Sunbittern Display

The display of this species has to be seen to be appreciated, especially when they're in flight. We followed this one up and down the river, and it did give us several bursts of flight to try our luck!

Sunbittern with Food

This one seems to have caught a crab or crustacean of some type, and carried around for a while in the open. Very often these birds took to the deep shadlows along the shoreline, making photographing them difficult, but fortunately they did come out from time to time.

Black-crested Coquette (Female)

We had numerous opportunities to see and shoot the female of this species, but I guess we'll have to go back again to try and capture the male!

Snowcap (Male)

We had seen these last year, in the same location, but we were more than happy to photograph them again this year as well.

Stripe-breasted Wren

Yet another new species this year, we found this one in the early morning at Rancho Naturalista, near the area where a white canvas with a light was set up overnight, to attract a variety of bugs, which in turn attracted numerous species of birds.

Yellowish Flycatcher

This one was also seen the same morning as the Stripe-breasted Wren, and gave Marco quite a challenge in identification!

Black-crowned Night Heron

This was seen at the CATIE wildlife area, perched in the shadow of a large tree. There was a lot of nest building activity from many species, as shown here.

Cattle Egret in Flight

While this is a fairly common species, including the U.S., I have surprisingly few images of them. So I was glad to take a few shots as they flew about building their nests.

Northern Jacana (Juvenile)

Beautiful in their own right, the wonderful setting of plants and flowers really made this shot for me.

Purple Gallinule

Another gorgeous species, which I've photographed in the southeast U.S. as well, the setting really complemented its beauty.

Purple Gallinules Mating

We saw this pair interacting in the middle of the pond, and they then proceeded to full mating. I took quite a few shots in rapid succession to capture the action. The light was quite harsh, so I had a challenge to tame the highlights and recover the shadows in Photoshop.

Stripe-throated Hermit

Marco spotted this very tiny bird deep in the shadows, during a walk on the grounds of Rancho Naturalista. The light was very limited, requiring an ISO of 6400 to get an acceptable shutter speed.

Scintillant Hummingbird 1

We spent a good amount of time at "La Georgina's" shooting several species of hummingbirds and other birds, in the gardens behind the restaurant.

Acorn Woodpecker

This species was also seen at La Georgina's, working its way up the trunk of this tree.

Scintillant Hummingbird 2

The flowers in the gardens really provided a gorgeous setting to try and shoot these rapidly moving hummingbirds.

Fiery-throated Hummingbird in Flight

This species was the main goal for our visit to La Georgina's, and while we saw several of them there, they were in constant motion, making shooting them a major challenge. I was happy to get one here, feeding on these colorful flowers. Ironically we saw a huge number of these at our next location, near the Savegre Mountain Hotel.

Magnificent Hummingbird

The color on the the gorget of these birds is simply incredible. And what is also quite amazing is that you have to view them at just the right angle or that color isn't seen at all. We shot quite a few frames trying to get the angle just right!

Tufted Flycatcher

We were on a small hike near the Savegre Mountain Hotel, en route to a possible Quetzal nest, when we came across this little guy, and also saw and photographed its nest with a chick in it.

Rufous-collared Sparrow

We saw quite a few species of birds in the gardens of the Savegre Mountain Hotel, where this was shot. The background is kind of 'busy' but I like how it's just poking its head out of the bushes and looking around.

Flame-colored Tanager (Male)

These are well-named birds: the brightness of the red-orange color has to be seen to be believed, especially when there's some sun shining on them.

Silver-throated Tanager

We've seen this species on past trips as well, but I always enjoy seeing and shooting it.

Flame-colored Tanager (Female)

A pretty little bird, though it pales in comparison with the male.

Gray-tailed Mountain-gem

We came across this bird during a walk in light rain at Savegre. The light was extremely limited, requiring ISO 8000, and some time in Photoshop to deal with the noise. I was fortunate to have him start flapping his wings and fanning his tail just as soon as I started shooting.

Long-tailed Silky Flycatchers in Nest

We visited a private farm, in search of an active Quetzal nest, and were treated to a pair of chicks in the nest, with the adults coming and going as well.

Resplendant Quetzal (Male)

There was an active nest at the farm we visited, but as is common when shooting this species, there were *long* period of waiting inbetween the brief flurries of action. We also had to deal with fairly heavy back-lighting, and while I'm glad I got shots like the one above, I'm not yet satisfied that I have the kind of images that I'm looking for of this unique bird.

Fiery-throated Hummingbird

We saw and shot a few of these beauties at "La Georgina" although there weren't that many there, and they were incredibly difficult to shoot because of their high level of activity. It was so ironic, therefore, when we went outback to some feeders behind Paraiso del Quetzal, and found perhaps dozens of them flying around. Ann, a member of our group, even got some to stand on her hand as they were feeding!