Fresh photos of leaf-nosed bat and blue moth at Yaxha park

Posted June 13, 2019

Enlarge Image Epigraphers and iconographers call this a Leaf-nosed bat. Scientific and common names are Vampyressa thyone, Little yellow-eared bat, murciélago pequeño de orejas amarillas This bat was found in the area of the Hotel Ecolodge El Sombrero by Ericka Garcia. Photographed with a Nikon Coolpix 900 camera.

Enlarge Image Syntomeida epilais, Oleander moth, polilla de lunares, polilla edelfa, near Aguada Maya (Poza Maya), PNYNN , photographed with a Nikon Coolpix 900 camera by Ericka Garcia.

Enlarge Image Another helpful photo by Ericka Garcia. Pteroglossus torquatus, Collared aracari, photographed from Yaxha Temple 216, with a Nikon Coolpix 900 camera.

Ericka Garcia, student at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, has been at Yaxha for her first week (to stay the entire month of June). She was invited by the FLAAR Mesoamerica team who are doing research at Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo in cooperation with the park administrators of IDAEH and CONAP.

Fellow student from UVG, Boris Llamas, is now also present and we will introduce his photographs in the coming weeks.

Ericka was able to locate and photograph a leaf-nosed bat in broad daylight. Leaf-nosed bats are commonly pictured in Classic Mayan art, and especially in hieroglyphic inscriptions.

The blue moth is a beautiful insect that I myself have never seen. It’s great to learn what insects are living in the protected park areas.

Since Ericka will also be doing research at night, she and her team will find creatures that the FLAAR Mesoamerica team has not yet photographed (because we are focused primarily on discovering and documenting (with panorama photographs) the biodiversity of different ecosystems in the extensive park). We are especially interested in river and their shore ecosystems, lakes and the plants along their shores, swamps, bogs, and every ecosystem that is not solid forest (since the forest ecosystems are relatively well documented at Tikal to the east and Belize to the west).

Since there are enough orchids, bromeliads, impressive trees, awesome vine systems, and birds of every size and shape, it helps to stay overnight. Hotel Ecolodge El Sombrero is also a perfect place to watch (and photograph) the sunset. We have seen spider monkeys over the hotel many times and 90% of the nights the howler monkeys serenade you in the trees around the hotel.