I arrived in Costa Rica on the 12th after an easy
flight from Toronto. I was grateful to see two familiar faces once I landed in
San Jose, Jeimy and Carlos had made the drive from the peninsula to pick me up.
We made the two-hour drive to catch our
ferry in record time, weaving through the gridded streets of busy urban centers,
dodging dogs and red taxicabs before arriving at the ferry terminal with not a
minute to spare. Rainbows pierced through the menacing formations of
thunderclouds, the hot acrid air of Puntarenas was heavy with moisture. It is
the end of the wet season here in Costa Rica, a time I have not yet experienced,
when the familiar dusty roads are transformed into tangles of vegetation as
the forest is given yet another chance to reclaim her ground. It begins to pour
just as we arrive on the other side of the Gulf and we rush into the car to make
for the small town of Tambor.
This begins my third season in Costa Rica and there are many
interesting things to be done. I have already begun to work with the manager of
Tambor Tropical to initiate the creation of a system of trails that will be
used for naturalist tours. Much of the work has been done from my stay last
year, when we set the framework for the offering of guiding services at the
hotel. We have now set-up a series of tours and activities that will be offered
to hotel guests, including day adventures to the national park systems and
local areas of interest like the mangroves, remote beaches, and primary
tropical forest. Hopefully this will encourage guests to take advantage of the
local sites within Tambor and promote it as a true eco-tourism destination
while providing prosperity to the local people.
Photography will be another focus of my time here, as it has
always been. I have been working early mornings, getting up with the rising sun
to photograph the various areas in Tambor and some of the wildlife. We have 30
journalists coming at the end of the month and I hope to provide them with some
images to be used to promote tourism in the area. Here are some shots from
areas around the hotel…
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| Sunrise in the front yard |
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| Tambor Tropical at night, I live in one of the top suites |
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| Towering royal palms over the hotel |
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| Sign at the lagoon we placed to deter dumping in the area |
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| Looking up from the bar |
I will also be working on a few photo projects while I am
here. I have made arrangements to be introduced to the biologist in charge of the reintroduction of the scarlet macaw here
in Tambor. The scarlet macaw is the large red, yellow and blue parrot that many
are familiar with as the quintessential member of the genus Ara and an icon of
the tropics. This incredible species was extirpated ( locally extinct)
from this area due to habitat loss, hunting and collection for the pet trade. A
program has been developed here in Tambor to raise Macaws and reintroduce them
to their native habitat. I hope to photograph and write a story that will focus on the process of reintroduction and conservation of the species as well as its benefits for ecotourism.
Another story I hope to complete during my stay here will
focus around mangroves, with one inhabitant in particular; the mangrove
hummingbird. I discovered that this extremely range restricted (only in
Mangroves of CR) and endangered species (IUCN red listed with only 2000-5000
left) still has a foothold here in Tambor when I photographed a female visiting
my feeders at the hotel. After a bit of
research I learned that this species feeds primarily on the nectar from the
flower of buttressed tea mangrove (Pelliciera rhizophorae) which happens to be
the rarest mangrove in the world, known from only ten populations in central
America and declining rapidly as coastal development encroaches upon its fragile
habitat. If the mangrove hummingbird was here, then so was the tea mangrove, at
least that was my theory.
