Posts in Category: monkey
Night Monkey!
Panamanian Night Monkey: Canopy Tower, Panama, July 2022 — On a good night, the Night Monkeys also come to the bananas the kitchen staff put out at the Canopy Tower. They will not come if the Kinkajou or Olinguito is there, as both are more aggressive (and larger as well). They are very active, so photography is difficult, and they don’t come every night, so these are my best shots. Sony Rx10iv at 573mm and 247mm equivalents. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frome noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Nominal exposures ISO 6400 =@ f4 @ 1/160th.
White-faced Capuchin (#2)
White-faced Capuchin Monkey: Panama Canal, Gamboa, Panama, July 2022 — We had a second encounter with a White-faced Capuchin…this one a juvenile, on a second island among the Monkey Islands of Lake Gatun. This one was curious enough to come right out to the ends of the branches overhanging our boat, where he (or she) interrupted foraging for long enough to have a good look at us. I was not even at full zoom for these shots. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 586-599mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 200 and 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
White-faced Capuchin
White-faced Capuchin Monkey: Panama Canal, Gamboa, Panama, July 2022 — While we took the tour boat on the Canal mostly to see birds, most people take a boat out of the marina at Gamboa to see monkeys. There are a few small islands just as the channel opens out into lake Gatun which are called, collectively, the Monkey Islands. On a good day, you can see three species of primates from a small boat. This is the White-faced Capuchin, with its impressive tail and expressive face. I am not certain just what the face expresses, but this is the typical Capuchin “look.” 🙂 Very serious. Perhaps a bit worried? We also saw the Mantled Howler, but we did not spend a lot of time looking for the Geoffory’s Tamarin on their island, since Tamarins are daily visitors to Canopy Tower where we were staying. I have to say, the views I got of Capuchins on the Canal were among the best I have ever gotten of this species. Sony Rx10iv at 447mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 640 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Geoffroy’s Tamarin
Geoffroy’s Tamarin: Canopy Tower, Panama, July 2022 — Tamarins are among the smallest of primates, and the Geoffroy’s is small for a Tamarin (1.1 pounds). It is also the only Tamarin in Panama. There are at least three families of Tamarin’s who live on Semaphore Hill and visit the Canopy Tower several times a day. The kitchen and dinning staff enjoy putting out bananas for them, sending the bananas out on a kind of pulley string to a branch at eye-level, or swinging a banana out on a string to drape over an even closer branch. If there are no bananas out, a single Tamarin may come and wait for one, but as soon as the banana appears the whole family comes running through the canopy to join in. At first glance the Tamarins are more cat-like than monkey-like, but they have long prehensile tails and definitely use their “hands” as we do, for grasping and grooming, and generally holding on to things. They are always calling to each other, and their habit of pulling their lips back to show their row of tiny, very sharp teeth, give them a somewhat fierce appearance. They are great fun to watch as they clamber over the trees, and each other. One of the families had a two “toddlers” and they are, if possible, even cuter than the the adults. Sony Rx10iv at various focal lengths for framing. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos.
White-face Capuchin
White-faced Capuchin Monkey: Neily, Costa Rica — After two nights at Danta Corcovado Lodge on the Osa Peninsula, we loaded the bus and headed for San Vito and the Wilson Botanical Gardens on the Las Cruces Biologial Research Station of the Organization for Tropical Studies. Along the way we stopped at long bridge in Neily. These shots of the White-faced Capuchin monkeys were taken from mid-bridge. The second shot was very difficult lighting…with the monkey back in the deep shade against the trunk of the tree, in a little hollow in the foliage, surrounded by really bright sun, barely visible to the naked eye. I added 1.7EV exposure compensation to penetrate the shadows, but that totally burned out the fonds in the sun. I did my best to adjust it in post processing, and it is an okay shot to record the memory…but not something I an inordinately proud of 🙂 The Capuchins were are our 4th primate for the trip. Sony Rx10iv at 600 and 517mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. The first shot is ISO 320 @ f4 @ 1/500th, the second is at ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th with, as I mentioned, + 1.7EV.
Osa Howlers
Howler Monkeys: Rio Rincon near Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica — The Osa Peninsula is home to all 4 of Costa Rica’s primate species. We encountered a troop of Howler Monkeys along the bed of the Rincon well into Corcovodo National Park, near the Ranger Station. The Howler is the second largest monkey in Costa Rica, but as mentioned before, it always manages to look bigger than the larger Spider Monkey, perhaps due to its relatively massive proportions…all body and tail, and not so much legs and arms. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 500 and 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Spider Monkey!
Spider Monkey: Rio Rincon near Danta Corcovado Lodge, Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica — I had never seen the Spider Monkey in Costa Rica…and on my one trip to the Amazon, I was sick aboard the river boat when they were seen in Peru…so I was delighted when we spotted a few in a very tall tree beside the Rincon as we drove our tractor and wagon up the riverbed on our way deep into Corcovado National Park. The Spider Monkey, despite it’s somewhat delicate look when compared to the more common Howler Monkey, is actually the largest of the primates in Costa Rica. Though we never got a really unobstructed view of the Spider, you can see the length of the arms and at least glimpse the length of the tail. This is an animal made for moving rapidly through the canopy. 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.
Squirrel Monkeys
Squirrel Monkeys: Danta Corcovado Lodge, Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica (Osa Peninsula) — Very active monkeys in very bad light. 🙂 This troop of Squirrel Monkeys comes to hand out in the prickly palms over the main lodge buildings at Danta Corcovado each evening…bordering on full dark. These conditions push any camera to its limits. This was our first night at the lodge, and we were on our way back from sunset on the observation tour on the hill behind the lodge. Sony Rx10iv at 458, 124, and 493mm equivalents. Program mode with wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos.
Howlers of the Sarapique
Howler Monkeys: Sarapique River at Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica — the Howler Monkey is by far the most abundant primate in the lowland rain forests of Costa Rica, at least on the Caribbean slope. The resident troop woke us up most mornings at 4am as the males greeted the day and proclaimed their dominance. We saw this troop from the safari boat on the Sarapique River, upstream from the docks at Puerto Viejo. The big male is pretty obvious. The female with the baby was good to see, and the young male was very active. There were several more in the troop, but they stayed deeper in and out of sight. Sony Rx10iv at 509mm equivalent (trying to get the tails in :). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Mostly ISO 800, one at ISO 1000 and one at 640. f4 @ 1/500th.
Howler
Howler Monkey: from a boat on the Sarapiqui River near Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. We saw 4 species of primate during our two weeks in Costa Rica…not counting the ubiquitous humans…but only had really good looks at this troop of Howlers along the Sarapiqui river. Of course, we heard the Howlers every morning, between 4:30 and 5am, at lodges in both the Caribbean and Pacific lowlands. I was somewhat surprised to find that the Howlers are not the largest monkeys in Costa Rica…a fact that does not seem to be causing this particular Howler much worry…so I guess it should not worry me. (The Spider Monkey is larger.) The thing about primates, at least for me, is that they appear to be self-conscious, which makes me more than usually aware of our kinship. Sony Rx10iv at 509mm equivalent (to fit the tail in). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.