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Rejuvenation and Redemption in the Rainforest: Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula, January 2016


Alexander33

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Alexander33

While it sometimes was a challenge to keep up with the monkeys, sloths are nothing but slow speed. In fact, according to National Geographic, they are the slowest mammal on earth. I think I read that they move something like 8 feet an hour. That is, if they move at all. Most of their days are spent sleeping in the tree tops, and descend only to the forest floor about once a week to eliminate waste, before climbing back up into their arboreal home.

 

The Osa Peninsula is home to both species of sloth found in Costa Rica. The more common is the brown-throated three-toed sloth. One morning after breakfast, Carlos took us on a private hike along Matapalo Beach, which is off the Bosque property. Matapalo is a small surfer community, with rough dirt roads and basic dwellings for those looking for a laid-back simple lifestyle (although, from the looks of some of the newer houses, the rents appear to be going up).

 

Matapalo Beach

 

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We were walking along the road when some natives, friends of Carlos, motioned us to follow them. There, way up in the trees, was a three-toed sloth. One of my biggest wants is a close-up, animated photo of a sloth (well, as much as a sloth can be animated). In the meantime, this documentary shot will have to suffice.

 

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Our neighbors at the lodge had taken the same hike two days before, and they found the other species of sloth: the Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth. Unfortunately, they couldn’t manage a decent photo of it. Oh, well. Something to return for……

 

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thoroughly enjoying those wonderful portraits of birds and monkeys. that squirrel monkey is pretty delightful and that first portrait of the howler monkey is impressive, you caught it despite the challenging light.

 

Hmm that doesn't look like a banana tree where the banana was placed to feed the birds? :rolleyes:

Edited by Kitsafari
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@@Alexander33

Lovely photos of the different monkeys - and a useful comparison of human and monkey reactions - cross species confusion!

And I love the Sloth!

 

Interesting lens/tripod etc discussion - if the equipment is so heavy that it puts you off going out (as that group you discussed) then you miss the experience as well as the photos. And certainly, from my perspective, the experience is more important.

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Just darn lovely, @@Alexander33 ! The added info is priceless; although being there 3 times there are always something new to learn!

 

 

To add my 2 cents on photography strategy in Costa Rica (and in the rain forests):

 

1. light is everything! Bring the fastest lens you have. A 300mm f/2.8 is more useful than a 500mm f/5.6

2. weight is important! Forget about tripods and monopods, they just slow you down and are useless for anything but taking photos of hummingbirds at feeders.

3. reach is limited! Mostly the reach is limited by various obstacles, so read point 1.

 

Of course my 2 cents can be off, so looking forward to @@Atdahl and @@Alexander33 to give their comments !

 

 

Peter, to eliminate the odd behaviour of the "jumping shutter speed" with AutoISO function, I am using Manual + Auto ISO. Aperture is set to f/6.3 (because on my lens this gives me a visible sharper results than at f/5.6) and shutter speed is set at 1/500 on full frame, or 1/800 on crop body. AF is On in Sport mode (valid for 200-500 lens). If working with non-AF lens then shutter speed is 1/1000 on full frame, and as high as possible on crop body. For handheld use, of course.

 

After finishing this report (yes, only AFTER finishing it) , give this settings a workout and let me know about your conclusions.

Edited by xelas
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michael-ibk

Thanks about elaborating on your settings, always interesting to read that. Love the Monkey shots, and fantastic to find a sloth. And it´s not 2022, nothing planned for late 2018, so I´m not that bad. ;)

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Peter, love the monkey shots. The first Mantled Howler monkey in the sun is just striking. Too bad the Squirrel Monkeys only put in one appearance. They are our favorite with their high pitched bird like call. I find watching all the monkeys just fascinated since they have such distinctly different behaviors and they are unlike anything we have here in the states.

 

Regarding "to tripod or not to tripod", I have been in the other camp. On our first trip to the rain forest I didn't have one and was not happy with the clarity of shots. Ever since then, I have lugged around a high quality carbon fiber tripod (Even in the Amazon) and have been much happier with the results. Of course, my lens was either a 70-300 or (like last trip) an 18-300. I would have to rethink this strategy with the 200-500. While I can hike a few hours with it no problem, I don't think I would (could?) do it along with a tripod. Plus, the VR in the 200-500 is very impressive and in the hands of a good photographer like yourself sharp pictures are not only possible but likely.

