Whilst on vacation in Costa Rica, one of our destinations was the Tabacon Grand Spa located in La Fortuna De San Carlos which is right in the center of a rainforest at the base of the Arenal Volcano. This resort is famous for naturally heated, black volcanic pools of crystal clear water. A heaven on earth for anyone that loves relaxing baths, and luscious tropical gardens. However, as I am not a person who finds sweating in warm water relaxing, I instead was delighted to see that many reptiles obviously loved the humidity and warmth that these thermal hot springs had to offer. The stunning juvenile lizard in this photo was experiencing quite a relaxing day at the spa, until I arrived with my camera. So instead of relaxed, he looks incredibly annoyed at me for ruining his day by taking some photos. Those glaring yellow eyes and pursed lips make me smile every time I look at him, what a cutie!
For those of you who are also reptile lovers, please click here to visit my other scaly posts.
Lavender with Butterfly – Photograph by Laura Lecce
A peaceful Friday photograph of lavender with a white cabbage butterfly. I use the word peaceful because lavender oil possesses anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) effects, and thus, has long been used as a calming agent and to promote sleep. However, Friday is my busiest work day, and I have no time to rest. Instead, I will tell you that this white cabbage butterfly is an agricultural pest in North America and Australia because the caterpillars love to eat crops. We should still have some sympathy for them though, because certain species of wasp will lay their eggs inside the caterpillar and the wasp larvae then eat it from the inside out, ultimately killing the caterpillar. What a horrible way to die! Happy weekend everyone, I hope I didn’t give you nightmares.
This photo not only marks one of the highlights I experienced on a recent trip to Mexico, but a highlight of my life. The beach we stayed on was incredibly beautiful with endless white sand and calm turquoise water. Just outside our room was an enclosed area with numerous little signs posts in the ground, much like a cemetery (see photo below). Curiously I went to investigate, and to my delight I realized these signs marked mounds of recently laid turtle eggs. Each sign had NIDO written on it (meaning nest in Spanish) with the number of eggs buried (usually 100 or more), and the date they were laid. I was instantly appreciative of the care the resorts have put into this endeavor, when it would certainly have been easier to ignore that they have encroached on a turtle nesting beach. Each night the resort security was seen patrolling the beach, and staff would then relocate any newly laid eggs to these protected areas to stop them getting destroyed by beach goers. As I was reading each of the signs, I realized that literally thousands of baby sea turtles were incubating in the sand in front of me. I quickly Googled how long it takes for baby turtles to hatch and at what time of day, learning that it takes about 8-10 weeks and they hatch at night. As they were mostly laid in August, I knew my chances were slim, but a few had July dates, so I was still hopeful of a newborn turtle sighting.
Turtle Hatchery – Photograph by Laura Lecce.
Each night after dark I checked for baby turtles, and was disappointed that they all remained buried. Then, one day at noon when I looked out the window, I glimpsed a tiny movement in the turtle enclosure and ran out to find two little blue babies scurrying around in the sand! Worried that the midday sun would quickly cook them, I sent my husband to notify the resort staff while I guarded my babies. The resort staff came running with their “turtle tub” and let us pick them up to put them in (see photo below). They also tracked the little prints in the sand to identify which nest they were born from and started digging to uncover any more which had hatched, but not yet escaped the sand and found 5 more. I asked if they would take them to the water to release them, and they explained to me that if they did, the birds would quickly eat them, so they keep them safe until nightfall. That night as we were walking along the beach, each of the resorts came to the water with their babies in a tub. One of them contained hundreds of teeny, tiny turtles born that day. We were each handed two turtles to place gently on the sand and watch as they scurried into the ocean waves. I will admit that I cried as I did this, completely overwhelmed at the experience, and of knowing that I helped these little cuties safely reach the water. Simultaneously, my heart was also breaking with the realization that many will not make it far, and instead become prey to the monsters lurking in the dark waters. I was also in absolute awe of mother nature, knowing that one day the few girls that make it to maturity, possess in their tiny brains the GPS coordinates of this same beach, which they will revisit (in 20-50 years) to lay their very own eggs.
Being Born is Hard Work – Photograph by Laura Lecce
This photo of a water lily has long been one of my absolute favorites. It was photographed in a stunning glass house called the Conservatory of Flowers at the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. What particularly draws my interest is the soft geometry of nature, resting against a rigid backdrop of man-made geometrical rectangles in the reflection of the glasshouse windows. A lovely start to spring for all my fellow Aussies, have a great weekend everyone! (and completely in denial that summer is ending here in the USA).
