We went for an overnight camping trip to the top of the mountains that overlook the bay. We drove up steep winding dirt roads, crawling at a snail’s pace until we reached the top of the mountain where you could look out across the Nicoya peninsula. You had a great view of the Bahia Ballena, where Tambor and my home is located.
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| The Bahia Ballena, my home in Costa Rica. You can see the airstrip in the middle-left of the bay, on the right hand side you can see the estuary |
The forest found at the top is much different from the dry, open forest found along the coastline. Even though we may have only traveled 10 kilometers, the ecosystem changed dramatically and new bird species were all around. We set up camp in a small valley surrounded by thick jungle. That evening we went shrimping. I wasn’t sure what to expect...as any shrimp that I knew of came from the ocean, not on top of a mountain. The sun set and the forest went dark as readied my headlamp and we set off down a dirt road. We came to a riverbed; shallow pools etched by time into the smooth limestone rock that held crystal clear water. Sure enough, we started to see our first shrimp, which were the size of small lobsters. Their eyes glowed as luminous orbs in the beams of our headlamps. Carlos lunged forward and with one swift movement cut a large shrimp in half with a machete. This was shrimpin’. Although I usually prefer to observe nature with minimal interference, it is nice to enter the primitive state of a hunter-gatherer. Carlos handed me a machete and off we went up the river. It was great to be with local people, their conduct in such an environment set an example of how I could move and act; with more freedom and carelessness than usual. There was also a strong sense of invincibility while armed with a machete, or maybe it was the beer. My vision was limited to the narrow beam cast by my light that periodically illuminated the gigantic trunks of saba trees, reminding me of the massive forest all around. These trees were the largest I had ever seen, dwarfing even the most magnificent white pines from back home. After about two hours of shrimping we had caught about 2 kilos. We returned to the campsite and cooked some of the juicy tail meat over an open fire. It was delicious and tasted like lobster.
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| Shrimpin' ain't easy |
That evening I also found an injured mottled owl. He/she had broken a wing and was now doomed to the forest floor. I contemplated trying to help but knew there was nothing I could do. I snapped a few photos to preserve it’s memory…
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| Mottled Owl |
The morning brought the usual chorus of bird songs. Some that I had heard before and others I was hearing for the first time. There was a particularly prominent series of calls that would start with a resonant whistling and then enter into a repeating cat like meow. These were the mating calls of the long-tailed manakin, perhaps one of the most unusual birds when it comes to mating rituals. I set-off to try and find one in action…I didn’t have to go far, I could see a flurry of activity just through the undergrowth next to the campsite. Two male long tailed manakins were perched on a horizontal branch, whistling their "Toledo!" call loudly…after a few minutes, a drably colored female showed up to check them out. Immediately the two males broke into a perfectly choreographed dance. One male would leap into the air and hover over the female while giving out a cat-like meow then descend back down to the perch at which point the next male jumped forward and repeated. The result was a cartwheeling dance that continued for a minute or more while the female judged the competitors. The strange thing is that the same males display with eachother again and again, becoming loyal dance partners for 5 years or more. The females always mate with the same male and the less dominant male never gets a chance. Not sure how this strange relationship came to be or why the less endowed male seems to think it’s a good idea, but hey, whatever works. Watching the dance is mesmerizing, the bright blues and reds along with the long tail filaments of the male’s plumage contribute the proper attire for such bizarre behavior. I am told that the males “do not dance because they are good dancers, they dance because the girls are nice”. They are extremely difficult to photograph, being small birds in a dimly lit jungle and this is the best I could manage.
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| Male long-tailed manakin |
We ate breakfast surrounded by a troop of howler monkeys. When I first arrived in Costa Rica it took some time to get used to sharing your space with another primate species. Now it seems all too normal. I entitle this one “Flying Monkey Nuts”.
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| Flying Monkey Nuts |
While walking down by the river one evening I came across a Tamandua, which is a species of ant-eater. He/she was sleeping up in a tree and seemed fairly unconcerned as I watched from below. Tamanduas have long pointed faces and look like they are wearing a black vest, very formal like. They use their large curved claws to rip open ant hills and termite mounds and then lick up the residents with their extremely long, sticky tongue.
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| Tamandua |
I have been spending a fair amount of evenings down on the beach, photographing various sea and shorebirds. One of my favorites subjects are the magnificent frigatebirds that soar over the bay with huge 5 foot wingspans. I have found a great spot to sit in the evening hours, just as the sun is setting behind the mountains. Local fisherman return after fishing and clean the days catch, throwing scraps into the water. This lures the frigate birds within reach of my lens. In this photo you can see this males bright red throat pouch, which he inflates like a balloon during courtship to impress the females.
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| Magnificent Frigate bird, male |
A recent visitor to the beach at Tambor, the collared plover...
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| Collared plover, female |
Tomorrow I am leaving for the cloud forests of Monteverde. Due to its high altitude – some 4,662 ft (1,440 m) above sea level – Monteverde is privileged to receive a steady supply of clouds and the life-giving moisture that they contain. This moisture, often in the form of fog, catches on the branches of the tallest trees and drips down to the other organisms below. This helps to support a complex and far-reaching ecosystem, one that harbors over 100 species of mammals, 400 species of birds, tens of thousands of insect species, and over 2,500 varieties of plants, 420 of which are orchids alone. It is one of the richest rainforests in the world. I am not sure where I will be staying but I am extremely excited to go and explore. You can expect some interesting photos upon my return. Hope everyone is doing well with winter beginning to loosen it's grasp. Miss you all and take care.
-Nick
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