March 26th, 2012

I felt the structure moving beneath my feet, it was slight, but enough to remind of my precarious position perched 30 above one of the largest and most important wetlands in Central America.  The observation tower looked as though it was made with recycled rebar, with most of it’s continuing stability being provided by a strangler fig tree that had grown up through it’s twisted bars. It was a questionable structure to say the least, half metal, half tree, Mother Nature had extended its life far beyond that provided by the original building materials. I had climbed up the ladder that was zip-tied securely (?) to the rest of the assembly. My tripod and scope in one hand, I carefully used the other to guide my ascent to the viewing platform where I can could scan the vast expanse of wetland for my objective. It’s the grip of the dry season, when life is locked in a desperate battle to stay hydrated or perish. The lush and bountiful wetland of Palo Verde, flooded by the swollen Tempisque river during the rainy season, was now reduced to a few shrinking ponds that concentrated the remaining marsh inhabitants. It was here that I would have the best chance to see the bird I had set out for on this impromptu trip with my good friends Jeimy and Carlos. I set-up my spotting scope just as they joined me on the platform, being careful not to step on the rotten pieces of wood that would give way to a long fall back to earth. I began to scan…The heat waves radiating up from the parched, savannah like earth distorted my view so that the flocks of birds appeared to rise up in a shimmering mass of wings, feet and feathers. Despite the difficulty, I began to identify the species; black bellied whistling ducks, muscovy ducks, blue-winged teal…great and snowy egrets, white ibis and northern jacana…Such hardened intention while birding turns the mind into a machine, identifying birds in the same manner as a scanner scans a price code…Glossy Ibis! I life bird for me and I took a quick moment to savor this obstructed and precarious view. Next, I scanned through the standing crowds of wood storks…. At over a meter tall they were impressive birds in their own right, but I was after something much larger, a sentinel of these marches that would tower above even the most endowed of wood storks.  Scanning again; over the teals, past the crocodiles, and through the spoonbills, and then…for just a second, a figure materialized just long enough to be shattered by the effects of the heat shimmer. Was that it? I couldn’t be sure, and by no means would such a sighting suffice, maybe for a glossy Ibis, but not for this bird. We had to get closer...

Descending the tower was more nerve racking then climbing up it, but we made it down and drove the dirt road a bit further to where a small cow path led out onto the dried grassland and to the crowded ponds. We walked through a small patch of dessicated forest, our last shelter from the relentless sun. My attention was drawn upwards as a tiny ferruginous pygmy owl whistled out a greeting.  I thought to myself… If I was looking for a marsh sentinel, this must be the gatekeeper. 

We slowly crept out onto the arid grassland to a section where we would have an unobstructed view of the birds. The parched grass crackled under my feet as I set-up the scope and began the search. We had halved our previous distance, and now, through the scope, I could make out the finer details of this amazing gathering. It was a chaotic mixture of swamp creatures, dominated by the many bird species. The huge number of large crocodiles seemed out of place so close to their usual prey, who seemed relatively unruffled by their presence. Birds were packed together into avian gangs; the spoonbills fed in one corner, their heavy spatula bills slicing side to side through the water. Huge flocks of ducks were settled on exposed mudflats, and would sometimes explode into the air in a massive display of coordinated flight. Black-necked stilts and pectoral sandpipers wove in between the legs of the larger birds, poking their bills deep into the mud to harvest the last remnants of suitable prey found for miles. I was packing life-birds into the back of my mind, taking them from the “too see” folder and filing into the “have seen” folder, saving them for a later date when I could write their name into my book while enjoying a cold beer. Afterall, it was hot, the wind blew through the grass and directly into your face like a fiery hair dryer. I was on a mission; Palo Verde is the last stronghold for this species in Costa Rica, this was their marsh and I wasn’t going home empty handed...

