We spent an afternoon at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge driving the Wildlife Drive, looking mostly for the Buffalo. We saw them, wee and far away, on the hills, but we had excellent looks at the Mule Deer, which were everywhere and close. I walked up on this buck and his harem near the Prairie Trail and Lake Mary. Mule Deer are not particularly skittish, especially where they know they are protected and I got many good shots. Sony RX10iv at 575mm equivalent. 1/320 @ f4 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr.

This is one of my most wanted photographs. In what is rapidly approaching a dozen trips to the Central and South America, I have only gotten one just okay shot of the Blue Morpho Butterfly, perched on a bush beside a overgrown canal in Panama, with its wings open. I have seen many hundreds of Blue Morphos in flight and photographed maybe two dozen with their wings folded, but they rarely perch with their wings open. I had to go to Denver, Colorado to get this shot, and it happened just moments after entering the Tropical Butterfly enclosure at the Butterfly Pavilion. There was a Banded Morpho harassing this Common, and you can see the tip of its out of focus wing at the bottom left. It successfully drove the Common off just a second later. Of course I have mixed feelings about butterfly photographs taken in Butterfly habitats like the Butterfly Pavilion. I would much rather I had captured this creature in the wilds of Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, or in Peru along the Amazon. Still, as a photo of a Blue Morpho it is about as good as it can get. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. 1/640th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Polarr.

Green Hermit Hummingbird, near La Paz Waterfall Gardens, Costa Rica

We stopped at a little restaurant / roadside stand built out over a sharp drop beside the road just beyond the La Paz Waterfall Gardens in Costa Rica to look for the Emerald Toucanet which frequent the feeders there. We saw lots of tanagers, and a rarely seen ground dove, but no Toucanets. This is Green Hermit at a ornamental banana flower. Costa Rica is attempting to root this invasive plant out, but it is apparently attractive to both humans and hummingbirds. Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. 1/250th @ ISO 640 @ f4. Processed in Polarr.

One of the very special birds we saw in Cope’s yard on our afternoon visit, was the White-tipped Sicklebill, a relatively rare hummingbird in the Sarapique region of Costa Rica. It kept to deep shadows, which I suspect is its normal behavior. We saw it several times, in different places in the yard, always deep in and dark. I was able to catch a few shots using the Sony Rx10iii’s Anti-motion Blur mode. Nominal Exposure: 1/20th @ f4 @ ISO 1600 (impossible without Anti-motion blur).

On our visit to Cope’s private nature reserve and photo studio, in a small village 45 minutes from Selva Verde Lodge…otherwise known as the quarter acre around his home which he has converted into a minature paridice that attracts a truely amazing number of rare birds and reptiles…he set up this shot for us by capturing the Poison Dart Frog, collecting the Claret Cup Mushrooms on their little chunk of fallen tree branch, and putting them together on top of a oil drum in his yard. Just below eyelevel it made for a truely striking arrangement. One that could have happened naturally, and that we might have been lucky enough to stumble across…but still, even as a set-up, not a shot to be missed. If you are sensing a bit of ambivalence here, you are in tune with my emotions. It is common practice at lodges where I have stayed in Panama to set up shots like this with Poison Dart Frogs, and I suspect that most of the best shots of the tiny critters are set ups…still, I would have prefered to stumble on this naturally. Who wouldn’t? Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent. Anti-motion Blur mode. Nominal exposure ISO 1600 @ f4 @ 1/125. (AMB takes up to 4 exposures and stacks them to eliminate motion and reduce noise in the final image.) Processed in Polarr. 

This is another shot from Dave and Dave’s Costa Rican Nature Park in La Vergin, Costa Rica. Dave the father, and Dave the son, have created an ideal habitat for the birds of the lowland rainforest, and have set up their feeding stations to provide photographers with natural portraits of the birds that frequent the property. Vines with banana slices surround a covered patio so even on rainy days the photography is excellent. This is a male Green Honeycreeper. The female is actually the green bird. The three speicis of Honeycreepers in Costa Rica are three more of the amazing number of tropical Tanagers. Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. 1/250th @ f4 @ ISO 1600. Processed in Polarr. 

There are so many tanager species in Central America, and Costa Rica in particual, that it is hard to keep track of them. This is the Silver-throated Tanager, at the feeders of a small restaurant near the La Paz Waterfall Gardens in Costa Rica. We stopped for the Emerald Toucanets who also frequent the feeders, but they were a no show on our visit. Instead we enjoyed the Tanager show. Sony Rx10iii at 600mm. Program mode. ISO 1250 @ f4 @ 1/250th. Processed in Polarr. 

We visited a wildlife artist and photographer at his studio home about 45 minutes from Selva Verde Lodge in the Sarapique region of Costa Rica. I am embarrassed to day I don’t remember the name of the town, but I certainly will not forget the visit. He spent the afternoon showing us wonderful things…from this Crested Owl to Honduran White Tent-making Bats, to Glass Frogs. The owl was tucked back under a mass of vines and vegetation, in about as dark a spot as it could have found in the second growth rainforest it calls home. I had to use Multiple Exposure Noise Reduction mode which stacks several exposures to get a reasonable shot. The alternative would have been ISO 12500 and much more noise than this image shows. 

Full disclosure…the owl had a damaged eye on the right side. It was completely clouded over. Since the sequence of shots I got that afternoon were my first of this bird, and quite possible my last (unless I get to Central American and find myself again in the right place at the right time…something I can not count on 🙂 I took the liberty of “repairing” the owl’s bad eye using the very fine clone tool in TouchRetouch. 

Sony Rx10iii at 400mm equivalent. Multi-frame Noise Reduciton mode. Nominal exposure: ISO 6400 @ f4 @ 1/50th. Processed in Polarr and TouchRetouch. 

It is not only birds that come to the feeders at the lodges in the Sarapique region of Costa Rica. This White-nosed Coati is a regular visitor to the feeders at Selva Verde Lodge. They have even given him a nickname, which I can’t recall. He is not tame. He is just often after the bananas they put out for the birds.  Sony Rx10iii at 440mm equivalent. 1/250th @ f4 @ ISO 8000. With the rain clouds overhead, light levels in the rainforest are pretty low. Processed in Polarr. 

We saw Golden-hooded Tanagers most places we went in Costa Rica. In the Caribbean lowlands they are the second most common Tanager, after Blue-grey (though, at least in October when we visited, the Blue-greys outnumber them by a factor of 10). This bird was at La Selva Research Center, one of the most famous birding sites in Costa Rica, and recognized as such world-wide. La Selva is so well established that they have over 10 miles of paved walkways through the open areas and the rainforest. The day we visited it rained hard enough to keep us under the shelter of the cafeteria patio for an hour or so. This bird was feeding in the rain just a few yards from us. The rain did let up and we were able to walk the trails. Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent. Processed in Photoshop Express.