Glück im Unglück

don´t think there´s an english translation for that one
Lucky in bad luck would be word by word.

Came home from work, broke off my key.
Aaargh!
Went to my landlord who lives next door, got a replacement key.
Doesn´t work.
Phoned the guy who lives in the apartment on the first floor.
He´s close by, arrives within 5 min and has left his 2nd door open by chance.

Phew!
He´s also a craftsmen and able to remove the lock from the door.

My landlord has got another lock with 4 keys, my neighbor fits it in.

Voila, Problem solved !!!
That could have been so much worse, I´m so happy & grateful ;).

Sylt in black & white

Ringelgänse (Branta bernicla)

working on a talk

 

for the first time in ages

 

Being silly with the dog

Siproeta epaphus egg on Hemigraphis. Nothing as beautiful as nature.

a butterfly mind

"a person who never settles with one group, interest, or occupation for long"

Came across this expression today when listening to "After Henry" on BBC4 - great way to practice your english.

I´m afraid I might have one.Occasionally.
  
Oh, and along the way (which just proves my point) I discovered a new conspiracy theory, the net is so full of weird stuff...http://conspiracy.wikia.com/wiki/Monarch_Mind_Control

360 Butterfly garden by Jasper Bloemsma

Largest pet store in the world

Been at the, supposedly, largest pet store in the world today, in Duisburg. Not going to name it, cause the owner is not good a dealing with crticism. You can buy monkeys, sloths, dog puppies. Terrible place and attitude, the only nice thing were some really well designed fish tanks.It´s a shame that places like this find costumers - dog puppies had disappeared from pet stores for very good reasons. You either get them from a reputable breeder or a shelter.

technical literature

which has accumulted since April, 1.5 years ago, when my employer opened his butterfly house. Just picked up another one from the post office: Butterfly Gardening for Texas.
Don´t worry about those childrens books- I like using them when doing signs for the butterfly house, the help me simplifying.
Love collecting those books, but need to spend more time reading them.
Never thought that would happen, as I´ve never been into plants and did botany at University mainly because I had to, but I love the plant & gardening books especially.

Now packing for Amsterdam & Lübeck - Invertebrate conference (Tue - Thurs.) & holiday weekend (Fri-Sun).
After the Costa-Rica-Travel-reunion in Koblenz, which was fun ! ;), that´s quite a full programm fro my relaxing holiday week...
(Trolley broken, perfect timing.)

bugged

Last week my car was in the workshop for insepction, quite expensive but o.k., has to be done.
Yesterday my cam belt was replaced, very expensive.
Today my car doesn´t work anymore.

***!!!!

Alledgedly coincidence.

Not happy.

offspring in the butterfly house

anyone know what plant this is ?

Enrichment

Used to love "environmental enrichment" at the zoo.
Gave Nick a pinecone with peanut butter yesetrday and he semmed to enjoy it ;)

Evolution of thoughts

This picture is not mine, it was on my Newsfeed (source).

Not so long ago I would have looked at it, and seen a caterpillar on a flower.

A year ago I would have seen a Monarch-to-be.

Later that it was feeding on tropical Milkweed. *

And now the first thing is I think is: "Wow, someone has got a problem with Aphids!" ;)

Wonder what I will see in the future..


* Yes, I would have thought Danaus plexippus on Asclepias currassavica.
But I get told by everyone but biologically interested people (who are the best, anyway;) ) that scientific names are annoying and only used to show off.
Well, I think common names are a waste of time, I have to learn those in german and english and dutch and googling them takes 10 times as long as the "latin" ones.

Caterpillar I found today

while walking the dog, on Alnus

I need a sabbatical...

6 months volunteer keeper position in Cambodia

would love to do this, 1/2 a year seems perfect.
And then come back to my real world.

Which is completely out of the question for a bazillion of reasons, just letting my thoughts run free for a minute :).

The best things in life are free

Bug hunting with the kids - millipedes can be as interesting as tigers ;)

Is there a german word for patronize?