My sunburnt hand continued to guide my scope through the standing hordes of wood storks who looked less then enthusiastic with their current accommodations. Then, standing knee deep amongst a flotilla of large crocodiles, was the bird I had come for...the Jabiru. Two of them actually! Attentively keeping watch over the heads of the other marsh goers. Their presence was every bit as impressive as I had hoped for; a massive stork, at over five feet tall it is the tallest flying bird in the Americas, with a sinister grin that make their true intentions somewhat of a mystery. If this bird tried to deliver a baby to my front step, I wouldn’t even answer the door. Then, as suddenly as we had spotted them, the pair took off, revealing a powerful and graceful wingbeat. For a birder this was a special moment; this was the largest bird I had ever seen take flight, a window into the past when even more massive birds dominated the skies. The hot breeze lifted their heavy bodies skyward and they circled directly overhead until they disappeared into the suns scorching rays. I took a look around at the flat, dry flood plains that extended for miles and miles in each direction and it suddenly dawned on me; there were no people…we were the sole visitors of the park. I was in the middle of one of the most important wetlands in the world, with two of my favorite people, thousands of birds and of course, my prize, the Jabiru.

The Jabiru Stork

Cheers!

-Nick (292)

March 20th

I have spent the last week with two professional wildlife photographers Greg Basco, and Greg Dowing. Greg Basco has been published in numerous books, calendars, and magazines, including National Geographic. He has also had his images honored in the BBC/Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest (the most prestigious nature photography competition in the world) and the Nature’s Best Windland Rice Smith contest (the most prestigious nature photography competition in North America). Besides being an incredible all-around photographer he is also the founder and owner of Foto Verde tours, Costa Rica’s first an only photo tour company that caters to photographers of all skill levels. The other Greg; Greg Downing, has been traveling the world teaching professional and amateur photographers for more than a decade hosting his instructional workshops and seminars. As an internationally recognized photographer, his numerous publishing credits include books, advertising campaigns and editorial publications such as Birding Magazine, Outdoor Photographer Magazine, Birder's World, National Geographic.

I had connected with them back in November about meeting with me in Costa Rica to explore some options to bring photo tourism to the area. Having the chance to shoot with these guys was an incredible experience and truly inspiring to a young photographer. I got to learn a lot about the business of wildlife photography beyond taking pictures and we shared many laughs a long the way. Unlike some eccentric type photographers, these guys were totally down to earth and a pleasure to guide. Our days were very busy scouting locations for shoots and discussing future plans. 

We visited Curu wildlife refuge to photograph  three monkey species. The white faced capuchins are the most boisterous and can be hard to photograph as they move through the park. 

White-faced capuchin monkey

A more cooperative subject was Trina, the resident and rescued spider monkey. She was once a pet before being given to Curu.  Despite having free range over the park she chooses to be close to people. 

Spider monkey

Spider Monkey, black and white

We also did a bit of macro work with Acacia ants, which as their name implies, live only in acacia trees. A symbiotic relation exists between the tree and the ants where the acacia provides a home for them, while the powerful bite of the ants protects the tree from would be predators. The ants will even kill any encroaching plants by injecting formic acid into the leaves and stems. The tree also produces food for the ants via extra-floral nectar glands. Cool! Here is a shot of an acacia ant peering out of it’s home in a bullhorn acacia thorn.

Acacia ant in bullhorn acacia thorn

Hanging out with such experienced photographers really helped me to get more creative with my own photography and try new things. There seems to be a trend in bird photography to only photograph birds when the sun is low and at your back so the subject is evenly lit. I am guilty of this and would like do more with my photography. Working with different light angles can produce some dramatic lighting, take for example, this image of a pelican in strong backlight…

Brown Pelican

We are just getting over one of the largest blooms of red tide the region has seen in recent history. Red tide is a type of algae that can bloom in huge concentrations when the proper environmental conditions arise; it turns the water a deep shade of red/brown and makes the turquoise water appear like molasses. Certainly not pleasing to the many honeymooners and vacationers in the area, and it can even be deadly to many animals (including humans) that choose to eat anything that feeds on the algae, like oysters. Filter feeders concentrate the algae in their gut, the algae produces saxatoxin, a deadly paralyzing agent that can kill in minutes.  However, at night the same algae produces bioluminescence when it is disturbed causing any water current, wave or even the movement of fish to produce a bright glow. The most out-of this world experience occurred when the tide had receded, depositing the algae into the sand. Every footfall caused the sand to light-up, sending shockwaves of bright blue light radiating from every footstep. Mixed with a few beer, this provided hours of dizzying entertainment.

