I saw quite a few snakes last week in Costa Rica, including four eyelash vipers. Eyelash vipers are a small, but deadly pit viper and they come in many colors, including red, yellow, brown, green and pink. Of the four I saw, two were green and two were yellow. I was told that if bitten, you have up to four hours to get to a hospital before succumbing to the poisonous venom. These snakes are nocturnal, but easy to spot during the day while at rest. This guy was pretty high up in a tree and I was shooting through heavy foliage, but had just enough of an opening to frame the snake with all that out of focus green.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/5 at 1/50th of a second

These butterflies are of the genus heliconius. I’m not sure of the exact species — after all, there are some 20 thousand different species of butterflies and moths in Costa Rica. One of the things that I loved about this recent trip is that I was able to use all my lenses equally — my telephoto zoom, my mid range zoom, my wide angle and my macro lens — which was the choice for this photo.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 105mm macro lens, ISO 800, f/8 at 1/25th of a second

One of my favorite parts of any wildlife trip is encountering the unexpected. Thus was the case when we came across a porcupine resting in a tree early one morning. In this case, the spiny rodent is a Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine — or as they are also called, the Mexican tree porcupine. I prefer the former. Being nocturnal, I didn’t expect to see one in such good light, but there it was just hanging out, very casually watching me as I snapped off a series of photos.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 330mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/25th of a second

Just back from seven days in Costa Rica. All in all, a solid week of shooting. As always, there were some disappointments — I went back to the place where I photographed a puma six years ago, hoping for another look. No luck there — or with a few other mammals that I had hoped to see. The main reason I went back to Corcovado National Park, however, was for the tapirs. The Sirena Ranger Station has a reputation for being one of the best places in Costa Rica to see this rare and endangered animal. There are five different species of tapir that live in jungle and forested regions of either Central America, South America or Southeast Asia. The Baird’s tapir is the species that lives in Costa Rica. They look a bit like a small elephant, but their closest relatives are actually the horse and the rhinoceros. They are the biggest mammals in Latin America, and I was lucky to photograph this one from just a few feet away with a wide angle lens. Much more on these guys in future posts.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 30mm) ISO 3200, f/2.8 at 1/200th of a second

Like other species of basalisk lizard, the plumed basalisk has the ability to run across the water, earning it the nickname, the Jesus Christ lizard. For good measure, it is also called the green basalisk and the double crested basalisk. Never can have enough names. I photographed this one a few years back in Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/2.8 at 1/100th of a second

Chestnut-mandibled toucans are fairly common throughout Costa Rica. I saw this one at a place called La Selva, about an hour and a half drive from San Jose. This species primarily eats fruits from trees, but will occasionally eat insects, lizards and frogs.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm manual focus lens, ISO 400, 600mm, f/5.6 at 1/90th of a second

The strawberry poison dart frog is common throughout its range in Central America. There are believed to be up to 30 different color variations of this frog — the most common being the blue jeans morph. Other than those smart blue trousers, another nice thing about these frogs is that they are active during the day, making non-flash photos possible. I came across this little guy in the forest leaf litter at a place called La Selva in Costa Rica.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 lens (at 200mm) with Canon 500D close up filter attached, ISO 100, f/5.6 at 1/8th of a second

This handsome specimen has been in my Costa Rica gallery for a while, but I just realized that it was incorrectly identified as a Honduran White Bat. It is actually a northern ghost bat — much larger and without the yellow nose of the Honduran species. This particular ghost bat would roost every day just outside of my lodge in south western Costa Rica at a place called Tiskita.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 320mm with Nikon 1.7 teleconverter) ISO 400, f/4.8 at 1/8th of a second, cable release and Gitzo tripod

This is a photo that has been in my Costa Rica gallery but has never been posted to the blog. If nothing else, the kinkajou is my favorite animal name. They are also sometimes called honey bears. Strictly nocturnal, they are rarely seen by humans and I was pretty excited when I got this shot. I was out spotlighting on my own, which is very difficult because usually I need someone to shine a light on the animal so that I can acquire focus. I had to position my headlamp in just the right spot on my head so that it was pointing directly at the kinkajou while I was looking through the viewfinder. All came together nicely and I was able to get several exposures while the kinkajou munched on what appears to be some sort of pineapple-like fruit.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 150mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units mounted to a bracket

This will be my last post for a couple of weeks as we fly to Quito and then on to the Galapagos Islands tomorrow. We’ll also be making a stop on the way back in the cloud forest of Ecuador. I haven’t photographed one of my favorite subjects in a while — frogs — and am looking forward to searching for some new species when I get there. This photo of a green and black poison dart frog was taken in Costa Rica back in 2007.