Costa Rica Wildlife

Freddy Vindas-C.Rwow@hotmail.com

I’ve just returned from six days in Costa Rica. It is a beautiful country with just about everything a nature photographer loves; beaches, mountains, active volcanoes, rain forests, dry forests, waterfalls, butterflies, wildlife, and more. Although photography was not a prime objective of this trip, I did manage to take a few shots. We had the luxury of a superb naturalist guide, Freddy Vindas, for three days. Freddy seemed to know every plant, animal, and place of interest. If we had a question, Freddy had the answer.

Because of the nature of the trip (vacation with wife) and location (very hot and humid) I set out to travel light with regard to photography equipment. I took one body, the Pentax K7, with four prime lenses; DA*300 f/4, DA 15 Ltd f/4, FA 31 Ltd f/1.8, and FA 43 Ltd f/1.9. This kit was easy to carry around and worked out well for a variety of landscapes and wildlife.

The best wildlife viewing was in Palo Verde National Park. Although we spent only one morning on the Tempisque river, we saw many birds and monkeys. I was hoping to get some good shots of american crocodiles but we were there at high tide so they were mostly submerged with only their heads visible. Although we saw many birds that are common around here (great blue herons and great egrets) we also saw snowy egrets, american wood storks, osprey, little blue herons, and rosegate spoon bills. The most common critter on the river was the iguana. They were everywhere; in the trees and scampering on the ground.

I’ll be posting some landscapes as I finish up with post processing. I’ve worked through most of the wildlife shots. Here are a couple of my favorite images. These images were all captured with the DA*300 mounted to the K7. Many others are available on Flickr. Click here if you are interested.

PENTAX K-7, DA* 300mm f/4 – 1/180s f/4.0 iso400 – fill flash