<<

Nicaragua 2016 – Jon Hall

Tayra at El Jaguar

When Fiona Reid sent me her trip report from in early 2015 I may have let out a small anguished sob: 23 of the 87 she saw would have been new for me. And then – rubbing salt in the wound - Mike Richardson saw a further 5 I hadn’t seen in 3 extra days. Clearly I needed to return to Nicaragua.

So in March 2016 I was back at Managua airport, meeting Jose Gabriel for a tailor made 9 day twitch- fest. Jose is Nicaragua’s answer to Crocodile Dundee. He’s worked with Fiona Reid on her trips and is both a expert and a great all round naturalist and catcher of . I travelled with him in 2014 and cannot recommend him highly enough. Once again Jose’s buddy and fellow bat researcher Luis came along with us to help set traps.

I had sent Jose a long and very ambitious wish list of 40 target species that Fiona had seen on previous trips or that I knew Jose had seen. But I only had 9 days. It was a tall order and word began to reach me that Jose was taking it a bit too seriously, worrying I would be disappointed if we didn’t totally clean up. I tried to reassure him. He didn’t listen.

Managua to Santa Theresa: March 19 I got into Managua after a short overnight connection in . Beware: Guatemala City airport can be a cluster. Jose and Luis were waiting at the airport and we headed straight to Apoyo Lake to check out a couple of roost trees. Unfortunately – and much to Jose’s surprise – the Pale Spear-nosed Bats were not in their usual, and very reliable, roost, which housed just a few Greater Spear-nosed Bats and a few Short-tailed bats (probably Seba’s). A few hundred metres further on we checked another hollow tree and were successful: my first Tiny Big-eared Bats were at home.

Tiny Big-eared Bats minuta

Next stop was Masaya Volcano National Park, a place I’d visited on my previous trips but which still held a species I wanted to see: Hairy-legged Bats. The park was shut. It had closed a month or so earlier because the volcano was active. But that closure was somewhat flexible it seemed. But then a wildfire, started a few days before I visited, added another level of complexity and the park closure was being enforced strictly.

Undaunted, Jose brought his dirt bike with him so we could get into the park and visit the bat roost “through the back door”. A rugged ride for a few miles got us to the entrance of the cave. But there were no Vampire Bats (though there were plenty of Seba’s Short-tailed Bats and a few Common Long- tongued Bats). The roost isn’t particularly reliable but Jose had hoped that the closure of the park and lack of disturbance would have helped produce the bats. An early set back but we had plenty of time.

Seba's Short-tailed Bats perspicillata and Common Long-tongued Bat Glossophoga soricina (the yellower )

After lunch we arrived at Santa Theresa, Jose’s home town. I stayed at Jose’s place which is also home to Nicaragua’s only know roost of Wagner’s Bonneted Bat. Jose had caught one the night before for me and I watched him release it back into the roof.

Wagner's Bonneted Bat Eumops glaucinus

We netted for bats that evening at both his mother’s and father’s houses. The Molossids in his dad’s roof were obliging and we caught the uncommon - or uncommonly caught at least - Big Crested Mastiff Bat.

Big Crested Mastiff Bat Promops centralis and Sinaloan Mastiff Bat,

Sinaloan Mastiff Bat ( sinaloe) as well as Little Mastiff Bats.

Little Mastiff Bat Molossus molossus

At his mother’s property we added Central American Yellow Bat,

Central American Yellow Bat Rhogeessa tumida

Argentinian Brown Bat,

Argentinian Brown Bat furinalis

Little Yellow-shouldered Bat and

Little Yellow-shouldered Bat illium and Bonda Mastiff, all of which were new for me

Bonda Mastiff Bat Molossus bondae

We also caught Jamaican Fruit-eating Bats and Common Moustached Bats. Eight new species on the first day. Off to a flying start. Rivas: March 20 to 22

Spectral Bat, Rivas

Rivas is a 3 hour drive from Santa Theresa. We based ourselves at the small beach community of El Ostional. The Manta Ray Hotel, right on the beach, was basic but very friendly.

