Evening Quetzal
Resplendent Quetzal: San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2021 — It was getting on toward supper time when we finally drove down into the Savegre River valley (more of a gorge actually) and getting dark fast, but as we came around the corner where we see the Quetzals in the morning, our guide, Edwin, shouted “Stop” at the top of his lungs. Then he immediately hushed himself and hustled us off the bus in silence. There was a male Quetzal sitting in the usual tree…but at totally the wrong time of day. Evidently they had posted him there to welcome us to the the valley. 🙂 This is at about the low light limits of the Sony Rx10iv…using multi-frame noise reduction and some extra post processing. 600mm equivalent. Equivalent ISO 6400 @ f4 @ 1/320th. It was a life bird for two of the folks on the trip…and a life experience for the rest of us. What a welcoming party!
Evening Quetzal
Resplendent Quetzal: San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2021 — It was getting on toward supper time when we finally drove down into the Savegre River valley (more of a gorge actually) and getting dark fast, but as we came around the corner where we see the Quetzals in the morning, our guide, Edwin, shouted “Stop” at the top of his lungs. Then he immediately hushed himself and hustled us off the bus in silence. There was a male Quetzal sitting in the usual tree…but at totally the wrong time of day. Evidently they had posted him there to welcome us to the the valley. 🙂 This is at about the low light limits of the Sony Rx10iv…using multi-frame noise reduction and some extra post processing. 600mm equivalent. Equivalent ISO 6400 @ f4 @ 1/320th. It was a life bird for two of the folks on the trip…and a life experience for the rest of us. What a welcoming party!
Maine spring edition: White-throated Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2022 — Another common bird this time of year (and only for a few weeks here), but another irresistible pose from my backyard photo-blind in the late afternoon sun. The White-throated Sparrows come through in flocks and settle out on their way north and up to higher elevations to stock up under our feeders. Sony Rx10iv at 591mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Fiery-throated Hummingbird
Fiery-throated Hummingbird: La Georgina Restaurant, Siberia, Costa Rica, December 2021 — After leaving the Alexander Skutch homestead we headed up into the mountains toward San Gerardo de Dota and our final stay of the trip at Trogon Lodge in Savegre Valley. Of course we had to stop at La Georgina, reputedly the highest restaurant on the PanAm highway at 10,000 feet, and always a good stop for hummingbirds. They have a wonderful view at the back of the restaurant, overlooking lawns with native plantings and a few feeders hung at eye-level. The best shots through, on day warm enough to open the back windows (rare at that elevation) are of the birds perched in the tall flowering bushes under the windows. Even if you have to shoot through the single pane glass, this is a reliable spot for Fiery-throated Hummingbirds and not to be missed. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine spring edition: Purple Finch acrobatics
Purple Finch: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2022 — Purple Finches are messy eaters…wasting as much seed as they eat as they sort through the seeds for just the right one…but they are also among my favorite feeder birds. The males, at least early in the season, before mating, are such posers…always putting on a show. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Streak-headed Woodcreeper
Streak-headed Woodcreeper: Los Cusingos Bird Sanctuary, Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica, December 2021 — There are 15 Woodcreeper species in Costa Rica, 8 of which are at least possible in the low foothills at the Alexander Skutch homestead. This is the most commonly seen at forest edges…the Streak-headed which I found working the trees in the gardens around the the Skutch house and museum. Sony Rx10iv at 534mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine spring edition: Chipping Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2022 — Chipping Sparrows are a dime a dozen in our yard from April until early October, and I have thousands of photos of them (well hundreds at least) but occasionally one poses just so, in such good light, that another image is irresistible. This is from my back-yard photo blind in the lovely light of late afternoon. Sony Rx10iv at 575mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Bay-headed Tanager
Bay-headed Tanager: Los Cusingos Bird Sanctuary, Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica, December 2021 — Here is another bird that did not want to come out of the foliage, but such a wonderful bird! The Bay-headed Tanager is among the most colorful of a colorful group of tropical birds. It is not an uncommon bird from the foothills to mid-elevations on either slope…but this bird at the home of Alaxander Skutch was my first. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 1600 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Maine spring edition: What color is a bluebird?
Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2022 — As I sit in my backyard photo blind I can see this male Eastern Bluebird busy feeding chicks in the next box two yards over, going back and forth between our yard and theirs. They have nested in the little box on that fence since we first began seeing them in the neighborhood 4 or 5 years ago. We now have them coming for meal-worms at our feeders year around. This one posed under the pines in the late day horizontal sun for a great look at the actual color of a male at his brightest. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Pieces of a Barbet
Red-headed Barbet: Los Cusingos Bird Sanctuary, Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica, December 2021 — Though I have seen the Red-headed Barbet in the foothills on the Caribbean side, that was several years ago now, and we have not found another…until this last trip in December when we had glimpses of this female at Alexander Skutch’s home in the foothills of the Pacific slope. Glimpses in heavy foliage. Still a great bird. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 640 and 500 @ f4 @ 1/500th.