Posts in Category: Costa Rica
Yellow-thighed Bushfinch
Yellow-thighed Bushfinch: Miriam’s Quetzals, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2022 — There are generally a few Yellow-thighed Bushfinches around the feeders at Miriams, and they are always a treat to see. Such an unlikely bird! The sooty-black, fine textured plumage and then those bright yellow booties. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 3200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Flame-colored Tanager
Flame-colored Tanager: Miriam’s Quetzals, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2022 — Though the Flame-colored Tanager does come down to foothills level, I have never seen one except high in the Talamanca Mountains. In fact, it is first bird I generally see that I think of as unmistakably a mountain bird. Though they feed in the mid to upper canopy, they do come to feeders, especially on the mountain side where the feeders are already at canopy level for the trees downslope. In my experience they are also quite variable in color, from palish orange to deep orange. Both of these birds are males, and both were coming to the feeders at Miriams, so this is not a “trick of the light.” They were different color orange. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 (paler bird in the shadows) and 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Lesser Violet-eared Hummingbird
Lesser Violet-eared Hummingbird: Miriam’s Quetzals, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2022 — Another hummingbird we got our first looks at off Miriam’s back deck. The Lesser Violet-ear (and, before you ask, there is on “Greater” Violet-ear…maybe they are anticipating a possible split??) is one of the most common, and certainly one of the most aggressive, hummingbirds in the American tropics, and can be found from Rainforest to Cloud Forest and everywhere in between. A gorgeous bird wherever it is found. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 640 and 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Talamanca Hummingbird
Talamanca Hummingbird: Miriam’s Quetzals Restaurant, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica, December 2022 — We left Los Cosningos after lunch and had time for a coffee, hot coco, and birds stop at Miriam’s Quetzals on the way down into San Geraldo de Dota and the Trogon Lodge. Miriam’s perches high on the side of the Savegre Valley and the feeders she maintains off the deck on the back of her restaurant generally provide our first views of some of the mountain specialties. Trouble is, once you are there, and have your cup of excellent coffee or coco, it is hard to get away, and you do not want to be late for your first trout dinner at the Trogon either. The Talamanca Hummingbirds were so bold they came to sit within inches of those who got too close to the feeders. One of the larger hummingbirds…the largest in Central America, it is always impressive, and never more so than when the late afternoon light catches the gorget. Such a treat! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 2000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Velvety Manakin
Velvety Manakin: Los Cosingos Sanctuary, Costa Rica, December 2022 — A very difficult bird to photograph…deep in the tangle of the rainforest understory…but the only male Velvety we saw on our trip. There was a nice green female showing at the Wilson Botanical Gardens. This is a confusing bird to me. There was once a Blue-Crowned Manakin that had a range in both Central America and South America. There is now a Velvety Manakin with a range primarily in Central America, Columbia, and northern Ecuador and a Blue-capped Manakin with a range in the rest of Amazonian South America. 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 2500 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Blue-winged Helicopter Damselfly
Blue-winged Helicopter Damselfly: Los Cosingos Santuary, Costa Rica, December 2022 — We were surprised to find this huge damselfly, the largest in the world, with a wingspan often over seven inches, flying through a clearing at Los Cosingos, just beyond the Alexander Skutch home. They are more common around wetlands and in the mangrove forests of Costa Rica and Central America than in the foothills…but there it was. The photo does not do it justice. You have to see one in flight with those four huge wings helicoptering above the body as it levitates along the forest edge. I tried for flight shots, but the group was more interested in moving on to the next bird and my time was limited. So you will just have to take my word for it…those wings are over three and half inches long! Sony Rx10iv at 447mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
White-faced Capuchin
White-faced Capuchin Monkey: Los Consingos Sanctuary, Costa Rica, December 2022 — There was a medium sized troop of White-faced Capuchins in the clearing around the Alexander Skutch homestead…working their way tree to tree and roof-top to roof-top. As anyone who has lived with Capuchins knows they are not good neighbors. Noisy, messy, and intrusive! Still, from a distance they are cute. 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.
Scaly-breasted Hummingbird
Scaly-breasted Hummingbird: Los Cosingos Scanturay, Costa Rica, December 2022 — Not a very exciting hummingbird, as the colorful hummingbirds go, and according to some authorities, common in its largely Central American range, but not easy to see. This one was tucked back deep in the foliage at the Alexander Skutch homestead, near the main house. No flashy gorget…and, in fact, not much of a Scaly-breast either. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixomator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Bay-headed Tanager in the sun…
Bay-headed Tanager: Los Cosingos Sanctuary, Costa Rica, December 2022 — When we moved on from Las Cruces Biological Research Station, headed for San Gerardo de Dota in the Talamanca Mountains, we stopped for a biding lunch at Los Cosginos Bird Sanctuary, which is the Alexander Skutch homestead. Skutch is perhaps the best know tropical naturalist of recent generations, with many influential books and studies to is credit. When he passed away his homestead was set aside, and is operated as sanctuary for the birds he loved. This Bay-headed Tanager came for bananas put out on stump near the Skutch house, which is maintained as a kind of museum to his work. It is mount the most colorful of the many colorful neo-tropical tanager species. Here it just about shines in the direct sun. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Snowy-bellied Hummingbird
Snowy-bellied Hummingbird: Las Cruces Biological Research Station, San Vito, Costa Rica, December 2022 — I posted another image from this same encounter back in December when I actually saw the bird, but it deserves another as I work my way through my shots from Costa Rica. Not an easy bird to see and we missed it on our first attempt, so I was out at first light to try again on the morning we left Las Cruces for the mountains. The light was challenging, to say the least, but the bird came in just as I reached my time limit and had to head back for breakfast and departure. 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.