Costa Rican Fauna (Part 1) - Villa Perezoso

My post today is a continuation from yesterday's post, Costa Rican Flora.  Probably my favorite aspect of visiting Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica was all of the wildlife.  This should come as no surprise to all you gardeners out there, who appreciate the great outdoors and the living things that fill it.  Everywhere we went, wildlife surrounded us.  From our house, Villa Perezoso, where the monkeys came to visit everyday at sunrise (5:30 a.m.) and sunset (5:30 p.m.), to the ocean where we saw dolphins swimming alongside our catamaran, to the national forest, where we saw numerous sloths hanging from the canopy.  It was a world of wonders.

These are the animals we saw from our Villa Perezoso (Sloth House)...

Red-Backed Squirrel Monkeys
These cute little stinkers were the first to greet us when we arrived at Villa Perezoso.  The villa staff had made us refreshing pineapple fruit drinks to cool us down after the long, 2.5 hour drive from San Jose.  The drinks were garnished with slices of fresh pineapple, which this troop of monkeys was on the hunt for.

 We later found out that it was very rare to see squirrel monkeys in this area, and didn't see our little friends for a few days.  But later in the week, they were on the hunt for some more treats, and returned to our villa, looking for a handout.

While we didn't feed these guys (strongly discouraged), this little guy found some fruit in a nearby tree to nibble on.

Just chillin'

This little guy is posing with some of the interesting looking fruit that his buddy was munching on in one of the other pictures.

Capuchin Monkeys

The capuchins were our most regular visitors at Villa Perezoso.  They arrived every morning at 5:30 a.m. (and most evenings around sunset) and tried to open our sliding glass doors on the balconies.  The first night, we forgot to lock the sliding doors to the kitchen, and the monkeys got in a stole a huge avocado. We made sure the doors were locked every night after, but that didn't stop them from visiting.  Of course, they still had their buffet of bugs sitting in the pool skimmer for them to munch on.

Piggy-backing

Grooming time

This guy started throwing a hissy-fit (knocking over bowls and candle holders on the deck, and throwing pillows around) because he couldn't get the sliding door open to steal delicious fruit.

But this guy was offered some leftover pineapple, which he happily accepted.

Tropical Kingbird

 Yellow-Throated Euphonia

Fiery-Billed Aracari

Unidentified frog hanging out on our bedroom window.

 Mariposa