Costa Rica (4/12)

Went to Costa Rica a couple of weeks ago to scout for a potential 2013 photo tour. We went to 6 different lodges to determine wildlife photo productivity and food/lodge quality. Target species were frogs, hummingbirds and sloths. After doing some research, I was aware there were frogs throughout CR, but had no idea of the diversity. All the frogs photographed, with the exception of one, were nocturnal. So, learning the appropriate night settings was a fun challenge in comparison to what I normally shoot with morning and afternoon natural light. Sometimes a flashlight worked, but two diffused flashes set in sync at -2 or -3 worked best. After locating by sound the frog, who were sensitive to light, you would have to position the flashlight off a distance to maintain view but then quickly focus and hope for good subject eye position. The above and below two frogs are the poster frog of the rain forest, the Red-eyed Green Tree Frog.is the beginning of my post. After locating by sound the frog, who were sensitive to light, you would have to position the flashlight off a distance to maintain view but then quickly focus and hope for good subject eye position. The above and below two frogs are the poster frog of the rain forest, the Red-eyed Green Tree Frog.

The below Glass Frog was almost clear and very small.

This Blue-jeans or Strawberry Poison Dart Frog was the only frog photographed during the day.

The below bird is the most magnificent I have ever seen and photographed. The stunning colors and extra long tail are just unbelievable when viewed in the wild. We were able to photograph the male along with a female at a nest cavity and adjacent area.

The hummingbirds in CR were stunning. We saw 20 different kinds. Allot of them were photographed near or adjacent to feeders. Below are some of my favorites.

Violet-crowned Woodnymph

Fiery-throated Hummingbird

Magnificent Hummingbird

Purple-throated Mountain Gem Hummingbird

Stripe-tailed Hummingbird

Green violet-eared Hummingbird

Magnificent Hummingbird

Violet Sabrewing above and Green-crowned Brilliant Hummingbird below.

In addition to the above special species below are some others that I thought were worth posting.

Scarlet Macaw eating an almond.

Squirrel Monkey

Coati above and Ghost Bat below.

After seeing the colorful diversity of species and locating some great lodges, plans are to lead a photo tour to CR next year. Hope to have something on the web site in the upcoming months. If you think you may be interested, send along an email. If you want to see some additional images from the trip take a look at this gallery on the web site. Blue Skies and great histograms.