Who Can? Toucan. I Can. And I Did.

I continued my Ornithological Photographs series over spring break by heading down to Costa Rica to work with researchers at an experimental farm and forest called CATIE.

Here's one of the study species of their project, a type of toucan called a Collared Aracari:

My favorite photo of the trip might be this very angry looking Boat-billed Flycatcher...

He's quite a contrast to the petite White-necked Jacobin (I love hummingbird feet):

Amidst all these colorful birds, this little female Variable Seedeater might get a bit lost, but I think she's got a lot of personality: 

Here's a little neotropical migrant, a Mourning Warbler.  He's likely on his way to the USA about now...

One interesting photographic challenge during the week was the canopy nets that the researchers used.  They have to be raised 20-30 meters into the forest canopy and then taken down when you catch a bird.  This draws a very different sort of line than standard mist nets, which I hope I can fit into the rest of the series...  This Montezuma Oropendola got very caught in a huge tangle of mesh:

This Rufous-winged Woodpecker is also very tangled in a canopy net, as he grabbed as much as possible into his powerful feet.  But it seemed to create a fitting pose for the woodpecker:

I'm not sure about this image of a Streak-headed Woodcreeper... But it's a damn cool bird:

All sorts of things can go wrong when one tries to photograph birds with a large format camera and construct a studio lighting set-up in five minutes or less.  This photograph of a Palm Tanager is an example of that.  Although it certainly sticks out from the rest of the series, it may be a direction to move the project in the future:

After I finished photographing birds, I still had a few sheets of film left in holders.  I used this as a chance to try out a new laser cut pinhole lens I bought a few months back.  I'm not really sure how I'm going to use this toy, but here are the first attempts...

Second growth forest:

A banana plantation:

And a garden:

But back to the birds.  Here's Landon, who is doing his PhD birds like this Collared Aracari (as well as Keel-billed Toucans):

Jen, one of Landon's research assistants, using a crossbow (don't worry, she's not shooting birds, but it is a pretty hard core field tool!):

Tim came down with me from DC, where he works at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center...  It's largely because of him that I was able to see over 180 species of birds during my week in Costa Rica.  Here he is holding a Montezuma Oropendola:

Here's that same Montezuma Oropendola holding me...

Those big Collared Aracari bills hurt too...  As Tim's hand clearly found out:

Here's Gabriella showing me a tiny frog:

Best frog name ever: a strawberry blue jeans poison-dart frog...

Although the falcon silhouette might frighten birds, it didn't seem to concern this large insect:

Tim trying to run away from the banana flower I was photographing:

A found Joseph Cornell box:

And a found abstract painting:

A painting of a lion, caged...

All the biologists I was with HATED Duchamp...

I didn't find any community gardens or urban agriculture to try to continue my Post-industrial Edens work, I was too busy with the birds.  But there were a few nice gardens around...

Still-life at the meat restaurant:

Night-time on Saint Patricks Day at the only Irish Pub in Panama City: 

 

Lunch time at the La Selva Biological Station:

A foreboding jar of unidentified salsa-like substance at dinner...

 

Thick tree trunk with a rotten core:

Leaf cutter ants...  I should've gotten a macro lens before going to Costa Rica.

Jungle... 

Jungle......

Volcano.........

River..............

And as this month's finale, here's my list o' birds seen while in Costa Rica, the total count being about 180...  Not bad for a week in the tropics:

Great Tinamou*

Little Tinamou*

Slaty-breasted Tinamou

Great Curassow

Gray-headed Chachalaca

Black Guan

Crested Guan

Anhinga

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Great Blue Heron

Cattle Egret

Green Heron

Black-crowned Night-heron

Green Ibis

Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

King Vulture

Osprey

Hook-billed Kite

Swallow-tailed Kite

White-tailed Kite

Bicolored Hawk

Roadside Hawk

Short-tailed Hawk

Broad-winged Hawk

Zone-tailed Hawk

Swainson's Hawk

Crested Caracara

Yellow-headed Caracara

Gray-necked Wood-rail

Purple Gallinule

Northern Jacana

Sungrebe

Spotted Sandpiper

Red-billed Pigeon

Band-tailed Pigeon

Short-billed Pigeon

Inca Dove

Common Ground-dove

Ruddy Ground-dove

Ruddy Quail-dove

Crimson-fronted Parakeet

Orange-chinned Parakeet

Great Green Macaw

Mealy Parrot

Squirrel Cuckoo

Groove-billed Ani

Spectacled Owl

Ferruginous Pygmy-owl

Common Pauraque

Swift sp.?

