Costa Rica Trip

I am finally getting into the 1800+ photos from the trip my son and I took in February. My new camera came 2 days before I left so I was learning as I went. What a challenge bird photography in the jungle turned out to be. Some of the pics are less than crisp but give an idea of the incredible variety and beauty of Costa Rican birds. I will add new ones as I work my way through the photos. I just received my field guide so will have at least some of the birds identified (or misidentified!)--lol! Any corrections will be welcome.

This is the first bird we saw--Great Kiskadee.

Bill

Ruddy Ground Dove

Streaked Flycatcher

Fiery-billed Aracari--What a thrill the first Toucan was! And every one after for that matter. They would only appear just at dusk and at dawn so lighting was a problem.

Will add more as I plough through the pics!

Bill

This is an example of the problem os shooting in the jungle--The best of many attempts to geet a woodcreeper in the undergrowth. No ID on the species. It is dark in the understory and always vines and branches in the way. The birds are just flitting shadows and very shy.

Gray-headed Chachalaca

Very neat Bill! Looking forward to seeing the rest! Did you have a nice time?

Pelle--

The entire trip was magic! I would recommend a visit for anyone interested in birds and wildlife. The driving was interesting (to say the least) but the people were wonderful and welcomed us wherever we went.

Violet Sabrewing. Hummers everywhere---

Violet Sabrewing--2

Rufous-tailed hummingbird

Blue-gray Tanager

A delightfully entertaining bird--Bananaquit.

Smooth-billed Ani

More later!

Bill

So glad to see you have started a thread of birds from Costa Rica. It is always interesting to see pictures of birds from other parts of the world.

I enjoyed looking at all of the photos. I don't believe that I've seen a single one of those "in person," so it's great that you shared. On second thought, I may have seen them in the San Diego Zoo, twenty years ago. That's too far back for me to remember. LOL

Beautiful! Looks like you had a truly wonderful trip.

And so colorful, too! Gorgeous pictures, rockminer. What kind of camera did you get?

Beautiful colors. This looks like it would be one of those times that
"takes your breathe away" Thanks for sharing, this is the only way some of us are ever going to catch a peek at exotic birds . Between you and miss margaret in austrailia I feel like I've been on a trip........lol

Thank You all for your wonderful comments--Lucky me..I get to relive the thrills as I identify and label the pics.

I finally decided on the Nikon D90. Way too many features and buttons for a non-techie like me but I hope, with some study, a lot of help from my friends and some experience over time, I'll get better at this.

I'll get a few more up tonight....

Flame-colored Tanager

...In the sun...

Clay-colored Robin. Remarkably it is the national bird of Costa Rica. With all the stunning birds found there they picked this one!

Many pics are less than perfect. Mostly my fault-- Many are the result of the birds refusing to come out in the open. This is my best shot of an Emerald Toucanet (out of about a dozen) and illustrates the problem of branches, leaves and shadow. It has been radically brightened to make it identifiable.

The rarest bird I got is this Red-headed Barbet, a member of the same family as Toucans. I hiked the Cloudbridge cloud forest looking for this and the Quetzal. No Quetzal but despite the Ranger saying that 1 of 50 birders catch a glimpse of the Barbet this one posed quite nicely.

Although the field guide says they rarely vocalize I was able to catch this one in the act!

Nice ones rock!

Bill, what a fantastic trip you must have had. What gorgeous birds. I guess the sights, sounds and smells of the jungle will stay with you forever.

Thank you Margaret--I hope you are right! After studying the field guide I see that I missed so many birds that I must go back-lol. This could get to be a habit!

Here's a Ruddy Pigeon

Another one of the many Tanagers.

Palm Tanager

Orange-chinned Parakeet

This message was edited Mar 13, 2009 8:59 AM

Red-lored Parrot

Violaceous Trogon

Female Magnificent Frigatebird

More later!

Thanks Rock! So many beautiful birds there!

I think we should arrange a Daves group trip there! :-)

Hi Pelle,

I will definitely go back! It is almost unbelievable the number and brilliance of many of the birds. There are also many, many little drab ones that I am having fits trying to identify. Maybe I'll have to start a thread called "Help Me!!"

Brown Booby

Cherrie's Tanager--male

Cherrie's Tanager-female

Fiery-billed Aracari

Cosy!

White Ibis

Northern Jacana