 

Another small tripod benefit is it's dual use as a "spider web stick". Being 6' 4" I constantly walk into webs along the trails and having the tripod to whisk them away before I walk into them has been an added benefit :)

 

Looking forward to seeing and hearing more!

 

Alan

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Alexander33

@@Livetowander, thanks for your kind comments. Welcome aboard!

 

 

@@Kitsafari

 

Hmm that doesn't look like a banana tree where the banana was placed to feed the birds? :rolleyes:

 

I know. I kept trying to rationalize to myself that a monkey had dropped that banana (maybe it's a plantain?) there and that it was, thus, an all-natural setting, but I just can't honestly convince myself, as hard as I've tried. The mystery is, who put it there? We were alongside a road by a pasture off the lodge grounds, and the tree was well inside private property that was cordoned off by a barbed-wire fence. I guess I'll never know....

 

 

@@TonyQ, indeed, it's the experience that counts. I just need to make sure I never forget that.

 

 

@@michael-ibk

 

And it´s not 2022, nothing planned for late 2018, so I´m not that bad. ;)

 

Or maybe you're just bad in a very good way! :)

 

 

@@xelas

 

To add my 2 cents on photography strategy in Costa Rica (and in the rain forests):

 

1. light is everything! Bring the fastest lens you have. A 300mm f/2.8 is more useful than a 500mm f/5.6

2. weight is important! Forget about tripods and monopods, they just slow you down and are useless for anything but taking photos of hummingbirds at feeders.

3. reach is limited! Mostly the reach is limited by various obstacles, so read point 1.

 

Well, I agree that having the fastest lens possible is beneficial, because that way you can lower your ISO and/or ensure that you've got a fast enough shutter speed to minimize the risk of blurry images due to subject movement or camera shake, so yes, an f/2.8 lens is definitely going to be better than f/5.6 in that respect. But, at least with birds (and, in many cases, the monkeys as well), I almost always needed every inch/centimeter of extra reach that 500mm provided (in my case, the 200-500).

 

I checked the specifications on the Nikon 300mm f/2.8, and, yikes! It weighs 40% more (6.3 lbs./2.85 kg. versus 4.6 lbs./2.08 kg.) -- hello, tripod! And it costs almost 4 times as much ($5,495.00 USD versus $1,396 at B&H). A lot of pros use this lens, but at least for right now, for my purposes (and for my bank account), I don't think I'd consider it.

 

You will be glad to know that I discovered Manual with Auto ISO about a month ago, and you are absolutely right. I did get more consistency using that setting and will employ it more often from now on.

 

 

@@Atdahl, thanks so much for your support. I will confess that I had not considered the side-benefits of using a tripod as a spiderweb stick on the trails. Hmmmm. You know, I had this nagging suspicion the entire time that I was missing some essential piece of equipment. Mystery solved! I'll be anxious to hear whether you continue to find it worthwhile to use a tripod with your new 200-500. I agree that its VR is great.

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Alexander33

The plan for this trip was a little different than those for other nature-focused vacations that we have taken. Bosque del Cabo has two full-time guides on staff, and guests can participate in a number of regularly scheduled outings as well as adventure and custom-designed activities. There is a separate charge for all of these. However, you are also free to wander throughout the reserve and hike any of the trails on your own. This was the first time where we could spend our days unescorted if we wished.

 

For the first few days, we did participate in guided activities so that we could gain our bearings – and insider information. We took both the morning and evening bird walks as well as a private walk at Matapalo Beach (off the reserve) with Carlos, a local who is the lodge’s bird expert, but who has extensive knowledge of the other wildlife in the area. We also took a short night walk on the immediate lodge grounds and a 4-hour morning primary rainforest tour with Philip, who has worked at Bosque del Cabo for 16 years and currently is conducting research on butterflies and frogs in the area to gain insight on the impact of climate change.

 

Once we were properly oriented, however, we jumped at the opportunity to explore the rainforest on our own. As is our custom, we quickly settled into a routine.