This past weekend I went to Mexico and had some amazing experiences that I will share with you next week. However, of all of my photographs, this one was quite unexpectedly the most beautiful (and I never thought I would say that about a giant grasshopper!). This almighty insect which visited my balcony was an incredible lime green color with striking blue eyes. It happily sat still while I took my time getting the photo just right. Later that same night as I was walking along the beach, I spotted a few more (even bigger ones!) which I almost stepped on in the dark. One of them was in the direct path of a crowd of people coming down the beach and in need of rescuing. I decided to carefully nudge the insect onto the book I was holding so that I could safely relocate it (mind you, the book was no bigger than the bug itself). However, rather than happily complying with my request, it instead took a flying leap onto my knee, and although I am not at all afraid of insects, this was still a most unpleasant surprise! After a successful second attempt, I moved the big guy out of harms way, and I’m sure he will make a very large and tasty breakfast for some bird in the morning.
The Jade Vine (not to be confused with the jade plant also known as money tree) is an unusual plant native to the Philippines and is closely related to beans and peas. It grows into a monstrous vine with stems of up to 60 feet (18 meters) and once mature will hang hundreds of cascading flowers, dangling from stems as long as 10 feet (3 meters). These flowers range from a lovely turquoise color to a mint green. The flowers above were photographed from a mighty vine growing inside the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory (photo below) at the New York Botanical Gardens. It is a temperature controlled glass house that contains many tropical plants, which like myself, are most intolerant of New York winters. Happy weekend everyone!
New York Botanical Gardens – Photograph by Laura Lecce
I can say that I have been a truly lucky human being to have had the opportunity to swim with sea turtles on quite a few occasions. This turtle was photographed while snorkeling at a beach on Fitzroy Island, a beautiful tropical paradise near Cairns (in Queensland, Australia). A lazy afternoon, just myself, my husband and several turtles… and we watched as they went about their daily munching on sea grasses. To swim with these beautiful reptiles makes you appreciate how graceful they are at moving under the water, and they are quite content to have you swimming nearby. You’d think that for an animal which has outlived the dinosaurs, they should be happy, but instead they always look sad. Actually many of them are now listed on the endangered species list, which also makes me incredibly sad. I especially get upset when people think that rather than just observing wildlife, they interfere with it. I have seen this happen to turtles in Hawaii, where divers or snorkelers will grab onto them. This is NOT ok, and more respect should be given to these ancient and incredible creatures.
This is an orchid that I photographed while at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. A magnificent tropical garden which stretches as far as you can see. It was a bit of an effort walking around all day, on what was an incredibly hot day with 100% humidity. Though, as much as the people suffered in these stifling weather conditions, it is perfect for these orchids. They belong to a group of plants which are collectively called epiphytes, meaning that they love to grow harmlessly attached to another plant or tree with their roots free to absorb nutrients and moisture from the air and rain. These plants grow as a single, unbranching stem with leaves alternately growing on either side. They produce multiple branching flower stems with many flowers (pinkish-red, fiery red, orange or yellow) dancing on either side. Seeing a group of fully grown plants in flower is like looking at a brilliant firework display of heated colors exploding into the sky. Needless to say, this is one of my very favorite orchids.
You know you were meant to be a biologist when you get excited to discover that snails from different parts of the world look different. Both Puerto Rican and Malaysian snails are the size of mammoths compared to snails found in Sydney backyards (hopefully this fact makes Sydney gardeners a little happier). However, the shell shapes of these slimy creatures is very different. The snails from Puerto Rico are quite flattened, with the center point of the spiral barely protruding at all (photo above). Malaysian snails have a very elongated shell with the spiral being very pointed (photo below). If you are unlucky enough to have lots of snails in your veggie patch in Sydney, you might one day be lucky enough to attract a blue tongue lizard to your yard. These stocky lizards will happily take care of your slimy infestation, which is reason enough for me to keep feeding the snails in the hope that a lizard one day comes to dinner.
This flower is an unknown that I photographed in Tasmania. A little, orange, star-shaped flower on a small shrub in the Tassie grasslands. Even though I spent a very long time trawling through Google images under many search terms, the flower and the name remained elusive. I am surely not the only person to have photographed this little gem, so if anyone can shed some light on this flower, that would be very much appreciated. It is fitting that I introduce a star in a month where the talk of planets has been quite abundant. The five planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have been visible this month in the night sky, together, shortly after sunset. I hope some of you have been out sky, star and planet gazing this month. Happy Friday everyone!
Laura Lecce's art and photography 