Walnut-Apple-Crumble-cake

looking  & smelling good ;). 

Will see what it tastes like tomorrow at breaktime. 

Recipe at Chefkoch

Springtime

Costa Rica 2015 (4-26 Feb)

Keel billed Toucan, Laguna de Lagarto Lodge, close to Nicaragua 

When watching them I could not help wondering why they developed this oversized beak.
One function & explanation seems to be temperature regulation: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/mystery-of-the-toucans-beak-solved-1759284.html

https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/why-toucans-have-big-bills/

if you search for it on google, the first two results are creationists sites

Anolis

Ameiva festiva- central american whiptail

Anolis, love these little guys

and another

and one more

Green Basilisc (Basiliscus pulmifrons), Sarapiqui

Beach close to Uvita de Ballena

No Idea bout the bird species, just liked the shape ;)

Bornarea sp., Volcan Poas

Bothrops schlegeli, eyelashed Viper, hanging bridges of Arenal

Bromeliads rule

Amazing plants even grow on wires

and natural substrates

Caesalpinia sp.

Capuchin monkey,Manuel Antonio

see above

Cashew nuts

chestnut mandibled toucan

Coconut to be, Uvita

Making coffee

big scale

My drugs. Coffee Beans.

small scale

Lagoon close to Nicaragua, absolutely loved canoing there. Bliss.

Pupae checking at Costa Rica Entomological Suppiles, La Guacima

Butterfly Breeder at CRES

Croc in the Mangroves, Guanacaste

Crocs from a bridge, somewhere between Uvita & San Jose

Dendrobates auratus

Dole bananas

Honduran white bat, Ectophylla alba, saw these at the wonderful place of a butterfly breeder, close to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui.
Picture not too good, I know.
These are white fluffballs which build tents out of heliconia leaves and spent the day there, roosting together.

The dry northwest, Guanacaste. Hot but superb hiking.

Pier

Frigatebirds, Mangroves, Guanacaste

Frog in a swimming pool, Uvita

Laughing falceon, Guanacaste

not too dense Rainforest, close to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui

Gunnera, Volcan Poas

Gunnera Leaf

My bed for 2 nights. Nice :)

Iguana

Howler monkeys, Guanacaste. I counted 23 in two trees.

Some Hummers

Yellow headed gecko, Gonatodes albogularis

Variegated squirrell

Anole shedding it´s skin

Morning walk at Laguna de Lagarto Lodge

Lagoon Pics at Laguna de Lagarto

love Leaves

Brown headed parrot, Pyrilia haematotis

Tree full of orange chinned parakeets or Tovi-parakeet , Brotogeris jugularis, morning walk in Guanacaste

Scarlet macaw

Tree close to Mangroves, Guanacaste

Santa maria de Dota, looking for the Quetzal in the Mountains

Mushrooms wrong way...

Oophaga pumilio, Blue Jeans Frog, LdL

Montezuma Oropendula

Paraponera or Bullet Ant. The really hurt.

Parrot Snake, Manuel Antonio

Passiflora Vitifolia, Uvita

It´s kind of weird for me to know this ( host plant for Heliconid caterpillars)  by it´s latin name when I saw it in the forest.

Pelicans

Poas

Cloud Forest at Poas

Possum, yippieh ! :) Last night of eyshining in Costa Rica, Uvita. Saw two species, Didelphis marsupialis and this should bethe woolly Opossum, Caluromys derbianus

Quetzal

Red eyed Treefrog, not sure which of the two specise. half natural setting, this guy should be sleeping as they´re nocturnal

Saline

Sleeping treefrog

Sloth

Orange chinned parakeet

Brown hooded Parakeet

Spectacled Caiman, LdL. They feed them there, just about the only thing I did not like about that place.

Squirrell in Gunnera, Poas

Squirrell monkey, manuel Antonio

Guanacaste

Sunset, Uvita

Saccopteryx bats close to the river, Sarapiqui. Missed these guys ;)

Cicada, pic taken at Night, Uvita. They make a lot of noise