We spent 3 nights trying to photograph this incredible phenomenon. The first night we went to the mouth of the Panica river and photographed the bright blue currents created when the river emptied into the ocean. Needlefish lit-up like foot-long glowsticks as they chased the small blue flecks of baitfish, and we even saw the glowing outline of stingrays as they moved into the flooded river mouth. Photographing in difficult conditions is always very stimulating, and it is easy to get caught up in shutter speeds, ISO’s and apertures. When I slowed down enough to enjoy what was going around me I was certain that it was the most bizarre scene I had ever encountered. There is no photoshop trickery in these photos, this is the real scene using a 30 second exposure to capture the movement of the glowing water.

Bioluminescent water drains from the Panica river into the ocean

I then brought them to a very special tree far out at the tip of the bay. The solitary tree, as it’s known to the locals, is a mangrove tree that has held it’s ground way out on an exposed slab of lava rock far from the less tenacious members of it’s kind. At the high tide the seawater rises to the trunk of the tree, giving it the other name “jesus tree”. We left in the late afternoon and hiked along the coast through tropical dry forest, arriving just as the sun was setting.

I knew the scene would lend itself to a great landscape shot, but  the possibility of bioluminiscence made the it even more interesting. Both Greg’s agreed that it was one of the most unique experiences in nature photography that they had ever seen, and from these guys that is saying a lot. Again, we used long shutter speeds to capture the glow of the incoming tide. In this shot we used a flashlight to light the back of the tree.

The Solitary tree with bioluminescent waves in the background

The owner of Tambor Tropical has built a private school just outside the village of Tambor, which gives families an alternative to the public school system. We were asked by Juan Carlos, the manager at Tambor Tropical if we could visit the school and talk to the kids about the life of a professional wildlife photographer. It was a great experience to interact with the kids and show them some equipment used by wildlife photographers, like a monster 600mm F4 lens!

By the end of the day every kid in Tabor Bay school was aspiring to shoot for Nat Geo and I am positive that they will have some great talent to choose from in 20 years or so.

It looks like things are getting very warm back home, almost as warm as down here! Hope you are all enjoying the early spring (summer?)
Cheers!
-Nick

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

I'm still here...

It’s been awhile! The last month has been very busy with my family (minus my workaholic brother) and my grand parents visiting for two weeks.  It was certainly the time of our lives and we squeezed as many things as possible into those two weeks while still allowing for some relaxation (and many Mai Tai’s). Among our many adventures was an overnight stay in Curu, a remote wildlife refuge, many early morning bird walks, and many evenings spent relaxing at the five star accommodations of the H and B. We also spent a night in the cloud forested mountains of Monteverde and walked the entire perimeter of the park early the next morning. This took us six hours (sorry grams and gramps) but I got 15 new life birds! (thumbs up). It was very special to have my family together in such a unique part of the world. Thank you Mom, Dad, Gram, Gramps and Christina, for having the courage and trust to follow me around such a beautiful part of central america. Thanks for putting up with bats in the outhouse, the ants in the rooms, the monkey's howling at 4am. The six hour hike in the cloud forest, the biting ticks (sorry gram) the red tide and the midnight adventure  through a jungle stream. Thanks also to the the folks at H and B who were incredible in making it an unforgettable experience. The expertise and professionalism that is delivered by this small, quaint establishment is truly inspiring. A huge Thanks goes out to Carlos, Jeimy, Mora, Fernando, Patrick, Adonice and Jose.

