Kings

           Back home from an interesting trip through southern Costa Rica. Our initial plans to spend a day in Corcovado national park were discarded due to the logistical hassle of simply entering the park. Instead, we wandered around its outskirts and soon found ourselves in a small valley surrounded by the lowland tropical rainforest characteristic of the area. Dusk was quickly approaching and we had no where to stay, but in typical Costa Rican fashion, Carlos ad Jeimy managed to secure a small house for us to rent, after tracking down the owner at a local gathering. We had no food, so we went to the local store, which seemed to have nothing in stock but sugary treats and bananas. I started to worry, but quickly remembered that hunger could be curbed with a few cold beer. I asked the young clerk and promisingly, she hurried out back. Upon her return it became evident that I would be quenching my hunger tonight with 6 cans of Old Milwaukee, never has such a terrible beer tasted so good.
            The small house set amongst the jungled hills was an enchanting place. No cars, no people, no worries. The sounds of thousands of animals echoed throughout the valley, bouncing back and forth off its stadium like walls. The sounds of toucans seemed to come from all directions and never stopped until the sun had set.

The next morning I was up at 5am with Carlos to begin the very serious effort of recording the local avifauna. I was generously provided with many lifers, including the “King” who has long been on my list of must-sees. It was in a rainforest clearing that he flew over us, circling low and showing his contrasting black and white plumage and his harlequin head. The king vulture has disappeared from most of it’s former range due to habitat destruction but the Osa peninsula is one of the last strongholds for this incredible species; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Vulture

We departed the Osa in the afternoon, and set route up the Talamanca mountain range to San Vito, located at around 4000 feet above sea level.  I spent the next 4 days with Carlos’ family who showed me the same warmth and hospitality that amazed me during my previous visit. They had also taken the time to put out bananas each morning for a week prior to my stay so that I would have some birds to photograph. San Vito has an incredible diversity in birds, particularly the colorful and photogenic tanagers. 

Cherrie's tanager (Sargento) - female

Blue-gray tanager

White-lined tanager, female

Baltimore oriole

Cherrie's tanager (Sargento) - female

Cherrie's tanager (Sargento) -Male

I also got to visit the largest forest in Central America; Amistad.  Ancient tree shrouded mountain tops that overlooked the rest of the Talamanca mountain chain is it descends into Panama. A recent scientific expedition into the forest led to the discovery of 12 plant species, one dung beetle species, fifteen amphibian and three reptile species new to science. Although I didn't discover any new species, I did find this cheeky emerald toucanet.

All in all I got 46 new species of birds on this trip, my 200th Costa Rican bird was the non-distinct grey-capped flycatcher. My list now stands at 245 species and my new goal is to hit 300 before my return home.

I have been spending the last couple days at a small estuary where I have constructed a fish-trap that works with the tide to corral small minnows. It has been over two weeks in the making with many changes as I learn how to attract my quarry; the green kingfisher. Last night I had my first success. After 2 hours of sitting in a 40 degree tent blind, a female and male came to the perches I had set-up and began to hunt the fish that the receding tide had deposited in my fish trap. I watched as the kingfishers hunted the fish in my small pool and noted that at least nine out of ten attempts were unsuccessful. After a successful dive, the bird would beat the unlucky fish against the perch repeatedly to stun it before swallowing; a behavior I hope to photograph in the future. I quickly discovered that I had over-estimated the size of these tiny birds and was set-up to far from my subjects. I don't like to rely on cropping a photos so today I am going to return for a second-try at getting a frame-filling image. Even still, I thought i'd share a few of the cropped images...

Green kingfisher (male)

Green kingfisher, female

Green kingfisher shaking off water after unsuccessful fishing attempt

Male green kingfisher

 Blind photography often consists of a lot of boredom, punctuated by exciting action. One of the best parts of blind photography is when an unexpected, hard to photograph species shows up. This is what happened when a gray-necked wood rail unexpectedly decided to check out the pool.

Gray-necked wood rail

Anyway, I have a date with some kingfishers! Hope everything is well back home, thanks for all the kind e-mails. 

-Nick