One last set of Scarlet Macaws
Scarlet Macaws: Playa Blanco, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, December 2022 — One last set of Scarlet Macaws before we leave Playa Blanca and the beach behind. This bird was in a tree on the ocean side of the road, right on the beach, and more exposed to the winds off the water. More light, not necessarily better light. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .3EV for the backlight.
Uganda Edition: Kandt’s Waxbill
Kandt’s Waxbill: Mghinga National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — Moving on from Bwindi to Mghinga National Park. We were scheduled for the Golden Monkey trek at Mghinga, but considering our trail experiences at Bwindi, I made an executive decision to forgo the trek in favor of some birding around the trailhead and up the trail for a mile or so. For one thing, close encounters with the Golden Monkeys had been rare for the past few days, with some groups not seeing them at tall, and for another, we were all pretty tired after Bwindi, and, I was assuming the Golden Monkey Trek would easier…no so! All in all it was a good decision. We saw lots of birds, many right around the ranger station. There was a flock of Kandt’s Waxwings…not easy to photograph because they are so active…but in great light! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ 4 @ 1/500th.
Double-toothed Kite
Double-toothed Kite: Playa Blanco, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, December 2022 — It is, according to the field guides and eBird, rare to see a Double-toothed Kite perched…and I would guess even rarer to see one perched in amongst a flock of noisy Scarlet Macaws, but this bird was perched on the lower branches of the same tree the Macaws were in…bold a brass! The guides also say it can be “quite tame” when perched and it certainly was. It allowed us to move around under it and take as many photos as we wanted. I have included a deep crop of the head to show off the double-tooth, which again, according to the field guides, is “rarely seen.” It is pretty clear in this shot. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 640, 400, and 500 in the shade dappled light @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Uganda Edition: Green-headed Sunbird
Green-headed Sunbird: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — Our final treat on the unintentional hike from the Gorilla Trek trailhead back to our lodge, was this male Green-headed Sunbird. I complained earlier, when posting the shots of the females that we saw around the parking area, that we could not find any males…but there was one in the same tangle of brush were we saw the Regal Sunbird, deep down next to the stream near the trail. Again in difficult light, but that only made the brilliant green stand out more. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Scarlet Macaws
Scarlet Macaw: Playa Blanca, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, December 2022 — I told the story of these Macaws when I posted a first pic the day after seeing them in early December, but we will revisit Playa Blanca today to remember then again. We went two afternoons in a row to look for the colony of Macaws that feeds in the late afternoon in the Beach Almond trees right along the bay a few miles from Danta Corcovado Lodge in the little beach town of Playa Blanca. The first day we got rained out, but persistence paid off the next afternoon. I was able to direct our guide, Mario, to exactly the spot were we saw them in 2021, and, though they were not there to greet us when we got out of the bus, they came 20 minutes later while we were still looking…right to the same trees along a property line across the road from the beach were we had seen them a year ago. Scarlet Macaws are big, beautiful birds, but I am not sure I would want them for neighbors. They are noisy and messy, and could easily become a nuisance if you had to live with them coming through your yard daily. The Playa Blanca flock is at least 25 birds, so lots of Macaws when they come. We stood under the trees and took photos for 30 minutes before me had enough of Macaws for the afternoon and moved on…getting back to the lodge for some down-time before dinner. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Uganda Edition: Regal Sunbird
Regal Sunbird: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — What turned out to be about half way back to the lodge from the Gorilla Trek trailhead, we found the bird we had been looking for all morning. Gordon had not guaranteed us this bird, but, considering our slither down the steep mountain side, and the lack of birds along the trail, he was visibly and vocally relieved to find us a Regal Sunbird. The Regal is perhaps the poster bird for Albertine endemics…found only at high altitudes on the slopes of the volcanos of far western Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania. And such a stunning bird. During this encounter the bird was up the slope from us in a heavy tangle of vines and against the sun, so not the best photos, but such a bird! And a bird that I had missed in 2019, on my first trip to Uganda. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1250 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .3EV for the backlight.
Two-fingered Sloth
Two-toed Sloth: Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, December 2022 — As we were coming back from the observation tower at Danta Corcovado, I looked up into the canopy (as birders are apt to do) and saw this looking back at me. I know it is called the Two Toed Sloth, but honestly, all sloths have three toes. One species has three “fingers” and the other, this one, has two. So it really ought to be the Two-fingered Sloth. Anyway. This one was doing what sloths do most of the time. If you don’t know the whole Sloth story…the moss in the fur, the moths in the moss, the whole up in the trees for days at a time, but not all the time, story…then you should look it up. Sloths are fascinating animals. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus 1 EV for the backlight.
Uganda Edition: Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater
Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — When it became obvious that our driver was not, in fact, going to come back for us at the parking area for the Gorilla Trek, our guide Gordon got talking to one of the rangers (Gordon was a porter at Bwindi for several seasons and knew a lot of the staff there). The ranger told him about a path that lead down the mountain toward a lodge and offered to show us where it left the little town there…I only figured out it was our lodge, which was several miles by road from the trail head, when we actually got to point where we could see it above us on the mountain side. He failed to mention that the trail was near vertical for long sections and typically, for Bwindi, muddy and slippery. If we had known…but we didn’t…so Gordon bought us some water and we headed out. It sloped down through fields for the first quarter mile, before it entered the forest and dropped down steeply toward a stream We had some adventures in controlled falling for a while (a bit too long to be comfortable and bit too much like actual falls) before it leveled out along the stream bed. We were looking for whatever we could find, but one bird we had yet to see in particular…the Regal Sunbird…endemic to the Albertine Rift…but the bloom was off the morning and the birds were quiet. We did come up on this scruffy looking…maybe molting into adult plumage…Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater. We take what we can get! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Not to spoil the story for tomorrow’s post, but we did come out on a road right below our lodge, and actually were almost to the lodge drive when the safari vehicle, coming back from picking up the Trekkers, pulled in and picked us up for last 200 yards…which was, again, typical Bwindi, almost vertical. 🙂 All told, the Gorilla Trek itself might have been less strenuous. But that is Africa!
White-whiskered Puffbird
White-whiskered Puffbird: Danta Corcovodo Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, December 2022 — On our way back from the observation tower at Danta Corcovado Lodge, we almost walked right under this White-whiskered Puffbird. They have a habit of sitting for long periods, in the understory, hunting for whatever happens along…from smaller snakes and lizards to larger insects. This one was clearly not upset by our noisy presence right next to it. They are pretty common, though somewhat hard to see, in the lowland forests of both slopes in Costa Rica. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 3200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Collared Sunbird
Collared Sunbird: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — In my experience it is rare to actually see the “collar” on the Collared Sunbird, and I can think of a lot of more descriptive names for this bird…one of the most attractive of African Sunbirds…if you like green and yellow. This also one of the few (along with the Green-headed, where the female has significant color. This is two shots of a male and two of the female. The male was considerably further away. And this is the last of the birds from our hour or so working the edged of the parking area for the Gorilla Trek in Bwindi. Sony Rx10iv at about 560mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixomator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.