Now for some photos...I left the camera at home for most of our trip, but I couldn't resist the urge to bring it to Monteverde.  We really lucked out with some amazing views of the resplendent quetzal as two males and one female fed directly above our car.

Resplendant quetzal male

In the tropics, Fruiting trees can attract a huge number of species of birds and we were lucky to have one such tree in the parking lot. We watched as the quetzals carefully plucked fruit after a quick sally from the low hanging branches. Other birds joined in the feast, such as this black guan...

Black guan

We also spent plenty of time at one of my favorite places, the Monteverde hummingbird garden. We saw over 8 species of hummingbirds as well as this little bird, the bananaquit. 

Bananaquit

Green crowned brilliant hummingbird

Once the family left I got back to work on a new image I had in mind for awhile now.

I am always entertained by the antics of a particular bird that lives around the gardens of most homes in northwestern CR. Rufous-naped wrens live in family groups that behave more like little troops of monkeys then birds.  I wanted to photograph a pair singing a duet so I spent an afternoon setting up the shot I wanted and I used a recording to bring the birds to the perch I had selected.  

Rufous-naped wrens

Well that’s it for now, tomorrow I am off to the Osa peninsula, labeled by National Geographic as the second most biologically diverse place in the world and home to more then half of all Costa Rican species. Currently I am at 199 Costa Rican species and hope to hit 230 after this trip.
Spring is just around the corner!
Cheers,
-Nick

The feather quest continues...

On the 3^rd of Feb. Carlos, Jeimy, Rosy and I visited Carara national park, which is arguably the most productive single destination for birds in Costa Rica. Because of the ferry schedule we could not get to the park until around 9am…far past the optimum time for birding. Even still, I managed to get 16 life birds (for those of you who don’t know, a “lifebird” is a species that you have never seen before) We even found a non-bird species, a life-mammal if you will! I guess since it flies it can be on the blog. I used my iphone to take this video by holding it up to my spotting scope, which to a birder is like the light-saber to the Jedi.

 

Birding in such a lush rainforest was incredible, the giant trees and massive canopy meant that little light hit the forest floor, making the understory vegetation less thick then some areas and easier to spot birds. I did not bring my camera for I find it a burden to bring on trips where life birds are to be seen in abundance. I want to savor these moments of discovery as for a birder they come only once.  To explain it a bit better i’d like to share a section of a book that I am reading called “The Feather Quest”…

            “Every identification made is quietly woven into the net of your birding skills - the net that birders use to seine the world around them. At first your net is small and the mesh wide. It catches only the large and obvious birds. Experience increases the dimensions and tightens the mesh, catching birds that inexperienced birders miss. These nets knit of skill make it unnecessary to puzzle over common, everyday birds that fall into the net, and these may be jettisoned out of hand, leaving the net free to catch “better” birds.

            This is the break point, the point where bird-watching ends and birding begins. From this junction on, the focus on birds becomes more of a test of skills and less an esthetic pursuit. Each warbled taunt from the foliage, each wheeling silhouette against a cloud, is a challenge, a glove thrown, a target for a birder’s net. Each bird correctly identified by sight or sound becomes a token of a birders growing skill (and another strand in the net).

            There is a price, of course. As skills grow, the sense of wonder that supports beginning birders diminishes. What replaces it is discovery. Wonder is something a child can hold in it’s hand, a feather or a bird fallen from the nest. Discovery is a prize garnered by ambition and skill. It is not as great as wonder. But it is very close, and it is also very addictive. Once a birder has a taste for it, there is only one thing that can satisfy the craving. And that is more.

            More birds. More challenges to test growing skills. More discoveries to satisfy a growing need. The drive for more means that every cast of a birders net must always be thrown with greater skill (or it gathers no new discoveries). When all the birds of a backyard or a country or a state have been gathered, it means that the net must be thrown into new seas (or the birds it gathers are always the same). For some birders, whose skills are very great and whose net has been cast in every imaginable sea, every throw becomes a cast for birds that lie at the limit of possibility, becomes a throw for the horizon”

The above passage describes with perfect eloquence what it is to be a birder and how the pursuit changes with experience. The first throw of one’s net into the wilds of Carara national park is an experience that will happen only once, for it cannot be repeated. The new birds it retrieves are to be experienced in a way that is not tarnished by an eagerness to capture the moment. Birding is not only about “finding birds” it is about discovery. The birds are only the gatekeepers.

