Here’s another northern tamandua from Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. These guys are a medium-sized anteater with a prehensile tail. Unlike giant anteaters, tamanduas climb trees, where they spend about 40% of their time. They have a tongue that is well developed to lap up their favorite cuisine — which of course is ants — and they have an unusually long claw on both forefeet, enabling them to rip through wood to find those ants.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 310mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/160th of a second

Agoutis are fairly common in the rainforests of Central America. I guess you could say they are the squirrel’s of the rainforest. But although they might resemble their northern cousins, they are uniquely their own rodent. Just look at those shapely, slender legs. Squirrels can’t compete. I met this friendly agouti one morning in southern Costa Rica. He/she allowed me a few clicks of the shutter before retreating back into the forest.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/3.2 at 1/30th of a second

The tapir is the largest land mammal in Central and South America. They can weight up to 670 pounds. This one — a Baird’s tapir — was photographed in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. They are usually shy of humans, but I remained very quiet on the forest floor and eventually he forgot I was even there.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 78mm) ISO 3200, f/2.8 at 1/80th of a second

The common opossum isn’t necessarily going to win any beauty contests, but she does have a certain charm. I spotted this one on a solo, nocturnal hike in Pavones, Costa Rica. It’s always tough to get the shot when you need to position a light on your head just to aid in focusing, while also triggering two flashes. Luckily, the opossum stayed in one place long enough for me to do my thing. These guys are also known as the southern opossum, black-eared opossum or locally as the gamba or manicou.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 320, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-600 flash units

I was on a solo hike in Costa Rica’s Corcovado National Park when something told me there were coatis behind the roots of a fig tree…
I quietly got into position. And I think the coatis ended up being more surprised to see me.
Top photo: Nikon D800 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 150mm) ISO 1600, f/3.2 at 1/1000th of a second
Bottom photo: Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 26mm) ISO 1600, f/4.5 at 1/200th of a second

It’s been awhile since I posted an insect of any kind, let alone a spider. This rather large specimen is a tropical orb weaver spider (her abdomen seemed to be about an inch or more in diameter). She appears to be floating in air, but that’s just because the shallow depth of field from my lens has thrown the strands of spider silk out of focus. This was actually shot at night with a dual flash set up, although the greenish background (out of focus foliage) gives it a bit of a daytime appearance. I was on a spotlighting hike through Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-900 flash units

There seems to be some confusion surrounding the classification of brockets in Central and South America. They are a species (or several species as the case may be) of rainforest deer that range throughout much of southern Central America and down through the northern half of South America. This subspecies (or not) is the Central American red brocket, photographed in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. They are mostly solitary creatures, preferring dense jungle habitat, and they forage on vegetation and fruits when available.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 350mm) ISO 3200, f/4 at 1/50th of a second

I was fortunate to get this close to a Baird’s tapir. They are usually pretty skittish but I remained very silent on the ground and, luckily, happened to have my wide angle lens handy when South America’s largest animal slowly made its way over to me (they can top out at almost 900 pounds and this one was a large male). The tapir was foraging through the fallen leaves in search of a few fresh ones to eat. I was able to snap off quite a few shots (on quiet mode) before the big guy moved off deeper into Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. The distortion caused by the 17mm lens makes the tapir look much smaller than it actually was.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 3200, f/2.8 at 1/320th of a second

I’ve posted a photo of the much more colorful male black throated trogon before, but the females are pretty cool looking too, if not quite as spectacular. This young lady was hunting for crickets late one afternoon in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 3200, f/4 at 1/60th of a second

I’m a big fan of tamanduas. They are such interesting characters. There are two species, the northern and the southern tamandua. The word tamandua itself means anteater in the South American Tupi language. This guy was going about his upside-down business of slurping ants off the bark of a tree in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 135mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/500th of a second