White-collared Swift

Stripe-throated Hermit

Fiery-throated Hummingbird

Magnificent Hummingbird

Purple-crowned Fairy

Blue-chested Hummingbird

White-necked Jacobin

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Green-breasted Mango

Scintillant Hummingbird

Violaceous Trogon

Black-throated Trogon

Slaty-tailed Trogon

Blue-crowned Motmot

Rufous Motmot

Broad-billed Motmot

White-necked Puffbird

Pied Puffbird

Rufous-tailed Jacamar

Chestnut-mandibled Toucan

Keel-billed Toucan

Collared Aracari

Black-cheeked Woodpecker

Hoffman's Woodpecker

Rufous-winged Woodpecker

Pale-billed Woodpecker

Lineated Woodpecker

Northern Barred-woodcreeper

Plain-brown Woodcreeper

Wedge-billed Woodcreeper

Streak-headed Woodcreeper

Cocoa Woodcreeper

Fasciated Antshrike

western Slaty-antshrike

Yellow Tyrannulet

Paltry Tyrannulet

Yellow-bellied Elaenia

Mountain Elaenia

Piratic Flycatcher

Common Tody-flycatcher

Black-headed Tody-flycatcher

Ochre-bellied Flycatcher

Rufous Mourner

Long-tailed Tyrant

Black Phoebe

Dusky-capped Flycatcher

Boat-billed Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

Social Flycatcher

Gray-capped Flycatcher

Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher

Tropical Kingbird

Cinnamon Becard

Masked Tityra

Black-crowned Tityra

White-collared Manakin

Lesser Greenlet

Brown Jay

Blue-and-white Swallow

Mangrove Swallow

Gray-breasted Martin

Southern Rough-winged Swallow

Barn Swallow

Band-backed Wren

Bay Wren

Plain Wren

Black-throated Wren

House Wren

White-breasted Wood-wren

Gray-breasted Wood-wren

Blck-bellied Nightingale-thrush

Swainson's Thrush

Wood Thrush

Sooty Robin

Mountain Robin

Clay-colored Robin

Gray Catbird

Black-and-yellow Silky-flycatcher

Tennessee Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

American Redstart

Lousiana Waterthrush

Mourning Warbler

Buff-rumped Warbler

Gray-crowned Yellowthroat

Olive-crowned Yellowthroat

Bananaquit

Red-throated Ant-tanager

Sooty-capped Bush- tanager

Rosy Thrush-tanager

Summer Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

Passerini's Tanager

Crimson-collared Tanager

Golden-hooded Tanager

Blue-gray Tanager

Palm Tanager

Blue Dacnis

Green Honeycreeper

Shining Honeycreeper

Red-legged Honeycreeper

Variable Seedeater

Yellow-faced Grassquit

Blue-black Grassquit

Peg-billed Finch

Slaty Flowerpiercer

Large-footed Finch

Orange-billed Sparrow

Black-striped Sparrow

Rufous-collared Sparrow

House Sparrow

Buff-throated Saltator

Black-headed Saltator

Black-faced Grosbeak

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Blue-black Grosbeak

Red-breasted Blackbird

Eastern Meadowlark

Melodious Blackbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Bronzed Cowbird

Black-cowled Oriole

Orchard Oriole

Baltimore Oriole

Chestnut-headed Oropendola

Montezuma Oropendola

Olive-backed Euphonia

Yellow-crowned Euphonia

* heard only, but Tinamou calls are so cool I had to include them on my list.

So that was my Spring Break...  I was in Costa Rica for a week and I didn't even set foot on the beach.  Maybe next time.  Ta.