Even still, I couldn’t help but take a quick video of these Rufous tailed jacamars! They may look like hummingbirds to you but they are actually the size of a robin. They scan around the forest for insects and small lizards to eat, too cool!

 

As far as bird photography goes, I had a challenging encounter with a turquoise browed motmot. The bird chose an exposed perch in the shade of a palm tree. To make matters even worse the sun was almost set and the sky was cloudy. All this meant little light available for the fast shutter speeds needed to make sharp bird photographs. The first thing I did was make a silhouette shot, this was easier because I could underexpose the image to create the silhouette, therefore getting a faster shutter speed. 

Turquoise-browed motmot silhouette

I really liked the composition of the scene and I wanted an image where the bird and background were properly exposed, more of a “typical” bird photo. This meant that I would have to allow much more light into the camera. The amount of light that enters the camera is a matter of how long your shutter is open for. In order to make a proper exposure in these conditions my shutter speed needed to be 1/50th of a second. That may sound fast, but keep in mind the most of my images are created at 1/500^th or faster and those in-flight images of seabirds were around 1/1600th. Birds are fast and even a bird perched on a branch is constantly moving it’s head or changing the set of it’s feathers. Camera shake affects most images at anything lower then around 1/500^th and can be caused my many different things. I had a tripod, which I used, but at 1/50^th of a second even the force of my finger squeezing the shutter release will blur the photo. So I did something I have ever done before, I used a timer. Just like you use for that family vacation photo. I composed the shot, hit the shutter and waited 10 painful seconds, all while hoping the bird would stay still enough to make a sharp exposure…this lovely bird allowed me to do this three times and only one frame was sharp enough to my tastes.

Pushing the limits with a co-operative motmot

On the bird-feeding front, we have set-up the platforms at Tambor tropical. The carpenters made five of these and did some really great work. I am hoping that they are as effective as they are aesthetically pleasing. So far I have seen Tennessee warbler, yellow warbler and Hoffman’s woodpecker visit the oranges.

  
            The birdbath has been set-up for almost a week now and holding to the theme of this blog post it was visited by a turquoise browed motmot this morning! There was also a tropical kingbird perched at the same time. I did some research and got some great advice via e-mail from Alan Murphy, arguable the greatest bird photographer in the world. He suggested planting a “corridor” of vegetation from the woods out to the bath, and planting some shrubs around it. This will give the birds some cover to hide in, as they will not bath in the open without having something close by to dive into at the first sign of danger. My hummingbird feeders have been vacant despite the constant humming overhead. Right now there is a lot of flowering trees and I hope that once the flowers are gone they will be more apt to pull up for a drink.

Things have been slow to transpire but I am confident that these techniques will lead to some great opportunities down the road. I big hello to everyone back home, thanks for the kind e-mails and enthusiastic comments. I love to hear your feedback as quite often my own judgement of an image is made biased by my experience taking it. If a particular image stands out to you i'd like to hear about it and the reasons why. You can send me an email (nickjameshawkins@gmail.com) or even comment on facebook, your input is greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
-Nick

Carara Lifebirds – February 3^rd, 2012

Cocoa woodcreeper

Long-billed gnatwren

Dotted-winged antwren

Royal flycatcher

Black-hooded antshrike

Chestnut-backed antbird

Wedge-billed woodcreeper

Orange collared manakin

Whiskered puffbird

Blue crowned motmot

Blue-throated goldentail

Black necked stilt

Sulphur rumped atilla

Amazon kingfisher

Rufous tailed jacamar

Three wattled bellbird (heard but not seen)

Counting the 4 additional species I found this morning; banded wren, northern scrub flycatcher, Cavinet’s emerald and steely vented hummingbird, this brings my Costa Rican bird list to a total of 172 species. But who’s counting?

