Monthly Archives: March 2022
Red-lored Parrot
Red-lored Parrot: Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica — Danta Corcovado Lodge has an observation tower, or canopy tower, on a hill about a mile from the lodge. The tower gets you high enough to see out over a large expanse of canopy across a small valley and up on the hill across. If you turn around you have a view out over a well grazed pasture hill to the tree line several miles away. We went out at sunset one day and sunrise another. Just after sunrise, these Red-lored Parrots settled in a tall tree well away from the tower, just within reach of my 600mm lens (the photos have been cropped to maybe the equivalent of a 3000mm lens…spotting scope territory). Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixomator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/640th.
Orange-collared Manakin
Orange-collared Manakin: Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica — Manakins are strange little birds. Round bodied with mostly short tails, and not much neck at all…as though someone stuck a beak and feet on ball. There are 9 species of Manakins in Costa Rica, 2 of which can only be found in the Pacific lowlands and foothills of Costa Rica and adjacent Panama. Danta Corcovado Lodge is and extreme example of an “open plan” lodge. Both the bar and dinning area and the reception and lounge area are very elegant, though rustic sheds, roofed but without walls. The photo shows the dinning area. Between the dinning and the lounge sheds there is a strip of tall dense bamboo. In the morning when we went for breakfast just at dawn (the photo is at lunch time), that strip was very dark, and there were always birds in there, tempting us, and testing the low light limits of our cameras. This male Yellow-collared Manakin was there to entertain us one morning as we ate…or attempted to eat while watching and photographing the bird. Sony Rx10iv at 580mm equivalent. Program mode with wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 6400 @ f4 @ 1/100th and 1/30th.
Red-eyed Leaf Frog
Red-eyed Leaf Frog: Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica — I posted a comparison post a while back now, featuring the different varieties of the Red-eyed Leaf Frog found we found at Selva Verde Lodge in the Sarapique River Valley in the Caribbean lowlands, and the Red-eyed Leaf Frogs we found at Danta Corcovado Lodge on the Osa Peninsula in the Pacific lowlands. There are 5 species of Leaf Frog found in Costa Rica, but there are apparently at least 5 distinct color variations of the Red-eyed Leaf Frog. The one you see almost exclusively in photos, with orange feet and bright blue flank bars, is the variety we found on the Caribbean slope. This one on the Osa Peninsula, with greeny-grey feet and almost black and white flank bars, is “variety A” (according to my field guide). I find it interesting that I could only find a single reference to the color variations in the Red-eyed Leaf Frog in a google search, and that was in a scientific paper on variations in defense peptides in the skins of the species. All of the more accessible internet sources, from Wikipedia to National Geographic, picture and describe only the orange-footed variety. I can be forgiven then, for thinking, for a moment there, that this might be a separate species. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Taken by the light of a flashlight. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 5000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Fitzinger’s Rain Frog (Robber Frog?)
I think this is a Fitzinger’s Rain Frog, aka Fitzinger’s Robber Frog. Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica — Rain Frogs, often also called Robber Frogs, are common all over Costa Rica. Pinning down the exact species is best left to those who really know their amphibians…which is not me. This was the first critter we encountered on our “night walk” our second night at Danta Corcovado Lodge on the Osa Peninsula. Taken by the light of a flashlight, using multi-frame noise reduction on the Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 4000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Ringed Kingfisher
Ringed Kingfisher: Rio Rincon near the Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica — After I mistakenly named a distant Amazon Kingfisher as a Ringed last week in a post, I had to do some serious study of these photos to make sure I have the right name this time. This bird was closer, and at eye-level, but buried back under the shade of the foliage above it, and silhouetted against the brighter foliage behind it. We were well back toward the lodge on our way back down the Rincon river-bed from our visit to Corcovado National Park. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixomator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 124 and 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Yellow-headed Caracara
Yellow-headed Caracara: Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica — This bird was in terrible light, and I was shooting from the moving wagon on the way back down Rio Rincon coming out of Corcovado National Park, so no time to adjust. Still it is not a bad shot after some work in post-processing. At least a good portrait of the bird. Yellow-headed Caracara is increasing its range in Costa Rica, but it was always common in both the Pacific and Caribbean lowlands. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo, Apple Photos, and Polarr. ISO 100 @ f8 @ 1/1000th.
Short-tailed Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk: Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica — I am pretty sure this is a Short-tailed Hawk. I don’t remember what Edwin, our the guide called it, and it was overhead for just a few seconds, as we aboard the wagon for the trip back down the Rio Rincon after our short hike in the forests of Corcovado National Park. Not great photos but the best I could manage under the circumstances. So, more about the bird this morning, than the photo. 🙂 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 and f4 @ 1/1000th and 1/640th. The second shot at + .7 EV.
Crowned Woodnymph in the Osa
Crowned Woodnymph: Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica — At the end of our wagon ride up the Rincon, we visited the Ranger Station deep in Corcovado National Park to sign in, and then took a hike from the river up the mountain to the south. The trail was steep and muddy, and there was not much in the way of bird-life, but our local guide gave us a good introduction to the forest habitats of the Osa Peninsula and the Pacific lowlands. Edwin and I did encounter this female (or perhaps immature male) Crowned Woodnymph Hummingbird when he stayed back with me on my slower-than-the-rest hike back to the river. We were crossing a small stream under heavy canopy. Sony Rx10iv at about 575mm equivalent. Program mode with wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 3200 and 4000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
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.
Laughing Falcon
Laughing Falcon: Rio Rincon near Corcovado Lodge and National Park, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica — We were getting pretty far up the Rincon toward the border of Corcovado National Park by the time we encountered this Laughing Falcon. I have actually never heard the “laughing” call, which the bird apparently only makes when it is upset. We certainly were not close enough to be a threat. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/1000th. + 1 EV exposure compensation for detail in the backlit bird.