My Diary of My Trip to Costa Rica. Episode Three

Agoutis

What a difference a day makes, especially with a change in location.  We have traveled from the low lands rainforests would all it's heat in humidity to the cloud forest, where we were at 5000 feet and the weather was much cooler, requiring us to use extra layers of close.  Upon awakening, taking our cameras with us.  We went out to explore around the lodge and to photograph anything we could see.  On the hillside agoutis were rummaging around looking for food. Hummingbirds were flitting all over the area at the feeders that was set up, and also feeding on the native flowers.  Fresh coffee was available at 6 AM, I love Costa Rican coffee, drink it all in time, and have it shipped to me at home.

Settin up for Hummingbird Photography

The meals at the lodge were excellent, 3 courses and for breakfast, the first course was fresh fruit.  After breakfast, we were given information instructions on how the next few days would be conducted, and which equipment, we would need. We were divided into three groups, far our turns at the multi-flash hummingbird setups.  Each session would consist of one half-hour and they would be 2 sessions in the morning and 2 sessions in the afternoon.  We were shown how to set up the wireless flashes and their location.  What the settings should be on manual for the flashes and how to set up camera camera.  Some of those species that we were able to photograph were the violet sabrewing (Costa Rica's largest species), the purple-throated Mountain jam, and the green-crown brilliant.  In between sessions.  We try to photograph the elusive black-bellied hummingbird and the scintillant hummingbird (The Scintillant Hummingbird is the smallest hummingbird within its range, which includes only the mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama).

Green-crowned Brilliant

"Waiting"   Green-crowned Brilliant waiting for the sugar water

Violet  Sabrewing

Black-bellied Hummingbird

Scintillant Hummingbird

In between sessions, we photographed the landscapes, macro subjects, and other bird species. 

Running water

Black Guan

Caterpillar (A number of Costa Rica's Caterpillars are Poisonous)

Bromeliad

Rufous-naped Sparrow

Moth

After supper, there was opportunity to photograph the moths and other insects that gathered at on the white cloth that was hung on the side of the building illuminated with a blue light.

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