After a swim and an excellent lunch we drove 30 minutes to some dry (bone dry in the current drought) forest. We checked a couple of roost trees, one of which held a colony of Micronycteris. Our photos were inconclusive: one animal appeared to be M. hirsuta, while the others might be M. schmidtorum (a species Jose had found roosting several times before in the reserve).

Hairy Big-eared Bat Micronycteris hirsuta (front) and friends...

Another tree held a few Common and some Carollia bats. A very sick Howler Monkey kept watch and Luis spotted a Variegated Squirrel.

Mantled Howler Monkey Alouatta palliata

Jose and Luis set four nets that evening around some pools, a spot that had proven very successful during Fiona’s tours.

Ostional netting site

A Mexican Porcupine emerged from its roost soon after sunset and posed obligingly for a photo.

Mexican Hairy Dwarf Porcupine Sphiggurus mexicanus

While a Common Opossum played possum

Common Opossum Didelphis marsupialis

We netted from dusk til gone 11pm and then again from 3am til dawn. Jose was worried about the full moon but bat activity and diversity was high. We caught 15 species: best of which was undoubtedly a Mexican -faced Bat, only the 3rd record for Nicaragua and the second time Jose had seen the species.

Mexican dog-faced bat mexicanus

Other new species for me included Miller's Mastiff Bat,

Miller's Mastiff Bat Molossus pretiosus

Mexican Funnel-eared Bat (rarely caught)

Mexican Funnel-eared Bat Natalus stramineus

And a Pygmy Round-eared Bat.

Pygmy Round-eared Bat brasiliense

We added another two species I had not seen before in the hand: Greater Fishing Bat

Greater Fishing Bat Noctilio leporinus

An a Tiny Big-eared Bat (that I had seen for the first time on Saturday at Apoyo Lake).

Tiny Big-eared Bat Micronycteris minuta

The other species comprised more Sturnira Ilium and Rhogeessa tumida and three Pteronotus species: more Parnell's plus the two below.

Lesser Moustached Bat Pteronotus personatus

Big Naked-backed Bat Pteronotus gymnonotus

More Little Mastiff and Argentinian Brown Bats and three more species that were new for this trip - Thomas’s Fruit-eating Bat, Gray Short-tailed Bat and Stripe-headed Round-eared Bat.

Thomas’s Fruit-eating Bat watsoni

Stripe-headed Round-eared Bat saurophila ` Gray Short-tailed Bat Carollia subrufa

Driving between the forest and El Ostional in the small hours of the morning we saw several Hooded and Striped Hog-nosed , the latter a key target for me.

Striped Hog-nosed Conepatus semistriatus

Hooded Skunk macroura

Jose and I took a shortish walk that night and added a couple of , and a Northern Tamandua to the night’s haul. Not bad!

Kinkajou Potos flavus

There were still at least four bats I hoped to see in the area: the very cool Wrinkle-faced Bat, White- throated Round-eared Bat, Niceforo’s Bat and Pale-throated Bat. All rare, but Fiona had caught the former 3 species in 2015 and the latter in Feb 2016. We still had two nights.

I also wanted to see a Vampyrum spectrum in the hand (I’d seen one flapping around the canopy tower in in 2014 ), so Jose suggested we should try netting at Escamequita on our second night, as Fiona had scored there on both her trips.

But first we wanted to visit some caves, so we spent our second afternoon driving the 2.5 hours to and from El Abuelo caves. Our key targets were Mexican and Woolly Funnel-eared Bats and Long-legged Bats, all of which are hard to net (though we had caught a few Natalus mexicanus the day before). El Abuelo comprises four small caves and access is pretty easy, though we needed a gas mask for the last, ammonia-filled, cave which still stank from the several thousand Parnell’s Moustached Bats that had briefly resided there.

