Our home for the week
Day one in the Rain Forest, we were greeted by a very inquisitive (“Where’s the food?”) Coatimundi, a member of the same family as raccoons. He pulled my backpack right off the bench. I made the beginner’s mistake of giving him a bite of banana. Somehow we were lucky that he did not come back over and over again. The teeth on that guy, and his claws, surprised me. When I had seen Coatis before it was at a distance and they seemed rather tame.
We took the hike through the farmland that our hosts suggested and walked for a few hours, covering only a portion of the cattle farm – very hilly terrain with lots of cow patties everywhere, but also very beautiful. We had to maneuver around the nursing cow and I couldn’t resist taking a picture but to get them both in the shot, I had to hike quite a bit into the pasture. What you can’t see is how steep the hill was.
But the real excitement of the day came as the drizzle began around 4:30 when we had returned to the cabin and kept hearing a very strange bird call. We discovered a flock of Montezuma Oropendolas just up the road at what looked like last year’s nesting site. In the tree were a couple of lovey-dovey pairs and another couple who kept having it out with one another as they spun together toward the ground only to fly up and do it all over again. The light was pretty bad and so the pictures aren’t great but it gives a sense of what fun it was to watch their antics. To hear this wonderful sound and learn a bit more about them, check out this short YouTube video:
The next afternoon, there were fewer Oropendolas and they were not nearly as entertaining. However, although it was drizzling again, it was possible to get a couple of portrait shots.
The next morning we went on a guided tour of the Monteverde Rain Forest itself. Even before entering the jungle, we saw a tree with Emerald Toucanets and Black-faced Solitaires – more birds than we were to see in the jungle itself!
Across the way from the entrance to the jungle was a “hummingbird cafe” with many feeders and lots of people with the same goal as ours – to get pictures of these amazingly colorful and delightful birds. I only had my long lens with me but a few days later I returned with my 100mm. Here are photos from the first trip there with the 400mm/2.8. (The 2nd and 3rd shots are of the same bird. The sudden flash of sunlight gives his otherwise brownish throat its phenomenal purple sheen.)
Also on view that day were several Banana Chits hanging out with the hummingbirds. A Blue-crowned Motmot, backlit and deep in the woods, was a lovely find at the Butterfly Gardens which we also visited that day. Funny how, depending on the light, it appeared either blue or green – either way, check out the tail! (A new bird for me.)
