Mealy parrots are members of the amazon family of parrots, and sometimes called the southern mealy amazon or southern mealy parrot. They are one of the largest of the amazons, and predominantly green, with some yellow and orange on the wings. I captured this mated pair in the early morning, preening each other in front of a-not-quite-full moon. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1000, f/5.6 at 1/2500th of a second.

Peccaries are tropical wild pigs. There are three species in Costa Rica, the white-lipped, Chacoan and collared. This is the latter. We saw lots of them on our recent trip. Every morning, they would make their way through the grounds of the lodge, but I would also see them out in the forest on my daily hikes. I was in a large clearing photographing macaws when they arrived on this particular morning. When I got down on the ground for a low angle perspective, I’m not sure if they could see me, but they certainly could smell me. They eventually got very close and I took lots of wide angle images and videos. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 4500, f/5.6 at 1/400th of a second.

This was my most crabby trip to Costa Rica yet. Crabs seemed to be everywhere, both day and night, including many different species. This is a painted ghost crab. They are great bioindicators — essentially meaning the health of their population in a given area is directly related to the overall health of that ecosystem, including the effects of human interference. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 360, f/5.6 at 1/500th of a second.

The second of the three species of monkey that I saw on our recent trip to Costa Rica was the mantled howler monkey. We heard these guys every morning, but it wasn’t until our last day that I actually caught up to them (as anyone who has spent any time in the rainforest knows, howler monkeys make ferociously loud calls — among the loudest in the animal kingdom — and can often be heard from over three miles away). Funny thing was, when I finally found them, they were completely silent, just going about their morning routine high in the canopy. This one came down a bit for those fruits you can see by the left hand. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 720, f/5.6 at 1/125th of a second.

I had very good luck with scarlet macaws on our recent trip and have a lot to share, including some fun video. But I thought I’d start with this simple portrait that shows off the three primary colors of the feathers. “Scarlet macaw” is the most commonly used name, but they are also sometimes referred to as red-and-yellow macaws, red-and-blue macaws or red-breasted macaws. Photographed in Piedras Blancas National Park in southern Costa Rica. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1400, f/5.6 at 1/400th of a second.

On one of my night hikes in Costa Rica’s Piedras Blancas National Park, I came across this small crocodile fishing by the shoreline. He/she was wading in the shallow water, with mouth wide open, waiting patiently for the surf to deliver an easy catch. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 6400, f/5.6 at 1/160th of a second, light from handheld flashlight.

There are four species of monkey in Costa Rica — squirrel, howler, capuchin and spider. This is the latter, and usually the hardest to see. But they are much more common in the south, on the Osa Peninsula and across the bay in Piedras Blancas National Park where I spotted this one. In fact, I saw quite a few of them, but usually pretty high in the trees. I also saw white-faced capuchin monkeys and howler monkeys. The only species I didn’t see were the squirrel monkeys, which are usually the easiest to come by. You never know with nature. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1400, f/5.6 at 1/320th of a second.

The Golfo Dulce in southwestern Costa Rica is the best place in the country to see dolphins. In particular, the pantropical spotted dolphins were, at times, all over the place. And occasionally they’d grant us a jump or two. The hard part was having the camera pointed in the right spot when they did. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 24-70mm lens (at 70mm) ISO 64, f/2.8 at 1/1250th of a second.

One of the species I was hoping for on last week’s trip to Costa Rica was the two-toed (or more accurately, two-fingered) sloth. I came up empty, but did see several three-toed sloths, including this baby that opened his/her eyes for just a moment before resuming what looked like a blissful sleep. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1800, f/5.6 at 1/125th of a second.

To me, nothing says Costa Rica (and Central America’s rainforests in general) more than the red-eyed tree frog and the toucan. There are technically six species of toucan in Costa Rica, but that includes toucanets and aracaris. The two primary species of toucan are the keel-billed and the yellow-throated. This is the latter. I always love seeing these guys fly through the air, led by that oversized beak. We saw quite a few of them and I captured both stills and video. I’ll post some video soon as I get around to processing it all. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 2500, f/5.6 at 1/320th of a second.