deansshots

Costa Rica…my third visit and they say the third time’s the charm. Maybe so, but if you want sun, don’t go to 3 different rain forests. Of course, that’s where all the neat birds hang out so it’s a push. My first 2 trips were sunny and few birds, this time it rained a lot but I got good images of at least 35 species in my 10 day trip. And, with 2 superb workshop leaders, I got a wealth of knowledge of my equipment and how to best use it.

Atlantic rainforest

Catarata del Toro Falls

Tucked back in to jungle, the lodges were adequate…but not luxurious…and NO AIR CONDITIONING (fans do poorly in high humidity!) Mornings began sunny but rains usually began late morning and into the afternoon. Humidity was awesome and temperatures ranged into the 80’s.

Laguna Lagarto Lodge

Laguna Lagarto Lagoon

But it sure did rain! Fortunately, the birds were accustomed to it.

Black Vulture

Montezuma oropendola

Bananas and mangos enticed the fruit feeders to the feeding sites.

Collared acari

Keel-billed toucan

Chestnut-mandibled toucan

Montezuma oropendola

The tanagers weren’t as numerous as in Panama

Blue-gray tanager

Palm tanager

Golden-hooded tanager

Olive-backed Euphonia

Yellow-throated Euphonia

But there were recent migrants from North America to add to the colors

Baltimore oriole

Summer tanager

All 3 species of honeycreepers were active at the fruit trays

Red-legged honeycreeper

Shining honeycreeper

Green honeycreeper (male)

Green honeycreeper (female)

And the kiskadees learned to enjoy over-ripe bananas

Great kiskadee

The ground birds occasionallky came out of the forest

Great curossow

Black guan

Flash set-ups for hummingbirds drew in several species

Green hermit

Violet saberwing

Black-bellied hummingbird

Stopping at a ranch we found a lot of action. The rancher had been rehabilitating injured macaws which drew the wild ones in to his properties.

Scarlet macaw

Green macaw

Macaws flying

But my favorite bird of the trip (and the one I most wanted to photograph) was the king vulture. An area was baited with cow heads from a local butcher shop which drew in many black vultures to the area where a permanent photo blind had been set up. In time, a few over-cautious king vultures began to appear. I think I shot over 1,000 images of them.