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.
Bluebird Winter
Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2023 — Another visitor from early on our snowy morning. We have 5 Bluebirds that come for the mealworms we put out in a feeder. They are our two adults, a pair that, as far as I can tell, have nested in the yard next door for at least 5 years, and young birds from this year’s two broods. This is the adult male, looking a little wet and very stoic (to me) on this snowy morning. This is an art shot again…more than a portrait…for framing on the wall. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Dusky Crimsonwing
Dusky Crimsonwing: Bwindi National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — I got better photos (or at least photos in better light) of this bird at Mghinga National Park a few days later, but our guide Gordon worked so hard for these first photos that I have to post them. 🙂 This is another Albertine Rift endemic, with a very limited range on the western slopes of the volcanos of East Africa. This Crimsonwing is a skulker par excellence, and we got glimpses of it all around the parking area at the Gorilla Trek trailhead in Bwindi, but it was too quick for me to get a photo. Gordon did not give up though, and we eventually caught this bird in the open long enough for a burst. Sony Rx10iv at 595mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 and 1250 @ 4 @ 1/500th.
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird: Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, December 2022 — Eventually we left the army ant swarm behind and actually made it up to the observation tower at Danta Corcovado…but we were late getting there and there was not a lot of action (and it was hot!). Due the rainy November, the flowers at the base of the tower were not in full bloom yet, but there were a few Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds working them. (We had Golden-tailed in those flowers in 2021.) I chased the Rufous around the tower a few times and got a few shots. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.