 

We would arise by no later than 5:30 AM, throw on some clothes, grab our gear and make a beeline to the deck of the main dining area, where a coffee bar was set up. The coffee in Costa Rica is exceptional, and I always looked forward to this quiet time, the smell of the rich roasted beans wafting up through my nostrils as the sky became lighter and the forest came to life. I came to relish these few precious moments each morning.

 

 

Another beautiful sunrise from the deck of our bungalow.

 

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The restaurant and terrace in front, as seen from the garden at first light.

 

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Once the caffeine took effect (or our adrenaline kicked in from the appearance of something on the grounds nearby), we would be off on our early morning walk. Breakfast was served between 7:00 and 9:00, so we usually wouldn’t stray too far, and with everything at its most active early in the morning and given our penchant on this trip for photography, it really wasn’t necessary to cover a lot of ground in order to pursue our goals.

 

After breakfast, we would take a longer hike, intending to return and take our first shower of the day before lunch service ended at 1:00 PM. On a few occasions, we didn’t make it back in time, but this wasn’t a huge problem, as there is also an abbreviated late lunch menu.

 

 

Near the head of the Titi Trail (mid-morning).

 

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We’d relax around the cabin for a few hours after lunch and then head back out for an afternoon hike around 3:00.

 

 

Exterior of our cabin, from the garden. The cliff overlooking the Pacific, and our deck, is just behind.

 

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Early afternoons were spent relaxing, but the anticipation of what we might find later on, when things cooled down a bit and the sunlight wasn't so harsh, was never far from my mind.

 

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View from our deck in the middle of the day.

 

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By 5:30, the sun was starting to set, and we’d return for our second (or third) shower of the day.

 

There was a daily happy hour in the poolside cabana bar from 6:00 to 7:00, at which time a horn was blown to signal everyone to dinner in the adjacent open-air restaurant. Unlike breakfast and lunch, which were served from a menu at individual tables, dinner was buffet-style and was taken at long tables joined together (although you could request to sit at individual tables on the deck if you preferred).

 

 

The bar area.

 

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The restaurant area.

 

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Uncharacteristically, we ended up not participating in the happy hours. Instead, we’d briefly stop in at the bar just to buy some wine, and then transport it back to our cabin to enjoy, just the two of us, while splayed out in chaises longues on our deck as the sun set over the Pacific Ocean and another day in the land of la pura vida came to a close.

 

 

Another day comes to a close. Sitting on the deck, sipping our wine and watching the sun set over the ocean in the cooling breezes, and with the growing cacophony of the jungle coming to life all around us in anticipation of another frenzied night of activity, was one of our favorite times, but it was also a tad melancholy, as we knew that the number of days remaining for our stay at Bosque del Cabo would soon be reduced by one.

 

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(Just a side note, and a pleasant one at that. Because Bosque del Cabo is situated at the very tip of the Osa Peninsula, with the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Golfo Dulce separating the Osa and the mainland to the east, one is afforded both sunrises and sunsets over the water.)

 

 

 

 

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Amazing photography! And great equipment discussion.

 

xelas, I checked the 500mm f2.8 Canon...over $6000, not to mention the weight...I don't think so :)

 

Manual with auto ISO...hmm, I need to look into that. But how do you have time for full manual when the bird sits still only for 1 second???

 

We got lucky with a sloth in motion in Manuel Antonio, and also lots of squirrel monkeys. But no howlers close-ups, yours, with the reddish coat, is beautiful.

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Alexander33

The Osa Peninsula is one of the few remaining places in Costa Rica where one can still find the beautiful scarlet macaw. Long hunted for their feathers and for the pet trade, and severely diminished by the loss of habitat, the scarlet macaw nevertheless has been able to hold on in this last corner of the country due, in part, to an abundance of beach almonds, one of this iconic parrot’s favorite foods.

 

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One of our favorite pastimes in the quiet hours of the early afternoon, when the animal life would quiet down in the heat of the day, was to sit on our deck on the cliff overlooking the ocean and wait for pairs of scarlet macaws (they mate for life) to fly by at eye level or below, their red, yellow and cobalt plumage contrasting with the pale blue of the sky and the darker blues and greens of the water.

