Leapin' Lizards

Coming from a place in Northern California where the biggest lizards are typically eight to ten inches long I was fascinated with the iguanas of Costa Rica which can be quite large. They have adapted well to their environment and can be found in parking lots, at the beach and on roof tops. They can also frequently can be seen sunning or running across the roads. Most of the time they appear to be slow and sluggish but that is quite deceiving as they can move like lightning when they want to. I discovered this numerous times when I tried to get close to the local resident iguana at the villa we rented. It would sit on the driveway next to a drain. Any time I made a move to get closer it would dive down into the drain in a flash. Some of the smaller green iguanas were quite approachable and I captured some pretty nice images of them. I got a great close up portrait of one of the bigger ones by crawling on my belly across a parking lot. I did photograph one red faced lizard that I'm working on getting an ID for. Enjoy the images and God bless, chris

Surfing

Tamarindo in the Guanacaste Region of Costa Rica is a surfing mecca and a delight. It boasts warm waters, sandy beaches and best of all a steady swell coming off the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean. There are beautiful beach breaks to be found everywhere. The town of Tamrindo caters to surfers with plenty of surf shops, lessons and easy access to the beach as the town fronts the playa. Walking around town we saw plenty of surfers carrying their boards to and from the beach. For a photographer even though I am not a surf photographer I was immediately drawn into capturing the action and beauty of surfing. It is quite addictive and harder than I expected to get a great image. You really have to work to keep the surfers composed in the right spot in the frame and make sure the horizon in the background is straight. It is quite challenging and fun. Enjoy the images and have a blessed evening, chris

Some Costa Rican Birds

Recently as many of you are aware I spent close to almost two weeks on a family vacation to Costa Rica. Even though it was family oriented I still managed to squeeze in some bird photography. One bird that I really wanted to see on this vacation was a Crested Caracara Eagle. I got to see three and I photographed one of them! What surprised me most about it was that was walking along the roadside hunting for roadkill in the form of grass hoppers that had been hit by cars! The lighting was pretty low but I was just so excited to see and photograph one in the wild. One oddity I didn't expect was the tree ducks landing on telephone wires. I also photographed them on a tree which looked a lot better but it wasn't as unique to me as the ducks on a wire. I photographed quite a number of common species such as egrets, herons and grackles. One of the more common species I photographed was the White Bellied Magpie Jay. The name is quite a mouthful for a really cool looking bird.I also got to photograph Thick Knees and a Broad Billed Heron. Some birds I just documented because I had no clue as to what they were. I really wish I had more time to photograph many other birds that I saw from a distance. There are some pretty amazing birds to be seen in Costa Rica. I think I just barely just barely scratched the surface of what can be found and photographed there. God's love and blessings to all of you, chris All images created with a canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600 exposures and settings varied.