It’s the same photos I’ve reported with on this blog and are in my trip gallery, but it is another creative opportunity for me that I find fun and will enjoy having a copy of the book and sharing a couple of copies with the lodge which they will share with other guests, so a nice creative use of my photography from a trip like this and the first trip book I’ve done in a year or two.
You can click the book cover below and see an electronic preview of the whole book for free without having to buy it! Or you can go directly to this web address to see it: https://www.blurb.com/b/11499801-wowlife-tortuguero
CLICK this cover image to go to book in bookstore.
I have finally cleaned up my many photos and organized them into a “trip gallery” for this year’s trip to Tortuguero (my 4th) to a new lodge that I will evaluate in another blog post later. To see the gallery, click the linked image of the first page below or use this linked web address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-February-12-16-Tortuga-Lodge-Tortuguero-NP
First page of Tortuguero 2023 Trip Gallery by Charlie — CLICK image to go there!
It’s a joy to watch these amazing birds dive lightening fast into the water from a tree branch to catch a small fish. Usually successfully! This Amazon Kingfisher is the biggest of these 4 Kingfishers that can be seen in Tortuguero waters (with links to my gallery of each):
Note that there are two other species of Kingfishers in Costa Rica, the Belted Kingfisher I’ve seen in other areas and the Green and Rufous Kingfisher which I am yet to see but the book says is on this Caribbean side of the country. Here’s photos from this trip of 1 male and 1 female Amazon Kingfisher which if you are still in the email notice you can see larger and better on the blog website, by clicking the blog title above.
Amazon Kingfisher male, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa RicaAmazon Kingfisher female, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
And for more info and a location map of where found in only tropical Central and South America, see the eBird page.
I shoot my animal shots with a fast shutter speed in the Canon automatic “Sports-Action Mode” to freeze the action of always moving birds and butterflies! That is the fast click,click,click you hear sometimes from a camera, and it means I get lots of photos (thousands) that I have to go through to delete bad ones and sort according to subject, thus very time consuming! And with so many file folders on my computer I sometimes misplace images as I did with these Collared Aracari eating red berries in a tree behind my cabin one day. They are much better shots than the ones I used on that earlier 3 Toucan Species post, so I just have to give them their own post! Occasionally you do luck into good sunlight from the right direction to make an okay image as with these (unlike the Aracaris in the other post):
Collared Aracari eating berries, Tortuga Lodge & Gardens, Tortuguero NP, Costa RicaCollared Aracari eating red berries, Tortuga Lodge & Gardens, Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica
There’s one bird in the tropics that disguises himself as a bump, knot, limb or branch of a tree to avoid predators. And here’s a couple of shots in different light of a Common Potoo that was seen on one of our trips into the rainforest at Tortuguero.
Common Potoo, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa RicaCommon Potoo, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica
To see other of my photos of this bird, some with the faces showing, go to CR Common Potoo GALLERY. I think they are related to the Nighthawks, Nightjars and Whip-poor-wills (at least they look similar and are grouped together in the bird books). Read more on eBird. They are found only in Central and South America.
These Pale-vented Pigeonsdid not let the rain stop them from feeding and nesting in the daily rains at Tortuguero. The mother is on her nest under the eve of the outdoor restaurant at Tortuga Lodge and the others in the trees looking for food!
Pale Vented Pigeon, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica
Yesterday was the Howler Monkey with the other two types in the Caribbean lowlands today, the White-faced Capuchin Monkey and the Central American Spider Monkey.
White-faced Capuchin Monkey in the Rain, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica
Below is a two-photo gallery on each species plus a link to the trip gallery for each where I have several more photos, plus links to my Costa Rica galleries of each where I have even more photos from my 8 years of living in Costa Rica. Enjoy!
While at Tortuguero I saw all three of the monkeys that live in that rainforest, but, as usual, the Mantled Howler Monkeys were the most photogenic with White-faced Capuchin next, often showing off, and the Spider Monkeys the most difficult to photograph as they frantically run through the tree tops like out of control hyper children. I’ll show these other two in tomorrow’s post as I continue a break from the many birds.
Mantled Howler Monkey, Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica – Fruit for lunch!
I’m up to photos of about 40 bird species plus at least 20 other animals and I don’t leave until noon tomorrow, so it will be a while before I report on all of those, thus here’s a few representative shots from the different boats I floated on through the Tortuguero rivers and canals . . .
The 6 am trip was rainy more than half the two hours but we still saw a lot of wildlife!
Here’s 10 more shots, some of which could be considered art (I think) . . .
Because the 2023 Xandari Trip Gallery is now ready for you to see all this year’s photos from this colorful nature resort, I will just summarize what was to be the last 4 posts on that trip and you can see the photos in the gallery which is more and better than a few here! The last 4 categories each have a gallery that I’m linking to with the 4 pix below:
I photographed only 4 birds mainly because of the high winds we were having there that week. Here’s just 1 of those 4 and to see the others, click the above link or this image:
Clay-colored Thrush or Yigüirro, the National Bird
Though there did not seem to be as many Flowers on this trip as in earlier ones (different time of year), there were still a lot and you can see the ones I photographed by clicking the above link or this one image.
Bird of Paradise Flower, Xandari Costa Rica
Thirdly are some of the Leaves & Nature Things that I love to photograph out in nature anywhere I go! And I think I got a few interesting ones this trip including the feature photo at top of the post. Check them all out at the above link or click this one photo:
Nature as Art, Xandari Costa Rica
And last but not least are a few photos I made of only a sampling of the Trees & Trails at Xandari. Click that link or this one image to see more:
Or you can go directly to this web address to see it: https://www.blurb.com/b/11499801-wowlife-tortuguero
