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.

Waiting for the Sunrise

This morning I set my camera up on our deck at six thirty two a.m. waiting for the sunrise. Sunrise for our location on earth in the Northern hemisphere was forecast or predicted to be at six twenty seven a.m. So what was I doing setting up my camera for the sunrise after the forecast time? I was waiting for the sun to rise over the mountains which in my location takes another eight minutes or so depending upon which peak the sun as to rise above or the earth to rotate past if you really put your mind to it. The vast majority of sunrise and sunset calculations don't take into account the mountains. I can't count all of the times i have sat waiting and wondering when the sun or the moon was going to rise. It's like a big surprise when it pops up. Here is a sequence of this mornings smoky sunrise. God's light and precious love to all, chris

Smoky Sunrise

With an offshore breeze the smoke from the Rocky Fire has been filling the coastal valleys the past couple of days. This has made for some pretty spectacular sunrises. Here is this mornings sunrise from over the Mendocino Range. God bless, chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150 - 600mm lens.

Entrepreneurial Costa Ricans

The Costa Rican government has made a shift into focusing the countries efforts into education and tourism. The Tamarindo area where we stayed caters to tourists. Because of this we met a lot of people that have jobs that are directly tied to the tourist trade. We had Hugo a chef who runs Private Chef of Costa Rica. He prepared us some amazing meals when we stayed at Hacienda Panilla. If you ever go to to Costa Rica look into hiring him to prepare some meals for you. He is on Facebook. They were delicious and the price was in line with restaurants in the area. Part of our group hired Pablo to take them on a surfing safari. He was a former Peruvian big wave surfer who now makes a living taking surfers on tours along the Cost Rican coast. On one of our morning walks we ran into Coco. Coco was a Panamanian that makes artistic creations out of coconut leaves. He was making a hat that he said was going to pay for his breakfast. He made us a flower and a grasshopper. When I gave him some cash for it he responded that it would be used to buy him bread for his lunch. Later on we met Isabelle who was a morning fixture for many people in Tamarindo. She makes corn tortilla empanadas that are a hit for everyone. She sets up her stand beside the road selling nonstop to tourists and Cost Ricans alike. For lunch one day we purchased shish kabobs hot off the grill from a family that has a roadside bbq right on the road next to the beach. We took a tour of the Tamarindo estuary with the salty Gerardo who pointed out a crocodillo and a wide variety of birds. He runs a variety of tours with some business partners. We also met Marvin who sells leeche fruits for five dollars a kilo beside the road. He showed us how to plunge our thumbs into the top of the fruit to peel it back to get at the sweet nugget of fruit inside. One of the most common sights and sounds of Tamarindo are the bird whistle sellers. You can hear and see them warbling with there wares on both the beaches and streets of the town. We bought whistles from Francisco and a woman. They were great to talk to. All of the Costa Ricans we met were extremely helpful and friendly. What a wonderful country.

My Only Take on Costa Rican Amphibians

I was really looking forward to photographing frogs when I was in Costa Rica. I'm always seeing these images of these fascinating glass frogs and other cool things. I was a bit disappointed when we had to cancel our trip to the rainforest where they are found. We realized it was going to be a long, long bus ride to the rain forest so we canceled. The day we would have done it I caught a really cool looking little guy next to the pool in the morning and I posed him on a branch to photograph him or her. It was similar to the Pacific Chorus Frogs we have in Mendocino County except it was quite large about quadruple the size. When I asked the maintenance guy at the villa where we were staying what it was called he told me it was a Garande Frog or is it a toad. I'm not too sure.... God bless, chris Image created with a Canon 7D

Howler Monkeys

As many of you know that follow my photoblog I love to photograph small mammals. The Mantled Howler Monkeys of Costa Rica were no exception. In researching where we were staying I had found that there were many howlers to be found. The first morning I was up bright and early in search of them. About a mile from where we were staying I spotted a group of them crossing high above the road on what looked to be a cable tv line. Later I found out that this is actually nylon webbing put up at frequent road crossings to prevent them from being hit by cars. This turned out to be both a challenging and a great spot to photograph them. They were almost always either backlit or hidden in the trees eating mangoes. They used the telephone lines as a highway and later when we stayed at a hotel in Tamarindo I found that they used the roof tops as a means of travel as well. The mothers with babies were really cute. I must say that they were one of the high lights of our trip. God's love and blessings to all, chris All images created with a handheld Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens. Exposures and settings varied. #TeamCanon,