 

 

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One afternoon after lunch, instead of going back to the cabin for a rest, we took what we thought would be just a short hike along one of the beaches, but the descent down to (and climb back up from) the beach was long and treacherous. We had only our basic camera and had left our bigger lenses behind at the cabin, thinking that we wouldn’t see much wildlife in the middle of the afternoon and that we’d instead just be focused on landscapes and tidepools. Walking down the beach, I looked up and saw a red feathered face looking at me from a hole in a tree overlooking the beach. A scarlet macaw nest!

 

This was the type of photograph I had seen in books and yearned for, but I had broken my cardinal rule: Never, ever go anywhere without your camera. It’s a rule I had devised within the first 30 minutes of the first day of our first safari in South Africa. We had settled into our tent and then gone to lunch before our initial game drive, leaving our camera behind. And that’s when a herd of elephants decided to cross the Timbavati River directly in front of us. Ever since then, I had been all too aware of the cruel irony of chance. Take the camera with you, and you probably won’t see anything. Leave it behind, however, and the photo op you’ve always wanted will suddenly materialize. We’d have to come back for the macaw nest.

 

We had to wait until late the next afternoon, as low tide was not until 4:30 and the beach was not accessible at other times. Our calves were killing us from the day before, but somehow, the anticipation dulled the pain. The tide was still higher than it had been the day before, and we had to climb over some slippery rocks to get to the area of the beach where the tree was located.

 

We finally made it there. I looked up and saw exactly what the cynic in me expected: no macaw head.

 

Fate was going to make me work for this. The good news was that while the macaw might not be sticking her head out of the hole, I could see two tail feathers in there.

 

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So at least the hole was occupied. And then I waited. Finally, after an eternity (okay, about 30 minutes, but you try tilting your head back 45 degrees and then standing in that position for 30 minutes and tell me it’s not torture), I saw a head pop out of the hole. This was my chance. I ran toward the water to get in position to take a photograph, lifted the camera with my lens zoomed out to 500mm, pressed the autofocus button, and depressed the shutter.

 

And this is what I got.

 

 

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She had flown out of the nest entirely! And, since I was focused on the lower part of the hole, from where she had peered out the day before, I clipped her wings in the shot.

 

I was crestfallen. Two afternoons, two treks down to – and back up from – the beach, the better part of this afternoon devoted to this one shot, and all I had to show for it was an out-of-focus bird flying out of the frame.

 

I felt that she had to return at some point, and so I prepared myself to wait even longer – until either the sun went down or the tide came back in, whichever occurred first.

 

At one point, I looked up, and, miraculously, there was the red head sticking out of the hole. But wait. How could that be? I couldn’t possibly have missed her flying back into the hole. And then I realized that both parents had been in in there! I’d been given a reprieve.

 

 

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He (or she) only gave me a few minutes and was not particularly cooperative about posing. I had been zoomed all the way out, trying to get as much detail as possible, when it occurred to me that I was cutting off the top of the hole. Oh, yeah. Composition…..

 

I reeled the zoom in a little bit for a more wide-angled shot, and managed to fire off a few more frames before this second macaw eventually flew out of the nest as well and joined his/her mate in the higher branches of the same tree, where they preened one another for a while. Then the first one that flew the coop returned to the nest. I tried to get clear action shots of this, but in the waning afternoon light, my shutter speed just wasn’t fast enough. (Maybe I take back what I said about the 300mm f/2.8, Alex!)

 

In any event, in my opinion, this is the best one of the lot that this beginner was able to manage. Whether it’s my favorite of the trip is debatable, but it certainly qualifies as my most hard-earned.

 

 

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Those are just great shots, Peter!

If not extremely lucky (and to my experiences, we are not), the perfect shot of a scarlet macaw sticking its head out of the tree hole shown in a glossy magazine is picked out of several thousands shots taken over a couple of days sitting inside a hot blind with a 500 or 600 prime on a sturdy tripod ... you've got the picture, yes?! As much as photography is addictive, and the hunt for the "perfect shot" even more so, I feel like it should be only one part of our travel life. Personally, I prefer the memories of the hot coffee smelling out of the mug while standing on the porch and looking over whatever the actual view was at the moment. which reminds me, I need to go back to Costa Rica. Soon.