If you build it they will come...

Today was quite the day, up at 5AM with the rising sun to photograph Yoga at Tambor tropical. The photographs are for the hotel to advertise and market the Yoga program they offer. The opportunity to photograph something other then birds was unexpected and a fresh experience and it was very impressive, way to go guys! I'm glad I was only photographing, poses look pretty hard, although maybe someday i'll give it a try.

YOGA!

More Yoga!

Three Yoga...ers?

Sitting cow? Resting duck? Crouching chicken? I don't know but I like it!

After the shoot we got to work on the bird spa...I've never directed heavy machinery before...I guess this is the end result; five star accommodations for the birds!

Measuring it out...

Bringing in the blocks...

...and the heavy machinery!

I wasn't the only one wearing the white hat...

Burying the 100 meters of hose that will supply the water

 

We accidentally uncovered an iguanas nest. We carefully recollected the scattered eggs and covered them...I hope they hatch ok!

 

 

 

Creating the shape of the basin

Adding the vinyl liner that will hold the water

Filling it up with the bamboo spigot, Tico made!

Add some perches and voila!

It was a lot of fun seeing my design come to life. Everyone at Tambor tropical was great and contributed greatly with their input and ideas, your help is greatly appreciated.
Stay tuned as I report what shows up at the bird spa.
Cheers,
-Nick

Costa Rican Return

After a much easier travel experience to Costa Rica then the previous year, I find myself back in the remote town of Tambor. Apologies to all who were expecting blog posts over the summer, I wish I could have written about my experiences living aboard a small sailboat in St. Andrews but the time went by too fast and most friends and relatives were close enough to get a first hand anecdote.

This upcoming season in Costa Rica is an exciting one, during the off-season (Nov. – Dec.) I decided that I would come back to Costa Rica to focus full time on finding, studying and photographing birds. Why birds you ask? Well I can’t really answer that, I don’t really know why myself. Birds can be many things to many different people; for some they are the scourge that wake you up at 5am to find a garbage littered driveway, or a fresh patch of excrement on that new car. To some they may be small and non-descript or even carriers of some media-hyped pathogen. However, to a select few people birds are much more then that. Birds are living ambassadors of nature’s diversity that can offer a lifetime of discovery and adventure if only you slow down enough to be granted passage into their world. A world that can be found in your own backyard with a well stocked feeder, or along a wooded path that may someday lead you into the depths of a Costa Rican jungle…The truth is that you can find birds just about anywhere, if you go outside right now and take a look around I’ll bet you the first living thing you will see is a bird (not counting humans and their domestic counterparts). Seriously, try it! Birds are all around us, sharing in our experiences, hardships and history and we owe to them and ourselves to take the time to get to know them. Some people may have expected a more utilitarian answer, something…academic...and along the lines of “well, they are important indicators of ecosystem integrity” or even “they provide many important services to humans (eating pesky insects, pollinating trees, providing important models for our understanding of biological phenomenon, yak yak yak) But why does everything have to exist for our own benefit? Why does the conservation of our natural world rest firmly on the foundation that it must “do” something for us to be worth saving? Birds deserve to be here just as much as we do, and they have been here for much longer. I am not alone in this unexplained fondness for our feathered kin, as the estimated number of birders in North America lies somewhere between 20-30 million ranking birding just behind gardening as the favorite outdoor pastime. Ignore them and ignore the 20$ billion they spend annually in their quest for that checkmark next to a name in their guidebook. Anyway, all rants aside, I am very excited to be here once again and able to share my experiences with everyone back home. Their love and support make this adventure possible.

