Posts in Category: Pico Bonito
Stripe-throated Hermit
Stripe-throated Hermit, Rio Santiago, Honduras
The tiny Stripe-throated Hermit, which can, in comparison to the other hummers around it (and especially to its much larger hermit counterpart…the Long-billed Hermit), appear not much bigger than a large bumble bee, is indeed one of the smallest hummingbirds in Central America…one of the smallest hummingbirds anywhere for that matter. It does not stand out in coloration either…rufous brown over most of its body, with just a hint of rarely seen greenish iridescence over its head and shoulders, and a white-bordered black bandit’s mask on the face. The stripes on the throat that give it its name are often so faint as to be barely visible. What it lacks in size and flash though, it makes up in aerobatics. It feeds on the nectar of flowers in flight, and often, as in these images, pierces the base of flowers to extract nectar it could not otherwise reach. It is a fun hummingbird to watch, and often appears to prefer flower feeding, even when there are many human-tended sugar-water feeders around. You have to admire its independence.
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred @ 1/320th. ISO 1000 at f6.5. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Bare-throated Tiger Heron
The Bare-throated Tiger Heron is relatively common around the waters of the Cuero y Salado National Wildlife Refuge in Honduras. I have been there twice, a year apart, and seen it on both trips. This year we saw several. This was my best view this year, but it was a very difficult shot. I was in a moving boat, in the first place, and the bird was highlighted by the sun against the dark background of foliage. This is when I am thankful to be a Point and Shoot photographer. The Active Image Stabilization on the Nikon P900 handled the boat motion (once I got the bird in the frame) and the auto exposure managed to keep enough detail in the highlighted bird so that I could bring it out in Lightroom for what is, overall, a very satisfying image. It is a strange bird, with the large patch of yellow skin exposed at the throat.
Nikon P900 at 400mm equivalent field of view. 1/125th @ ISO 220 @ f5. Processed in Lightroom.
Black-cowled Oriole
Black-cowled Oriole, the Lodge at Pico Bonito, Honduras
Another gift of the flowering and fruiting trees off the deck at the Lodge at Pico Bonito in Honduras: this Black -cowled Oriole put in an appearance just after breakfast one morning. Again, this is a bird of slightly higher elevations, forced down by unseasonably cool temperatures in the lower cloud forest almost straight above the lodge. We only saw it once…but once was enough!
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/200th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Rufous-winged Tanager
Rufous-winged Tanager, The Lodge at Pico Bonito, Honduras
On our first morning at the Lodge at Pico Bonito in Honduras, after ordering breakfast at the restaurant, someone spotted a mixed feeding flock moving through the trees just off the deck. We, of course, all leaped up and ran for binos and cameras. Olive-backed Euphonias were in the lead, but the flock also contained a Shinny Honeycreeper and a Rufous-winged Tanager, both birds of higher elevations and not common on the grounds of Pico Bonito, as well as Black-cowled Oriole. What a treat! We were still busy with them when the waiter came looking for us to tell us our breakfasts were on the table. 🙂 Now that is service! and that is what makes the Lodge at such a great birding and photography destination. It is not like that every morning, of course, but it is like that often enough to make it simply wonderful!
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent. 1/320th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Collared Aracari in the rain…
Collared Aracari, The Lodge at Pico Bonito, Honduras
When you live in the rain-forest, you can count on more than your average number of rainy days. Stands to reason. This Collared Aracari is at home in the rain-forest, and presumably in the rain. That did not stop it from having a definite rain-due on this, our last day in Honduras at the Lodge at Pico Bonito. This shot was taken from under the edge of the eves right on the deck in front of the restaurant.
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent. 1/60th @ ISO 500 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped for composition in Lightroom.
Green Honeycreeper in the rain…
Green Honeycreeper, the Lodge at Pico Bonito, Honduras
“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus
Every picture of a Green Honeycreeper I have was taken in the rain. This is no different, though this is at the Lodge at Pico Bonito in Honduras, and all my others are from Tranquilo Bay in Bocas del Toro in Panama. Still…in the rain.
I think it is very generous of the good God to provide rain loving birds for those days when it…well, when it rains. It only requires a generous eye to see it that way, and, honestly, a Green Honeycreeper makes it easy to be generous. Such a beautiful bird.
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent. Processed in Lightroom.
Happy Sunday!
Keel-billed Toucan!
Keel-billed Toucan, the Lodge at Pico Bonito, Honduras
This is my 3rd trip to the tropics and my first really close shot of a Toucan. We spent the day at Lancetilla Botanical Gardens, and found many interesting birds and bugs, but this is from the walk from the Lodge to my cabin after we got back. 🙂
Nikon P610 at 800mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 320 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom.
Shinning Honeycreeper
Shinning Honeycreeper, The Lodge at Pico Bonito, Honduras
After ordering breakfast, and before breakfast came, a mixed feeding flock visited the trees right outside the Restaurant at the Lodge at Pico Bonito this morning. Being birders we all grabbed binos and cameras and headed for the deck. We did not see any Honeycreepers at the Lodge last year, but we have already seen 2 different species this year. It does not get any better than this photo.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent. 1/125th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Grove-billed Ani, Aguan Valley, Honduras
We birded from the bus (once it was light) all the way from the Lodge at Pico Bonito to the Honduran Emerald Preserve…three hours both ways. Much of the trip was in the interior valley of the Aguan river…beautiful open country with rushing tributaries and a backdrop of mountains on either side. We pulled up beside a large “tank”, a scrape pond made for watering cattle, to look for ducks and waders, and this Grove-billed Ani was sunning itself on a fence post not far from the bus. This shot was taken out the open window of the bus.
Anis are not the most beautiful of birds, but they are interesting. The massive bill and the always somewhat disheveled plumage with its touch of iridescence are pretty unique. This bird is letting the sun into its feathers to kill mites that live there.
Sony HX400V at something over 1200mm equivalent field of view (using Clear Image Digital Zoom). 1/800th @ ISO 400 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Rio Santiago Lodge, Honduras
In honor of several inches of fresh snow on the ground here in Maine this morning, we will return to hot Honduran hummingbirds. This is the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, photographed at the Rio Santiago Lodge, high up on the shoulders of Pico Bonito in Honduras. The Lodge is 5 km up a single track road, at the very end. Strangely enough, there are not one, but two churches, just below the lodge. I am not sure what population they serve up there on the mountain, apparently far from any dwellings. The lodge is famous for hummingbirds. They maintain over 50 feeders, hung from the outdoor patios and the trees on the grounds. We saw 12 species while we were there, and there is potential for a half a dozen more.
The colors on a hummingbird, especially the gorget on head and throat, are not pigment…they are the result of light refracted through tiny bubbles in the feathers, so the colors vary greatly depending on the angle of the light and its intensity. I think this is the same bird in each frame. It returned to the same perch but the images were taken over the course of a couple of hours, and the light was changing all the time.
Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. 1/125th second at ISO 1000-1250. Processed and cropped for scale in Lightroom and assembled in Phototastic on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.