Sunday, November 25, 2007
CARIBBEAN NATIONAL FOREST, Puerto Rico – Vines trail three stories from the tops of trees. Some leaves are big enough to hide a preschooler. Rain doesn't pelt; it hammers.
Such extremes of the rain forest – and these are only a few in the great green of this preserve that locals call El Yunque – are so attention-grabbing that it's easy to miss small details. Yet, like nails in a house's framework, they're vital to the whole of this sole tropical rain forest in the U.S. Forest Service system.
Let the giants of the forest wrap you in awe. But look among them for the small wonders that will etch themselves in your memory.
COURAGE IN MINIATURE
"You can't see me, can you?" A ground lizard freezes as a ray of sun spotlights its run down a post at El Portal Forest Center in El Yunque. Stock still, its feet like suction cups holding it in place, the lizard raises its head in brave challenge. Look the other way for an instant, and whisk, the reptile is gone. "Nope, they didn't see me. I'm safe."
JOYOUS GLIMPSE
Counting on the camouflage its bark-brown body offers, a coquí barely more than an inch long lies motionless under the marveling eyes of a visitor who has pulled back the tall grass and vines of the tree frog's domain. A moment later, the creature hops out of sight into the depths of a C-shape limb hollowed by insects, moisture and time. The small singer's ko-KEE, ko-KEE, ko-KEE is heard all night throughout Puerto Rico. But seeing one of the creatures? It's a gift of the forest.
WAITING FOR A DINNER GUEST
A shaft of sun breaks through the leafy emerald umbrella to light a dinner-plate-size web occupied by a pale spider smaller than a child's fingernail – even when stretched out and ready to grab a passing gnat. Without the light, the itsy bitsy spider is virtually invisible.
CARIBBEAN NATIONAL FOREST, Puerto Rico – Vines trail three stories from the tops of trees. Some leaves are big enough to hide a preschooler. Rain doesn't pelt; it hammers.
Such extremes of the rain forest – and these are only a few in the great green of this preserve that locals call El Yunque – are so attention-grabbing that it's easy to miss small details. Yet, like nails in a house's framework, they're vital to the whole of this sole tropical rain forest in the U.S. Forest Service system.
Let the giants of the forest wrap you in awe. But look among them for the small wonders that will etch themselves in your memory.
COURAGE IN MINIATURE
"You can't see me, can you?" A ground lizard freezes as a ray of sun spotlights its run down a post at El Portal Forest Center in El Yunque. Stock still, its feet like suction cups holding it in place, the lizard raises its head in brave challenge. Look the other way for an instant, and whisk, the reptile is gone. "Nope, they didn't see me. I'm safe."
JOYOUS GLIMPSE
Counting on the camouflage its bark-brown body offers, a coquí barely more than an inch long lies motionless under the marveling eyes of a visitor who has pulled back the tall grass and vines of the tree frog's domain. A moment later, the creature hops out of sight into the depths of a C-shape limb hollowed by insects, moisture and time. The small singer's ko-KEE, ko-KEE, ko-KEE is heard all night throughout Puerto Rico. But seeing one of the creatures? It's a gift of the forest.
WAITING FOR A DINNER GUEST
A shaft of sun breaks through the leafy emerald umbrella to light a dinner-plate-size web occupied by a pale spider smaller than a child's fingernail – even when stretched out and ready to grab a passing gnat. Without the light, the itsy bitsy spider is virtually invisible.