Big Green Monster Flies

They’re big as horse-flies, lime-green in color, with transparent-blackish wings that whirr fast as a hummingbird’s as they hover in front of you, checking you out as possible prey, whirring away fast as a UFO, back and forth, buzzing, hovering, and -!- landing on my horses! Now I can really see the little bastards! Monstrous looking creatures, that look like something out of a science fiction film – and they torment my horses! It’s been a rough week, but we finally got ahead of them. Had to experiment with a combination of repellants and remedies to help heal the ‘thank you Maam’ sores left behind from snacking on Vulcan and Matchi! I’ll spare you the details. I need an entomologist-veterinarian to help us identify, understand and better defend against this dreadful green monster fly. Help us entom. friends!
Thankfully, Lucero and Solo both seemed immune to the bite – in fact, they mostly managed to avoid getting bitten at all by flicking the tail or just doing that muscle-twitchy thing, which doesn’t allow a bug to land. I can feel Solo muscle-twitch when I ride him, so I always know when a fly has landed on him because he goes all bouncy on me. Out in the field, we can just go for a flying gallop and leave all the flies behind. But in pasture, the horses don’t gallop around to unload the flies. They just continue feasting on the wonderful Tanzania grass that we planted for them last season. I guess fine dining helps to take their mind off of the pain! In any case, Vulcan and Matchi just let the flies bite them, and also they’re not yet as immune as Lucero and Solo. It makes sense because Lucero and Solo were both born here in El Rodeo. Matchi, an Arabian-Peruvian mix, comes from La Garita, and Vulcan, our beauty, came from Guanacaste. They have to spend a few more years adjusting to the local flora and fauna and build up their resistance, just like us humans! Everybody who first visits the tropical forest from northern climates needs to undergo a process of acclimation (Gerry insists the word is acclimatisation – those wacky Brits). And give yourself a few days in the shade before heading out to the beach, or else you will be done before you start! I always suggest to visiting friends that they start with the forest and end at the beach.
Flowers are late this year, due to the rainy season we had. No blooms yet from Yuco (Bernoullia flammea), and only a few trees from the Tabebuia species and Gallinazo (Schizolobium). Not a ‘light up the forest with dazzling orange’, as is usual with Yuco. Also, we noticed that the Quebracho trees (Lysiloma sps.) haven’t flowered for two seasons. We had a bumper crop of seeds the season before. Not sure if it has to do with the species or the season. The Pseudosamanea is in bloom and looking very much like the Guayaquil that it actually is – creamy-white flowers. This might be heresy, but I’m beginning to suspect that species shift according to environment. Is it the same species or can the environment change the species and we give it another name? Do certain environmental conditions cause the gland in the Samanea petiole to swell and become apparent – making it a Pseudosamanea? Does the same tree change by adapting to the environment or is it really a different species? I did see both Samanea and Pseudosamanea next to each other at Kathryn Kostka de Tanzi's finca, so tend to believe that they are separate species, regardless of the environment, yet…. We shall need to do experiments on this. We have several Pseudosamanea (think they’re gonna change that genus name to Albizia, not sure) that look so like Samanea saman, that we have to point out the petiole in the center of the gland and/or the creamy-white flower to convince visiting botanists and foresters! In fact, it’s in flower right now! So everybody, who thinks the tree is a Cenizaro, come on over! You won’t see pink flowers and we’ll show you the gland!
Lots of Poro (Erythrina sp.) in blazing orange bloom along the highway from Rodeo to Ciudad Colon to Escazu.
Also, lots of bird activity, with all the bizarre bugs that have come out of nowhere this season. Saw a pair of yellow-breasted Trogons this morning. Not sure if that’s the correct name because our Skutches book is still in storage, because - yes, yes - we are still deep in reconstruction. Just as an aside, Gerry is pining and grousing and bitching, and now insisting, that he’d had quite enough of it all and is planning a trip back to New Orleans in February for a little R & R - and decent food and wine - and civilization, culture, jazz…