LEAST) for Americans. It was reportedly blocked off due to the strong amount of drug trafficking that occurs. But with Camp Darien open next year, many people will get to enjoy the endemics that the Darien has to offer. Panama is the favorite place I have visited thus far in my travels.