The Funnel-eared Bats were easy to see and Jose spotted a couple of the nervous Long-legged Bats , their long legs trailing behind them distinctively in flight. I failed dismally trying to photograph the only one that perched where I could see it.

Mexican Funnel-eared Bat Natalus stramineus (top) and Woolly Funnel-eared Bat Natalus lanatus (bottom)

Long-legged Bat Macrophyllum macrophyllum

The caves also held some Lesser Dog-like Bats and Gray Sac-winged Bats. And a troop of Monkeys and a White-throated Capuchin put in an appearance on the short walk back to the truck.

We got to Escamequita about an hour after dark and set a couple of nets around a small pool (the hotspot) and another in the forest. We stayed all night though I spent most of it asleep in the back of the truck.

The batting was steady throughout the night, and we caught 9 species, none of which were new for me, though one was new for the trip - a Great Fruit-eating Bat.

Great Fruit-eating Bat Artibeus lituratus

Sadly no Spectral Bat. It was, however, very windy with a full moon that only set at 4.30am

There were quite a few mammals snuffling around the forest near the nets. More Striped Hog-nosed and Hooded Skunks, a couple of Kinkajous, Common Woolly and Common Opossums, and Jose saw a Southern .

Ostional Beach

We rested all the next morning and returned to the forest we netted on our first day in mid-afternoon for our 3rd and final night in the area. We spent a couple of hours looking for bats in tree hollows and aerial termite mounds (for Lophostoma species). Apart from several roosts and some Carollias and Greater White-lined Bats, Jose also found two micronycteris roosts. Both, he thought, were Schmidts' Big-eared Bat , the commonest micronycteris species in the forest he thought. I got some decent photos of the second roost. The first new species of the day.

Schmidts' Big-eared Bat Micronycteris schmidtorum

We set two nets in the forest, near to where Fiona had caught a Pale-throated Bat in 2016, and 2 nets back at the pools. The moon was again very bright and – unusually for the time of year – the wind was gusting strongly. Luis called after an hour to say he had caught something cool by the hot springs. But he wouldn’t say what. I managed to contain my excitement for 30 minutes. But when Jose asked whether we should go see what Luis had, I was in the truck quicker than a New Yorker into an empty cab during a rainy rush hour.

Luis, as we had guessed, had a Spectral Bat Vampyrum spectrum. Bats do not come any cooler. What is more, when we arrived he had a second Spectral Bat in the net, plus another largish bat that Jose confirmed was a Pale-throated Spear-nosed Bat, the species we had missed in their usual roost on my first day. Double bingo!

Pale Spear-nosed Bat discolor

Catching a Spectral Bat is always a big deal. Catching two in an evening is almost unheard of. Jose had previously only seen 4 in his life. A long photo session ensued.

Spectral Bats Vampyrum spectrum

The wind strengthened and it was hard to get much sleep in the back of the truck, trapped between a fear of falling branches and a fear of Vampire Bat bites. Other bats that evening included more Central American Yellow Bats and Common Vampire Bats.

Common Vampire Bat rotundus

The bats dried up at midnight and so at 2am we packed up for a few hours’ sleep in the hotel. An epic end to a superb 3 days in Rivas. EL Jaguar: March 23

Tayra, El Jaguar

We were on the road again at 10am for what turned into a 5 and a half hour drive to El Jaguar, north east of San Rafael del Norte. It’s a comfortable lodge, 1,100 metres up in the mountains and my room had a pretty decent view over a small valley.

The lodge was on the itinerary for a number of reasons: some good small mammals, the endemic Richmond’s Squirrel, Bushy-tailed Olingo and some reasonable bats too from time to time. I was planning to visit but the visit became a priority two weeks before the trip when Holly Faithful let me know that a Tayra was hanging around the lodge and she was “sure it would still be there”. Famous last words… are one of my bogey and I’m not sure any watcher has spent as much time as me in the Neotropics and failed to see one.

