Cordillera de Talamanca


On our last day, we stopped at three high-elevation habitats: an oak-dominated cloud forest (3100 m), a páramo site (nearly 3500 m), and a bog (2500 m).

top image: cloud forest canopy, taken by Emily Earl

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brief stop before a long bus ride into the mountains

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the first thing we saw at the cloud forest was a crowd of hummingbirds at some feeders, including this Magnificent Hummingbird

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the delicate aroma of the cloud forest soil was unsurpassed among all the soils we sampled in CR

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Nick claimed that he tasted every soil we dug up in CR; the cloud forest soil was the finest 

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The cloud forest at 3100 m had a canopy of oak trees, but tree ferns were abundant in the sub-canopy layer

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In the the páramo, it can be dismally cold and wet any day of the year. We were actually pelted with hailstones as we walked here, which seemed a bit freakish for a tropical climate

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after getting soaked in the páramo, we descended 1000 m to a lovely bog

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our last day in CR, but still ecstatic about each new plant we encountered, like this Chusquea bamboo

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tapir tracks are often found in this bog, and sharp-eyed observers can spot the animals too

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