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@@xelas, some of my most acute BdC memories are from the deck overlooking the garden listening to the sounds of the rain forest (distant Howlers, close songbirds and hummers) while watching even more birds and possibly a mammal or two on the lawn. I agree, those are the memories that stick and keep me yearning to return.

 

Peter, you seem to have settled into the exact same rhythm that we would at BdC. An afternoon lounging at the cabina trying to get Macaw flyby shots is time well spent in my book. The colorful birds against the blue ocean make for dramatic photos if you can time it right...any you did.

 

Of course, the Macaw nest shots are fantastic. What a great find. And while, the last one is exceptional, I like the action shot as well because it not only tells a story but will forever remind you of that experience. Plus, I tend to learn a lot more by the shots I feel I miss rather than the shots I feel I nail.

 

Alan

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So glad to hear we're not the only ones adopting this schedule at BdC :)

Sometimes I feel bad, we could've done so much more there, but just sitting behind the cabin, admiring the sea, the sunset, macaws in flight, monkeys in the trees, etc. was fantastic and we did that every day.

Well, there was some variety: lounge vs hammock, wine vs the cocktail of the day, book or no book...we did not get bored :)

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@@Alexander33 : what a lovely and very timely report for me. Twenty four more sleeps and I hope to wake up to the calls of the Howler monkeys of the rain forest. Your camera gear advice is spot on. My tripod will stay in the suitcase in Osa. I'm seriously worried about the weight of the camera gear and hiking in the heat and humidity. Don't want to be one of those guys at BDC on a photosafari who were knackered by day 1. Let's see if my shoulder strap can help me to cope. The combined weight is coming up to nearly 3 KG !!

 

I'm not staying at BDC but will visit BDC and request Carlos to do a bit of guiding for me. I've read BDC nowadays are a bit more relaxed to visitors not staying with them.

 

I'll be delighted to see half of what you have seen.

Looking forward to more.

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Alexander33

@ xelas

@@Atdahl

@@xyz99

 

Thanks so much. Gosh, just writing this and going back through my photos brings me right back to those carefree hours on the deck overlooking the ocean.

 

Speaking of which.....

 

@@Chakra

 

Have a fantastic time in Costa Rica! Just be sure to take some rain gear -- it's the wet season down there right now. You should see a lot more frogs than we did. I hope you will report back.

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Alexander33

I was about to move on, when I realized I had omitted one of my favorite images of the mantled howler monkey, this one a female and infant.

 

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Alexander33

The other parrot species that we saw with some frequency at Bosque del Cabo was the red-lored parrot. These colorful birds are very loud! They would squawk noisily in the sky every morning and then again at dusk as they departed from and then returned to their evening roosts.

 

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Alexander33

Perhaps nothing is more emblematic of the tropical Americas than the toucan. The black-mandibled (formerly, chestnut-mandibled) toucan is the largest toucan in Costa Rica. Each morning, as we sipped our coffee from the deck of the dining area, small groups (anywhere from 2 to, perhaps, 8 birds) would put on a show for us, flying from their roosts into the palm trees scattered throughout the grounds as they searched for a breakfast of various palm fruits.

 

 

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I do not believe that the other large toucan found in Costa Rica (the keel-billed toucan) is found on the Osa Peninsula, or else it is rare there, but I stand to be corrected by those who are more experienced than I.

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Alexander33

One day after lunch, we decided to hike the Zapatero Trail, where most reports of peccaries were coming from. Through the patchwork of light and shadow, I detected a movement of red coloration. It was a male slaty-tailed trogon. This was a bird I really wanted to get a shot of, but between the vegetation, the reflections and the position of the sun, I just couldn’t manage it well.

 

 

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At one point, he alighted in a branch just on the side of the trail practically right in front of us (facing away, naturally!). Even then, in those jungle conditions, this is all I could get.

 

 

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The next morning, we found a male and female, and I met with similar failure.

 

 

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From that point forward, the trogon was on my “Most Wanted” list. There are several different species of trogons found at Bosque del Cabo, including Baird’s trogon, a form with a bright orange breast that is endemic to southwestern Cosa Rica and northwestern Panama. However, they are all so striking, any of the trogons would do for me.

