Posts in Category: Costa Rica
Purple Gallinule with chicks
Purple Gallinule: Calla de Gambia, Golfito, Costa Rica — The fields along Calla de Gambia were really wet…just sort of being an actual marsh…and attracted many “wetland” species…including this pair of Purple Gallinules raising a brood of chicks. The chicks were well out of the nest, following mom around, but she was spending most of her time feeding them, or fending them off as they begged for food. They were hard to see in the tall grasses of the wet pasture. Sony Rx10iv at 595mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Green Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher: Calla de Gambia, Golfito, Costa Rica — Still on Calla de Gambia, we crossed a little stream between pastures in an area that might be called “open forest” as much as pasture, since the trees were far enough apart to see all the way across the pasture, but the canopy was pretty solid. From the corner of my eye as we crossed, I caught this Green Kingfisher on a branch right by the culvert and made the bus back up so we could get some better views. It quickly flew off upstream, but not out of sight or out of camera reach. I have, of course, seen Greens in South Texas, most every trip there, but they are still among my favorite birds to see, and our third Costa Rican Kingfisher for the trip. Sony Rx10iv at 517 and 600mm equivalents. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixomator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 1250 and 1600 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Lineated Woodpecker
Lineated Woodpecker: Calla de Gambia, Golfito, Costa Rica — We had our second Lineated Woodpecker encounter, and our first close encounter, on Calla de Gambia as we were walking a short stretch looking for birds in the wet, almost marshy, fields. He was in the trees of the “living fence” that separated the fields from the road. If you don’t know about living fences…in the tropics if you cut a fence pole and stick it in the ground and string wire on it…it will root and grow, put out new branches, and turn into a tree in a surprisingly short time. Over the years, the trees in a living fence can get quite large…certainly big enough to attract a big woodpecker like the Lineated. As usual with close woodpecker encounters, this bird was busy keeping on the back-side of the tree from us most of the time, and the light was almost always behind it. They never make it easy for the photographer. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixomator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 250 and 500 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus 1.7 EV exposure compensation for the backlight.
Southern Lapwing
Southern Lapwing: Calla de Gambia, Golfito, Costa Rica — On our way from Danta Corcovado Lodge to Las Cruces Biological Station we took a run up Calla de Gambia through a valley with extensive wet meadows and “living fences” leading to a lodge in the forest at the end. The wet meadows, in particular, were full of birds. There were many Southern Lapwings…but for some reason the only ones I could catch were always walking away. They seemed to sense the bus stopping and be already on the move by they time we piled out. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/800th and 1/640th. ISO 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th + 1.3 EV.
White Hawk
White Hawk: Golfito, Costa Rica — We stopped at an overlook where we had a great view of the Pacific and the Osa Peninsula across the “sweet” bay, and there, too far away and tucked into the foliage across the road, was this White Hawk. This is heavy crop and a considerable enlargement. I resorted to + 3 EV exposure compensation…trying to keep detail in the white feathers…but honestly at that distance it did not make a lot of difference. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4.5 @ 1/1000th. (+ 3EV).
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.
Roadside Hawk
Roadside Hawk: Playa Blanca, Costa Rica (Osa Peninsula) — The sun had set on our Macaw adventure, and we were headed back to the bus, when we came up on this Road-side Hawk, perched at eye-level, back in the foliage of a tree between the road and the beach…literally on the road side. 🙂 The Road-side Hawk is probably one of the most common hawks all though Mexico and Central America. I had already switched memory modes to use multi-frame noise reduction as the light levels fell and I managed this portrait. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 5000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Red-lored Parrot again
Red-lored Parrot: Playa Blanca, Costa Rica (Osa Peninsula) — The Macaws, of course, were not alone in enjoying the fruiting fig trees behind the beach at Playa Blanca. Parrots are gregarious opportunists and where you find one species there are likely more. There were a few Red-lored Parrots feeding with the Macaws, and again, they were so busy with the fruit that it was easy to get relatively close shots. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Macaws!
Scarlet Macaw: Playa Blanca, Costa Rica (Osa Peninsula) — This is my second post of the Macaws of Playa Blanca, Costa Rica, on the Osa Peninsula near Danta Corcovado Lodge. I posted just after we visited in December, but as I work back through my photos from the trip, they deserve another post. Especially as our guide, Edwin, worked so hard to find them for us. It is fairly certain that they will be in some fig tree behind a stretch of beach along the Gulf of Deluce, but where exactly varies from day to day and year to year. It turned out we parked the bus at the wrong end of the beach and it was a good hike up to where the birds actually were. Most of us had given up long before Edwin appeared in the far distance and beckoned us on. Worth it though. We found a large flock in the back yard of a vacation home (unoccupied at the moment) and were able to get pretty much as close as we could want to the actively feeding parrots. Only one of these shots is at 600mm equivalent. Macaws really are as spectacular as the Resplendent Quetzal of the mountains, but being so much more common, both in the wild and in captivity, they do not get the photographic love they deserve. Sony Rx10iv at various focal lengths. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. (My two Costa Rica trips are scheduled for next December. Search for Stephen Ingraham on the Holbrook Travel site 🙂
Magnificent Frigatebird
Magnificent Frigatebird: Playa Blanca, Costa Rica (Osa Peninsula) — One afternoon late, we drove out to Playa Blanca, a beach on the Gulf of Deluce near Danta Corcovado Lodge, to look for Macaws. While we were looking, I grabbed this shot of one of the many Magnificent Frigatebirds soaring over the Gulf in the evening light. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f7.1 @ 1/1000th.