As soon as we arrived I set up shop in front of the bananas (out for the ) and waited for a Tayra. It had been seen earlier in the day so I was optimistic. And at 4.30 a Tayra arrived shortly followed by a second. They spent twenty minutes gorging themselves on bananas. Wonderful.

Tayra Eira barbara

The owners of the lodge thought the animals were a couple of months old and had been abandoned. The ready supply of bananas meant they were rapidly putting on weight (there were desperately skinny when they first arrived). I hope they stay around.

Central American Agoutis put in an appearance under the bananas just before dusk.

Central American Agouti Dasyprocta punctata

Very close to the bananas is a storeroom full of corn. This is a major source of action. While Jose and Luis set Sherman traps in the forest, I staked out the room and saw both Deppe’s and Richmond’s Squirrels easily. Richmond's Squirrel Sciurus richmondi (not the orange belly which helps separate this species from Deppe's Squirrel)

After dark the squirrels were replaced with gorgeous Vesper Rats and the much smaller, but superficially similar, Slender-tailed Harvest Mice.

Vesper Rat Nyctomys sumichrasti

Slender Harvest gracilis

We put a few traps in the storeroom and caught only a House Mouse (surprising given the amount of rodent activity in there every time I looked inside … but then again there was no shortage of food), and an Alfaro's Rice Rat in the forest.

Alfaro's Rice Rat Oryzomys alfaroi

Batting was slow in the forest and the main species captured were Thomas's and Toltec Fruit Eating Bats (the latter new for the trip).

Toltec Fruit-eating Bat Artibeus toltecus

We also caught two Short-tailed bat species.

Chestnut Short-tailed Bat Carollia castanea

Sowell's Short-tailed Bat Carollia sowelli

El Jaguar is also good for Bushy-tailed Olingos and sure enough Luis spotted one close to the bat net shortly after sunset. It was less skittish than usual, tolerating the flashlight to drink nectar from a Banana tree.

Bushy-tailed Olingo gabbii

La Bastilla/Datanli: March 24

Datanli Our next stop was La Bastilla, a lovely eco-lodge in a plantation, a couple of hours from El Jaguar, though only less than 15 miles as the Spectral Bat flies.

We split up after lunch. Rodrigo, a local guide, and I hiked through the forest above Bastilla setting a long line of traps. Luis stayed near to the lodge to net bats, and Jose drove to Datanli, a small village close to the lodge, and at the other end of the trail that Rodrigo and I took. We arrived on dusk to meet Jose, who had already set up a couple of nets.

Our key targets for the night – based on what Fiona had caught on both trips – were Honduran Yellow- shouldered Bats, Hairy-legged Myotis and Salvin’s Big-eyed Bats.

The Honduran Yellow-shouldered Bat was our first capture – noticeably larger than the Sturnira lilium we had been catching in the lowlands

Honduran Yellow-shouldered Bat

We very quickly caught several more species.

First, a Brazilian Brown Bat, a new record for the area, was a bonus.

Brazilian Brown Bat Eptesicus brasiliensis

This was followed quickly by a small nectar bat that had Jose excited. It keyed out as a Godman's Whiskered Long-nosed Bat. A lifer for both Jose and me. Godman's Whiskered Long-nosed Bat godmani

Next up was the first of two Geoffroy's Tailless Bats, an uncommon capture, and the first of the trip.

Geoffroy's Tailless Bat geoffroyi

As well as our first Brown Long-tongued Bats and more Toltec Fruit-eating Bats.

Brown Long-tongued Bat commissarisi

Other mammals that evening included a Nine-banded Armadillo, which bumbled out of the forest next to the net though I was too slow with my camera.

We packed up at 9pm and had dinner in the village, before heading back to Bastilla to see what Luis had caught. His most unusual capture was a .

Big Brown Bat Eptesicus fuscus

He had also got some Jamaican, Toltec and Thomas's Fruit-eating Bats, Little Yellow-shouldered Bats and Parnell's Moustached Bats.

Aside from the bats, he’d seen a Paca near the nets and, as we were packing up, we spotted a Grey Four-eyed Opossum.

