Wednesday, March 4th, 2020.

The cortez amarillos / yellow cortez trees (Tabebuia ochracea) in Town first burst into bloom yesterday and will continue today, filling the treeline and the streets with color and drawing some mono congos / howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) out to snack in the trees. 

The cortez amarillos are native to Central and South America, and remain mostly green until environmental triggers send these trees to bloom a bright yellow flower across the entirety of its foliage. These blooms are hyper-regional (for example, they might be blooming here and not 20 miles up the coast) and typically only last 1-2 days, until the flowers all eventually fall to the ground, helped along by foragers like the mono congos and iguanas negras / black iguanas (ctenosaura similis) who love the taste of these flowers. 

In Guanacaste, this is actually a common phenomenon for many different species blooming trees and vines, and each species blooms under slightly different conditions, resulting in a distinct order throughout the dry season.