After my arrival I was quick to discuss some ideas with local contacts I made during my stay last winter. This led to some exciting meetings with the owner and manager of Tambor Tropical, a boutique hotel located under a towering grove of wind blown palm trees and just a stones throw away from one of the most beautiful (and undiscovered) beaches in Costa Rica. You can see their website by visiting this link…http://www.tambortropical.com/. They are very supportive and enthusiastic about some of my ideas. We have begun to set-up hummingbird feeders around the hotel grounds and the full-time woodworkers have started building four bird-feeding platforms that I designed to support the fruit we will be putting out every morning in hopes of attracting some photogenic (or rather hungry) members of tropical avifauna. Adding to the excitement is a more ambitious project; we have brought in a couple truckloads of cinder blocks to begin construction of a bird bath in the dry iguana laden field next to the resort. When I say “bird bath” it might bring to mind that little pedestal-style satellite dish looking thing in grandmas garden (no offence grandma), but this bath will be more like the bird equivalent of the swim up cocktail bar at your favorite all-inclusive. Built 3 feet off the ground and covering 50 sq. feet, the shallow pond will be fed by a small but constant supply of freshwater. Between the months of January and April the Northwestern part of Costa Rica is in the grips of the dry season, with little to no rain falling. To make matters worse, the 10 foot tides send two pulses of salt water up to a mile and half inland each day, making most of the lagoons unsuitable for drinking. Since all but the most specialized seabirds require a constant source of freshwater to keep their hyper-metabolic bodies from desiccating, it is my hopes that the water will attract birds like moths to a porch light.

As far as photography goes, I havn’t had a whole lot of time to shoot. However, I did manage to spend two evenings photographing the seabirds that are diving for the massive schools of sardines that have filled the bay once again. This common spectacle was made even more intense when huge fish exploded at the surface next to me. Trusting that these large splashes were but harmless Roosterfish (50-100lbs) and nothing more sinister, I tried to keep my eyes glued to the viewfinder. The birds were everywhere, even the fisherman were getting into the mood, although this is not quite what is meant by the term "birding"

All jokes aside (don't worry, the bird was OK) I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Magnificent frigate bird (female) looking for fish

Royal tern

The black vultures were attentive spectators of the event, waiting for the receding tide to leave some stranded sardines for the taking...

Black vultures

Black vulture

I wanted to try and capture the action of diving terns, frigates and pelicans from an extremely low angle. This meant bringing my camera to within inches of the water surface while watching for oncoming waves. The low angle is what gives that pleasing out-of focus background and foreground.

Diving pelicans

Royal tern emerging from successful dive, ticos in background (locals)

Magnificent frigate bird (female) snatches a fish from the surface

I also wanted to photograph the feeding sequence of a brown pelican after it emerged from a successful plunge into the water. These next three sequential photos show how after emerging from the water (photo 1) the pelican throws it's head back to flip the fish from it's  pouch to it's throat (photo 2) and then swallows (photo 3). Very cool to watch but it happens in about 1/500 of a second.

Brown pelican emerging from water after diving for a fish

Flipping the fish back into throat, you can see the fishes tail

Swallowing the fish and lifting off

Anyway. that's all for now. Tomorrow we continue work on the bird spa, pictures of that soon to come!
Cheers,
-Nick

A NOTE ABOUT THESE PHOTOS: If you want to use any of the photos for anything other then personal use please send me an email. The photos on the blog are resized to make the file smaller and are NOT suitable for printing. I’d be happy to provide you with a larger sized file suitable for such a purpose. Please do not upload any photos to facebook or e-mail my photos to anyone (just show them the blog :), If you want to use any of these photos as backgrounds for your desktop that is great! All I ask is that you follow these steps…after setting it as your background, right click anywhere on your desktop to access your background preferences and under “picture position” or something like that choose “center”. This will center the photograph and resize it to the intended size of 800 pixels wide or 700 pixels tall which I resize all my blog photos too. This presents the photo in a way that it is not all stretched out and digitally massacred (are you reading this Mom?). If you want one of my photos to fill your entire desktop without the borders around it just send me an e-mail and I can send you a larger image.