Back at the lodge I found a baby Vesper Rat outside my room that had fallen from its nest (or its mother).

The next morning we were up at dawn to check the traps. As expected we caught a great many Mexican Deer Mice (probably 70% of the traps had a Deer Mouse inside).

Mexican Deer Mouse mexicanus

We also caught one very nice looking (and surprisingly robust) Highland Pocket Mouse.

Highland (Forest Spiny) Pocket Mouse Heteromys desmarestianus

We’d hoped also to catch Zelenodon’s Mouse Opossum: Fiona Reid caught this species on both her trips but we had neither her skill nor her luck. But as a consolation we caught two small Alston’s Singing Mice, a lifer for all of us.

Alston's Singing Mouse teguina

The fourth - and final - species was a bedraggled Vesper Rat – nice to see an adult in the hand.

Vesper Rat Nyctomys sumichrasti

Jose’s original plan was to spend 2 nights at Bastilla but he was also keen to get me back to Refugio Bartola for a night (where I had been in 2014). In order to do that, however, we would have to leave La Bastilla a day early. So by 10am we were back on the road. San Miguelito: March 25

Variegated Squirrel Sciurus variegatoides

We spent Friday night near the small town of San Miguelito and close to the jumping off point for Refugio Bartola. The plan was to catch bats in a patch of forest that had been productive for Jose a couple of years earlier. A Variegated Squirrel was waiting for us when we arrived.

Although we caught a bunch of bats we didn’t catch any of the species we were hoping for (particularly Lophostoma silvicolum and Rhogeessa io). We did however catch two myotis species: tricky to identify but Fiona Reid confirmed Jose’s opinion that they were Elegant and Black Myotis. The former new for me and Jose.

Elegant Myotis Myotis elegans

Black Myotis Myotis nigricans

We also caught two species we’d previously seen roosting: a Greater Spear-nosed Bat,

Greater Spear-nosed Bat Phyllostomus hastatus and a Greater White-lined Bat.

Greater White-lined Bat Saccopteryx bilineata

The other bats that night mainly comprised Fruit-eating Bats (Jamaican, Thomas's and Great), Seba's Short-tailed Bats, Common Long-tongued Bats and 20+ Common Vampires (Jose found a roost tree close to the net that also housed a couple of Fringe-lipped Bats). We also caught one or two Little Yellow-shouldered and Argentinian Brown Bats.

Bats aside, we saw several Northern Raccoons, a Striped Hog-nosed Skunk, a Common Opossum and the first Forest Rabbit of the trip. The forest was full of Grey Four-eyed Opossums.

Gray Four-eyed Opossum Philander opossum Refugio Bartola: March 26

The rare Smoky Bats at Refugio Bartola

We left early for our mad dash to Refugio Bartola. But not quite early enough to get the first boat. So we took the 8am slow boat: even slower than usual because the river was so desperately low. In a week or two it may be too low to operate the boats, leaving people in the communities along the river stranded.

We got to Bartola in time for lunch, and planned to spend the afternoon looking for bat roosts and the evening spotlighting. But the best laid plans of mice and mammal watchers…. I was flying home the next day and so we needed to catch the first boat back to the city of San Carlos. In order to catch that boat - at 5am - I needed to leave Bartola at 4am. But the river was so low that no boatman was ready to risk the trip in the dark. Cue quick rethink. We had no choice really: and I decided to leave Bartola before dark and overnight in El Castillo so I could get the 5am boat.

Jose’s buddy Julio is a guide at Bartola and when he heard we were coming he set a few traps in front of the lodge to catch me a Dusky Rice Rat. A lovely looking thing which we photographed and released: the mammal watching equivalent of home delivery.

Dusky Rice Rat Melanomys caliginosus After photographing the Common Tent Making Bats

Common Tent-making Bat bilobatum and Smoky Bats that roost around the lodge we headed off into the jungle for a 3 hour hike in search of roosting bats.

