Observations by dan_cawley

I was surprised by this awesome blue toraco right before we left Sangha lodge. I wish I had had more time to look around for it and get a better picture with my good camera and not just my gopro. Doubtful we can id it better than just that it was a turaco unless there's only one big blue species there.

The species here was a best guess by the software when I put this in. I'm back in the U.S. at the moment and don't have my field guide with me. A proper id would be great. The river here was up by about 4 meters, which made the fishing really rough but these birds enjoyed their time on the upstream side of a small island. They didn't allow us very close before they took off so it was hard to focus on them and I needed to use all of my 60x optical lense to get a decent shot. Hope it's good enough for an ID.

These interesting insects are found in the forest around the house. This particular one was on the wall by our front door. We have noticed some of these make an interesting chirruping noise when bothered. My daughter says the boys talk and the girls don't. She is 7. We put it in a jar to observe and it happily ate leaves we added.

This two inch very fat caterpillar decided to start making his cocoon on the side of our entry and exit gate. I'm hoping that in the morning he will be done and I can get a picture of his cocoon or chrysalis. I have no idea what species he is but I love the strange tatoo like markings. He had not been there for more than an hour when I went through the gate again and there he was.

These large bats were seen by the waterfalls in Kribi at about 9:30 in the morning. They flew by in a group of maybe thirty and roosted in the trees above a few the people's shops selling trinkets to tourists. They are large, I'm guessing a wingspan of around 24-35 inches though I didn't handle one. They do have an exceptionally large snout, made me think of a moose!

My kids and I made a fish trap out of sticks and vines in the forest and placed it in the small creek behind our house. This was the second nights result! We were certainly excited that it worked! I don't klnow what the species is but it is about four inches long. Right now it's residing in a small tank on our kitchen table but I'm not really sure what to feed it. An identification would certainly help. I have previously seen Mastacembelus niger
in the same stream but this does not have the pointed nose of the other I saw and his coloration paterns are much more pronounced in this one.

This is what I believe is a forest cobra. It was five feet six inches long and was killed after coming out from under a shipping container around noon. The workers at Rain Forest International School killed it with long sticks so they were not bitten and none of the students would run a cross it.

I was able to take the snake home and skin it and then gave the meat to a couple of the workers for supper. As of this writing, the skin is drying on my porch and should be ready for use in a few days.

There are much larger versions of this snake still alive nearby as we have seen snake skins of this species that were well over 7 feet in length.

This amazing snake was killed by the locals who were clearing land to build. It weighed about 20lbs and was beautiful. I was sad they killed it but also glad I didn't step on it. We have seen forest cobra, green mambas and black mambas but this is the first Gaboon Viper we have seen in this area in the four years we've been here, though they are sold on the road as bush meat quite often. The location is accurate, I know right where they killed it.

These are really hard to find and photograph. I got lucky enough to find one on the way to school and had my camera. There are a pair of these on campus, though you're more likely to hear them than see them. My identification may be off, but it's the closest thing in the princeton guide.

Probably actually a Dendropicos fuscescens and not

Dendropicos poecilolaemus

These barbets live in some trees in the back section of the campus. I observed one either making a round hole in a dead tree for nesting or excavating an existing hole. It's possible this is a different species but this is the best shot I have of them.

Pin-tailed Whydah's apparently really like this white sand. When building here in Cameroon there are two types of sand, white and red. They are used in different proportions when mixed with cement. When building a house large truckloads of this sand gets dumped on site. I have noticed that the Whydah's are attracted to the white sand. I'm not sure the reasoning.