 

Midway through our stay, as I was starting to lose hope, we were walking back down the main road toward the lodge after a late-morning hike on the Titi Trail, when I spied a woodcreeper on a nearby tree trunk.

 

Woodcreepers are mid-sized birds that act like woodpeckers in that they forage up and down tree trunks and branches, but, unlike woodpeckers, which typically have strong, straight bills to drill holes in the wood, woodcreepers instead have long, narrow, curved beaks resembling those of a large hummingbird, which they use to hunt for insects on the wood’s surface, and often in mosses, orchids or parasitical plants that attach themselves to the trees.

 

I had been wanting to get a decent photograph of a woodcreeper, but they are fast and active and, given their often-vertical stance, it’s hard to get a shot with eye contact in it.

 

In any event, I was pursuing this particular brown bird when J. issued a loud whisper: “Here!”

 

“I’ve got him,” I said, following the woodcreeper as it hopped up and around the entire circumference of the tree trunk. (I think this is the northern barred woodcreeper, but I stand to be corrected).

 

 

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“No, over here!”

 

I looked up, and to my right, perched on a lone loop of twisted vine, was a spectacular bird. It was a trogon, but that’s all I knew at the time. Its lemon yellow breast immediately ruled it out as the slaty-tailed trogon that we had seen previously. We later identified it as a male black-throated trogon.

 

 

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I only managed to fire off two shots before it flew away, back into the darkness of the forest. Thankfully, both were in focus. We wouldn’t come across another trogon for the remainder of our stay.

 

I think this may be my favorite photo, just because the bird is so exotic looking. @@xelas, this is the shot I mentioned earlier in the report that was taken at ISO 3200 (shutter speed of 1/100 second).

 

 

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Alexander33

After breakfast one morning, we decided to hike the Golfo Dulce trail down to Matapalo Beach. As we walked under the canopy of the primary forest, we heard pairs of loud “knocks.” I knew it was one of the large woodpeckers, but finding it in the thick forest would be a challenge. Once again, it was J., whom I deemed the “spotter” on this trip, who was able to find our target.

 

 

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The pale-billed woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in Central America. The striking solid red head of the male is one factor that distinguishes it from the lineated woodpecker, which has a darker bill and a white stripe bordered with black that extends up into its red crest.

 

The lineated also makes three or more “knocks,” whereas the pale-billed will only make a pair (which have been described as having the cadence of a heartbeat). After we learned this, we detected the lineated woodpecker by sound on a couple of occasions, but we never were able to see one.

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Alexander33

Had enough birds for awhile? Yes? No? Okay, then let’s talk about a mammal with wings.

 

There are 109 species of bats that live in Costa Rica. Among these, the most interesting to me are the tent-making bats. No cave? No problem. Tent-making bats will bite through the midrib or vein of a large leaf, such as a palm frond, until the front half of the leaf droops down. The bats then roost under the protective fold of the chewed-through leaf.

 

Walking with Carlos on our first morning to find birds, we passed a low palm tree. One of its fronds was doubled-over. We ducked down and peered up into the frond, and sure enough, there were three little creatures staring back at us: common tent-making bats.

 

 

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These bats are frugivores. Later that day, once the sun had set, we returned to the same palm tree. Only one of the bats remained, and it was far too busy munching down on a fig to be bothered by us.

 

This is the only "keeper" shot where I employed flash.

Edited by Alexander33
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The trogon is absolutely beautiful. No more words...

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I guess I found some more words: who would've thought that bats can be so cute? :)

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michael-ibk

The Trogons, Toucan and the Woodpecker are just awesome!

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@@Alexander33

 

ISO3200 and 1/100 of a sec?! That D7200+200-500 combo really rocks! There are so many colourful birds in Costa Rica, and many of those are of decent size, like trogons and my favourites, motmots

 

 

The keel-billed toucan indeed is very rare to be found on Pacific side, it is a bird from the Caribbean side, and from the Central Valley ( http://www.anywherecostarica.com/flora-fauna/bird/keel-billed-toucan ). We have seen one also in Monteverde. I hope you do not mind me adding its photo (far from your quality but this was 2008):

 

post-47185-0-54608500-1466062092_thumb.jpg

D60 + AF-S 70-300VR @ 270 mm, f/5.6, 1/40 sec, ISO 100

 

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