Smoky Sheath-tailed Bat Cyttarops alecto

Aside.... is it just me, or so these bats an uncanny resemblance to the Sea Devils, those terrifying villains of Dr Who which haunted my five year old nightmares for several weeks in the early 1970s?

Sea Devil

Our main goal in the forest was a Greater Dog-like Bat roost, but we checked a few other spots along the way and saw our first Common Big-eared Bat of the trip as well as a few more common species.

Common Big-eared Bat Micronycteris microtis

Sadly the Dog-like Bats were in neither of their regular roosts. But Jose did find a few Disc-winged Bats inside a rolled up heliconia leaf. Lovely to see this species again.

Spix's Disk-winged Bat Thyroptera tricolor

We arrived at El Castillo at dusk and set up some nets at the edge of the forest next to town. Though the batting wasn’t great – mainly Jamaican Fruit-eating Bats - we did catch our first Heller's Broad-nosed Bat of the trip

Heller's Broad-nosed Bat helleri

Jose proved yet again how great a rodent catcher he is, managing to grab a Long-whiskered Rice Rat.

Long-whiskered Rice Rat Oryzomys bolivaris

Closely followed by a Harvest Mouse which on closer inspection may well prove to be the most significant find of the trip. There are no records of Harvest Mice from the area and though Fiona Reid thinks it looks most like a Slender-tailed Harvest Mouse (which we saw in El Jaguar) it might also be a new species. The specimen is now with the museum in Managua for identification.

Harvest Mouse species

One or two more lifers for me. We packed up the nets, drank a bunch of Tona (yes, beer!), and walked to the river at midnight in search of Lesser Fishing Bats, which we couldn’t find.

Bartola to Managua: March 27 The trip home was smooth and we had enough time to detour to Apoyo Lake to see a few Lesser White- lined Bats roosting on a tree in the La Abuelo Hotel car park.

Lesser White-lined Bat Saccopteryx leptura

My 86th or 87th species for the trip. Quite spectacular for 8 nights. There have been a couple of reports from Nicaragua with similar totals so my trip was no fluke. But the combination of Jose’s skills and Fiona Reid’s research, means Nicaraguan mammal watching trips are in a league of their own.

No time to rest at Refugio Bartola

Thank you A huge thanks to Jose Gabriel and Luis for a truly monumental week. Their skill, energy and enthusiasm were responsible or 90 percent of what we saw. They are great guides, great company and great human beings. If the rest of the world had guides like this there wouldn’t be any mammals left for me to see! So go to Nicaragua now while you still can enjoy weeks like this and before Jose Luis gets head hunted by NatGeo. Also a big thanks to Fiona Reid: her pioneering work has opened up the mammal watching scene in Nicaragua and - as always - she helped confirm and correct our IDs of various species.

Stuff I missed I cannot complain really can I…? But on the long list I sent Jose there were a few species that we didn’t see (though of course quite a few more that we did see that weren’t on my list to begin with). In particular I would have liked very much to have caught a Wrinkle-faced Bat, seen the Hairy-legged Vampires at Masaya Volcano and the Greater Dog-like Bats at Bartola. We had also hoped to catch a White-throated Round-eared Bat, Nicefoy’s Bat and Hairy-legged Myotis. Zelenedon’s Mouse Opossum would have been nice too. I have promised to return once Jose has perfected plans for seeing these species.

