The message I received from my grandson Parker read, “Wonder how many people can say they’ve been bitten by a blue jay and an octopus in the same day?” I thought I knew the answer.

He sent photos. He had removed the jay at dawn from a mist net as part of a bird banding project. A mist net is like a cross between a volleyball and tennis net, but made of thread so thin that a bird does not see it and gets tangled up if it flies into it. Ornithologists use mist nets to capture birds for research projects, such as attaching leg bands for later identification.

The handheld octopus was part of a show-and-tell Parker conducted for an ecotour off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Octopuses can inject venom, but a bite from the common one in Atlantic coastal waters is typically inconsequential. I wondered what outdoor adventures he would write about during his upcoming trips to Central and South America. I was soon to find out.

Many people enjoy nature vicariously through TV nature shows, Instagram (if they follow the right sources) and ecology websites. Enjoying someone else’s outdoor experiences is one way to learn about the natural world and may even inspire viewers to venture outdoors themselves. In any case, I appreciate hearing from Parker about his activities­—whether he’s catching octopuses in the ocean, banding birds on an island or encountering exotic creatures in the tropics.

His first trip this year was to the Amazon Basin in Suriname, a South American country bordering Brazil. His initial text read, “Dwarf caiman have always been a species I’ve admired, and getting to see numerous healthy individuals in the wild is a dream come true. This is one of many smooth-fronted dwarf caiman we turned up while walking a shallow river in Suriname!” He included videos of these crocodilians, which look like small alligators, tromping overland toward the river. Like their U.S. relatives, caiman are highly protective of their young, but a big caiman is only half the size of a full-grown American alligator. Nonetheless, it can deliver a nasty bite.

A couple of weeks later Parker sent more messages and photos. One picture was from Belize, along the Guatemala border, of a black spiny-tailed iguana. The caption read, “A king overlooking his kingdom, posted up on some incredible Mayan ruins.” These enormous lizards are impressive in many ways, starting with their adult length of more than 4 feet. With their gray body armor and a row of formidable spikes running down the spine and onto the tail, they give the impression they are prepared for battle. An iguana can not only bite but also use its long tail like a bullwhip and may be combative if threatened. If you don’t want to travel to Central America to see one, go to Florida where they now thrive in some communities as far north as Tampa. 

I looked back over Parker’s emails describing animals he had encountered in the Amazon. On his first trip, a year ago, he found a 9-foot-long bushmaster (the largest pit viper in the world), an anaconda and several tropical coral snakes. This year’s list of mammals he had met face to face in the jungle was equally intriguing—ocelot, silky anteater and Brazilian tree porcupine. Just last week he sent photos from a wildlife camera he and his companions had set up in the jungles of Belize. After seeing a close-up of a jaguar (the largest native cat in the Americas) and a puma (aka mountain lion), I was glad to hear from Parker a few days later.

Out of intellectual curiosity, I checked with several friends and professional colleagues and have yet to find anyone who has been bitten by either a blue jay or an octopus. I think it’s likely Parker holds the record for being bitten by both in the same day.

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