The Day Begins

..with Howler Monkeys, well, howling, before first light. Then the birder-guests rise and then I follow, about 6:00 am.  When I was trapping, I wanted all set before the lizards thought about getting up. I do rounds of known hides before 6:30 breakfast.

Breakfast, usually just a latte at home, is rice and beans and eggs and fruit and platanos and avocado and fresh fruit and juice and coffee. Comer poquito is the lay of the land if I don't want to return fat.

(Home -- I hear 10 inches of snow. That makes me feel on the other side of the world.)

GWY

Green-White-Yellow's hide is to the left of my building in a concrete half pipe. Usually I can't get nearer than 5 meters before she heads for safety. This morning I attempted to wait out her emergence but she refused, poking out her head and retreating once she'd seen the lurking human.

So I visited GGG and the rest of the gang, and stumbled on GWY on her way to the kitchen. Did she run? No. Just kept on her way, climbing the hillside behind the kitchen/dining hall, adding 2 unmarked iguanas to her entourage. She ate, she rested in the shade, she ate some more. She was without concern; neither myself of other iguanas mattered.

At the end of the day she was in a very small tree, the type you think wouldn't hold an iguana's weight. The tree was ~2 meters from her hide. The scrambling again commenced and she was gone, into her hide. A most interesting set of behaviors. Is she skittish or calm? Is she bold or shy?

Blue-Yellow-Brown

In the woods was BYBr, the largest male yet caught. I knew him from the trap and a tree he climbs near the dining hall. But no idea of daily routine, iguana interactions, nothing.

He did marvelous things today including sharing a siesta spot with a sneaker male!

I sneak around and follow iguanas, learning their refuges and habits, their accomplices and those clearly not desired. I make videos of behavior, I take 250-550 still images a day, and many hand written notes. The land is not at all difficult to cover and the iguana paths pretty apparent through the brush.

Today was a chance to do some laundry. Alejandro found me and managed to help me understand it was Lavenderia time. But far beyond the call of duty, my laundry was hung to dry and returned to me folded!

Before dinner I download all the photos and videos, and get batteries charging for cameras and gps. I look at all the images and compare the bead colors I can see from enlarged image files with my written notes.

Then dinner and a movie. Actually, dinner and a blog, and a few images on FB, and mental plans for the next day.

And like all iguanas, bed time is early.