Gray Four-eyed Opossum Philander opossum Southern Opossum Didelphis marsupialis Virginia Opossum Didelphis virginiana Central American Woolly Opossum Caluromys derbianus Nine-banded Armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus Northern Tamandua Tamandua mexicana Forest Rabbit (Tapiti) Sylvilagus brasiliensis F Richmond's Squirrel Sciurus richmondi Deppe's Squirrel Sciurus deppei Variegated Squirrel Sciurus variegatoides F Alston's Singing Mouse Scotinomys teguina F Vesper Rat Nyctomys sumichrasti F Mexican Deer Mouse Peromyscus mexicanus F Slender Harvest Mouse Reithrodontomys gracilis F Alfaro's Rice Rat Oryzomys alfaroi F Long-whiskered Rice Rat Oryzomys bolivaris F Dusky Rice Rat Melanomys caliginosus House Mouse Mus musculus F Forest Spiny Pocket Mouse Heteromys desmarestianus Mexican Hairy Dwarf Porcupine Sphiggurus mexicanus Central American Agouti Dasyprocta punctata Paca Cuniculus paca Gray cinereoargenteus Southern Spotted Skunk Spilogale angustifrons Hooded Skunk Mephitis macroura F Striped Hog-nosed Skunk Conepatus semistriatus F Tayra Eira barbara F Bushy-tailed Olingo Bassaricyon gabbii Potos flavus Northern Raccoon lotor Gray Sac-winged Bat Balantiopteryx plicata Greater White-lined Bat Saccopteryx bilineata Lesser White-lined Bat Saccopteryx leptura Lesser Dog-like Bat Peropteryx macrotis Smoky Sheath-tailed Bat Cyttarops alecto Greater Fishing Bat Noctilio leporinus Lesser Moustached Bat Pteronotus personatus Common Moustached Bat Pteronotus parnellii Big Naked-backed Bat Pteronotus gymnonotus Hairy Big-eared Bat Micronycteris hirsuta Common Big-eared Bat Micronycteris microtis F Tiny Big-eared Bat Micronycteris minuta F Schmidts' Big-eared Bat Micronycteris schmidtorum F Long-legged Bat Macrophyllum macrophyllum F Pygmy Round-eared Bat Lophostoma brasiliense Stripe-headed Round-eared Bat Tonatia saurophila F Pale Spear-nosed Bat Phyllostomus discolor Greater Spear-nosed Bat Phyllostomus hastatus Fringe-lipped Bat Trachops cirrhosus Spectral Bat Vampyrum spectrum Brown Long-tongued Bat Glossophaga commissarisi Common Long-tongued Bat Glossophaga soricina Geoffroy's Tailless Bat Anoura geoffroyi F Godman's Whiskered Long-nosed Bat Choeroniscus godmani Chestnut Short-tailed Bat Carollia castanea Seba's Short-tailed Bat Carollia perspicillata Sowell's Short-tailed Bat Carollia sowelli Gray Short-tailed Bat Carollia subrufa F Little Yellow-shouldered Bat Sturnira lilium F Honduran Yellow-shouldered Bat Sturnira hondurensis Common Tent-making Bat Uroderma bilobatum Heller's Broad-nosed Bat Platyrrhinus helleri Jamaican Fruit-eating Bat Artibeus jamaicensis Great Fruit-eating Bat Artibeus lituratus Thomas' Fruit-eating Bat Artibeus watsoni Toltec Fruit-eating Bat Artibeus toltecus Desmodus rotundus Spix's Disk-winged Bat Thyroptera tricolor F Mexican Funnel-eared Bat Natalus stramineus Woolly Funnel-eared Bat Natalus lanatus F Wagner's Bonneted Bat Eumops glaucinus F Mexican dog-faced bat Cynomops mexicanus F Big Crested Mastiff Bat Promops centralis F Bonda Mastiff Bat Molossus currentium Pallas' Mastiff Bat Molossus molossus F Miller's Mastiff Bat Molossus pretiosus F Sinaloan Mastiff Bat Molossus sinaloae F Brazilian Brown Bat Eptesicus brasiliensis Eptesicus furinalis Big Brown Bat Eptesicus fuscus F Central American Yellow Bat Rhogeessa tumida F Elegant Myotis Myotis elegans Black Myotis Myotis nigricans Panamanian White-throated Capuchin Cebus imitator Central American Spider Monkey Ateles geoffroyi Mantled Howler Monkey Alouatta palliata

86 SPECIES including 30 that were new for me... plus a mystery Harvest Mouse.