Costa Rica in pictures: part 1 of [??]
March 19th, 2014
I'm back from vacation in Costa Rica.
And it was spectacular. It was like a two-week-long dream (from which I awoke to the cold, hard, but mainly just cold reality of Canadian winter.) The weather, the food, the scenery, the people. And the birds, oh, the birds.
Out of the hundreds of species of Costa Rican birds, I went in with a targeted wishlist of about fifty of them. I found roughly half of those--not bad for a two-week stay, and furthermore, a two-week stay without a car, which meant I was limited to the area around the resort (Pueblo Real) for much of the time. My full triplist stands tentatively at 166, of which 132 were lifers, ballooning my lifelist to a sum of 462. Many of them are owed to Johan Chaves, a guide with whom we booked two full-day birding tours, and about whom I cannot say enough good things. Dedicated, tireless, enthusiastic, warm, funny, and extremely skilled at both spotting and identifying birds. He treated my wishlist as a sort of treasure hunt, and went out of his way to tick off as many entries on it as he could.
The beauty at the top of this post, though--a Blue-Crowned Motmot--I got on my own, during a trip to Manuel Antonio park with my husband. We had been warned that MA was not so good for birds (monkeys and sloths, yes, birds, no.) And it mostly wasn't. The large, noisy crowds of tourists scared them away. But it just goes to show every rule has an exception, and the motmot was worth the price of admission alone.
It's not easy photographing or even seeing birds in a tropical forest. There's an awful lot of thick foliage and an awful lot of vertical space for them to occupy. Seldom are they motivated to come down and perch in front of you. The motmot started out pretty close. Then, while Mike was standing watching him and I was frantically pulling my camera out of my pack and screwing the lens hood on, this gorgeous bird flew towards us and perched low right beside the trail.
1680x1050 wallpaper
March 19th, 2014
I'm back from vacation in Costa Rica.
And it was spectacular. It was like a two-week-long dream (from which I awoke to the cold, hard, but mainly just cold reality of Canadian winter.) The weather, the food, the scenery, the people. And the birds, oh, the birds.
Out of the hundreds of species of Costa Rican birds, I went in with a targeted wishlist of about fifty of them. I found roughly half of those--not bad for a two-week stay, and furthermore, a two-week stay without a car, which meant I was limited to the area around the resort (Pueblo Real) for much of the time. My full triplist stands tentatively at 166, of which 132 were lifers, ballooning my lifelist to a sum of 462. Many of them are owed to Johan Chaves, a guide with whom we booked two full-day birding tours, and about whom I cannot say enough good things. Dedicated, tireless, enthusiastic, warm, funny, and extremely skilled at both spotting and identifying birds. He treated my wishlist as a sort of treasure hunt, and went out of his way to tick off as many entries on it as he could.
The beauty at the top of this post, though--a Blue-Crowned Motmot--I got on my own, during a trip to Manuel Antonio park with my husband. We had been warned that MA was not so good for birds (monkeys and sloths, yes, birds, no.) And it mostly wasn't. The large, noisy crowds of tourists scared them away. But it just goes to show every rule has an exception, and the motmot was worth the price of admission alone.
It's not easy photographing or even seeing birds in a tropical forest. There's an awful lot of thick foliage and an awful lot of vertical space for them to occupy. Seldom are they motivated to come down and perch in front of you. The motmot started out pretty close. Then, while Mike was standing watching him and I was frantically pulling my camera out of my pack and screwing the lens hood on, this gorgeous bird flew towards us and perched low right beside the trail.
1680x1050 wallpaper
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Mustang Sallie
March 19th, 2014 at 8:15 pm
Beautiful shot! That bird is a color feast for the eyes. I'm looking forward to many more pics to come. Glad you had such a wonderful experience.
dagibbs
March 19th, 2014 at 9:30 pm
Welcome home.
I'm glad you had an awesome vacation, and I look forward to seeing more photos.
xiphia
March 19th, 2014 at 10:57 pm
Wow, that colouring is fantastic! I'm glad your trip turned out so well. Welcome home, and I can't wait to see the rest of the pix!