It wasn't long after I settled in that I took off to find it, tucked away
somewhere among the more common mangrove species. I would arrive in the early
morning, the low tide permitting my entrance into this strange world just as
the rising sun illuminated it enough to safely make passage. For three mornings
I searched through the saline woodland, cutting small trails around the giant
prop roots of the red mangrove and avoiding the mud mound burrows of fiddler
crabs. The finger like projections of pneumatophores, specialized mangrove
roots adapted for breathing, stick up through the thick mud that heavied my
boots. There is only one creature I truly loathe to encounter here, and that is
the killer bee. My previous encounters have been unpleasant to say the least
but the most recent did have a silver lining. While searching the mangroves on
the third day, an ill fortuned throw of the machete sliced through a mass of
vegetation to reveal a low hive of the more aggressive cousin to our European
honeybee. The subsequent, well-placed
sting just above my upper lip sent me wheeling back on a return course through
the freshly cut trail stopping only after the menacing sound of angry
Hymenopterans faded from behind me. The sting from a killer bee is much more
powerful then that of other species. I slumped down to take a drink of water
and ride out the uncomfortable sensation cursing through my face. At first I
failed to see that I had set my gear down beside the buttressed roots of a
Pelliciera rhizophorae, the rare tea mangrove. A quick search of the area
revealed another smaller tree just a short distance away. The pain faded
quickly as I studied my find, it is exciting to see in real life what was once
only an image on a dimly lit computer screen. I grasped in my hand one of the
large bulbous seeds that hung from the tree in unique ornamentation. Some were
fully developed, ready to fall to the ground, the pointed tips piercing through
the mud to begin the next generation. Others were but small swellings, an early
result of the pollination of a symmetric white flower, the beauty of which is
unparalleled in the mangrove family. Had its conception been the result of a
hungry mangrove hummingbird? I was eager to find out, but my route back would
soon be inundated by the incoming tide. I collected my things and made for the
short river crossing that would bring me back to the beach.
My goal will be to photograph the mangrove hummingbird and
the tea mangrove upon which it depends, two species on the brink of extinction,
intimately tied together in face of an uncertain future. If I am successful in
getting the photos and resulting story published it is my hopes that this
hummingbird, an endemic species that is found only in Costa Rica, could be used
as part of an awareness campaign to promote the protection of
mangrove forests.
I get to see a lot of really cool wildlife while in the mangroves, from neotropical river otters and coatimundis to the more familiar raccoon, although a different species called the crab-eating racoon. One morning I saw two young racoons climb up a tree, I set my camera up at the bottom and used a remote shutter release to capture a series of shots as they as they came down to feed.
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| Two young crab eating raccoons |
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| Last one down! |
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| Mangrove roots and finger like pneumatophores |
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| Mangrove roots |
Here is a large strangler fig tree. Strangler figs grow by climbing up another tree in a vine like fashion. Overtime the host tree will be smothered by the surrounding strangler fig which can grow very large and live for hundreds of years.
Now for the birds! There has been lots
of activity in the areas around the hotel. The lagoon near the river mouth has
been especially good in the early morning and late afternoon. A faithful
Anhinga has been seen daily and even a Boat-billed heron has chose to hang out
in the bushes overhanging the water. Lots of North American migrants as your familiar
backyard and forest birds are showing up as they arrive on their wintering
grounds.
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| Anhinga |
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| Squirrel cuckoo |
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| Cattle egret |
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| Summer tanager |
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| Social flycatcher |
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| Rose-throated becard female |
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| Yellow-warbler on palm fronds |
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| Remember that ruby-throated hummingbird that was in your yard this past summer? |
Yesterday, a pair of collared Aracaris,
a species of toucan, were feeding on fruit in the area near the lagoon. I followed them around
for at least an hour as they patrolled the treetops. Every now and then one
would regurgitate a piece of undigested fruit, juggle it in the air a few times
with it’s impressive beak before swallowing it again. The strange behavior
seemed like some sort of bizarre circus stunt and really suits the character of
these forest clowns.
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| Collared Aracari |
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| Collared Aracari |
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| Collared Aracari with regurgitated fruit |
Hopefully I will find and photograph the mangrove hummingbird soon, and I hope to begin photographing the macaws as well. I saw my first pair this evening while I was scouting locations within the mangroves. A fond hello to everyone back home and thanks for your kind e-mails! Oh, and I almost forgot about my friend Nico, he is perched contently on my shoulder as I write this and I will post some pictures of him soon. He has certainly entered his awkward teen years, if there is such thing for a parakeet.
Cheers,
-Nick
