up close and personal
Florida Scrub Jay: Helen and Allen Cruickshank Santuary, Rockledge, Florida, USA, January 2025 — like I said yesterday sometimes the hardest part about photographing Florida Scrub Jays is not stepping on them. This one was literally at my feet, barely within the close focus of my lens. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Tenters
Brown Tent-making Bats: Pierella Ecology Gardens, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, December 2024 — I have seen the White Honduran Tent-making Bats several times in Costa Rica…on just about every trip for the past 10 years…but this was my first encounter with their brown cousins. Both are leaf-nosed bats, and both eat away at the spine of broad leaves until the leaves fold over to make a “tent” where they roost during daylight. It is not easy to get a photo as you have to get down low enough to see up under the leaves and use a flashlight for light. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 217mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator. This is another shot at ISO 25600. 🙂
Scrub Jays
Florida Scrub Jay: Helen and Allen Cruickshank Sanctuary, Rockledge, Florida, USA. January 2025 — It was still cloudy and cool on Friday morning and since I was already down that way for a workshop I had been assigned, I stoped by the Florida Scrub Jay Sanctuary to see if I could find some Jays. I found a flock or family just about where I expected them to be and had a lot of fun with them as they fed all around me. Florida Scrub Jays have always been gregarious and unafraid of humans, and they have only become more so the protection of the Sanctuary. Sometimes the only trick to photographing them is to keep from stepping on them…though all these shots were at the long end of the zoom. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Daylight Frog
Red-eyed Leaf Frog: Pierella Ecology Gardens, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, December 2024 — This is my first ever daylight shot of a Red-eyed Leaf Frog. If you can call a rainy day under the rainforest canopy daylight. 🙂 Our guide found the frog for us, and moved it to this little twig for photos…so, I do feel that it was cheating a bit…but I sill like the image…and love the critter. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 250mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. (ISO 25600! Even in daylight I could have used more light.) Processed in Photomator.
Over there
Great Egret: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA. January 2025 — Again the dank, dark, damp Thursday when I got to Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, and out on my first loop around Black Point Drive. White bird against a dark background. Classic exposure problem. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Highlight metering. Processed in Photomator.
Green on green
Green Basilisk: Pierella Ecology Gardens, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, December 2024 — Not an uncommon lizard of the rainforest, but an uncommonly close view of one, and a daylight view at that. Our guide at Pierella found it for us while looking for Red-eyed Leaf Frogs in a damp spot in the forest. This is the Jesus lizard, so called because it appears to walk on the water…or run at least…it’s specially adapted feet and light weight not breaking the surface tension. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 477 and 231mm equivalents. (Like I said, a close view. :} Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Damp wood
Wood Stork: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Yes, still from my dank, dark, damp first Thursday in Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. What can I say. This stork is not appreciating the weather. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Red-throat
Crested Guan: Pierrella Ecology Gardens, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, December 2024 — Pierrella Ecology Gardens is the public facing effort of a family owned commercial butterfly farm. They raise and ship tropical rainforest cocoons to butterfly gardens and research centers all over the world. Most of the cocoons are raised right in the forest, in mobile enclosures, so the heath of the forest is essential, and a healthy forest attracts a wide variety of all kinds of interesting birds, frogs, lizards, mammals, and other insects. All of which makes a tour of the gardens a special treat. This is the Crested Guan, a near threatened species similar in size and habits to the North American wild turkey (at least a hen turkey). The bright red waddle really sets of the speckled black plumage. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600 and 382mm equivalents. Program mode with my custom bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Nope!
Great Egret: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Try and try again…the is how Great Egret hunting goes (or any other fishing bird for that matter). Still that dull, dank, dark first Thursday of my visit to the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Oh brother.
Mantled Howler Monkey: Caño Negro Wetlands Reserve, Costa Rica, December 2024 — We cannot leave Caño Negro without visiting our tree brothers, the Mantled Howlers that move along the edges of the waterways, often looking out over the water, apparently contemplating life in the rainforest. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.