Beauty from Death

Dominical, Pacific coast of Costa Rica
30 January 2013

110ft up in the crown of a Camaron tree

After a morning spent climbing in the rainforest canopy I decide to take it easy for the rest of the day. At around 4:30pm I start to make my way to the beach via an old dirt road/trail. This should give me plenty of time to enjoy the hike to the coastline and still be able to walk up the beach for a ways while the lighting is good. On my trek through the forest I encountered all of the usual suspect for this area of the country: Black Spiny-tailed Iguanas, Great Kiskadee flycatchers, a troop of White-faced Capuchin monkeys that are smashing their way through some fruit trees, and I am even treated to one the forest's more elusive denizens- a jungle cat.

Black-hooded Antshrike (Thamnophilus bridgesi)
A male eating a katydid in the forest's understory.

Black-hooded Antshrike (Thamnophilus bridgesi)
While not shown in this picture, the female was near by.

Black Spiny-tailed Iguana (Ctenosaura similis)
A miniature dragon if I've ever seen one.

Cherrie's Tanager (Ramphocelus costaricensis), female

The jaguarundi, also called a weasel-cat due to its long body and low stance, makes a dash across the dirt road about 50 meters ahead of me. I raise my camera for a photograph only to realize my folly too late. I had left my camera in mirror lock-up mode which basically meant that two presses on the shutter button are required to take a photo. It takes me only a second and a half to remember about this and press the shutter button the second time. Unfortunately, that second and a half was all the cat needed to cross the road. The blurry photograph that resulted shows nothing more than a black tail and hind leg poking out from the heliconias that line the road.

A couple of Gray-necked Woodrails (Aramides cajaneus) could be seen
skulking in the stream beds.

Brown Basilisk (Basiliscus basiliscus)

White-faced Capuchin (Cebus capucinus)
A mother and her baby

The smash and grab on the fruit tree

NOM NOM NOM

Their facial expressions are priceless!

Shocked!

The troop's lookout was keeping an eye on the the Black Hawks that were
 following the monkeys. And perhaps making sure that I didn't come too close either.

Full of fruits, sun setting, time for sleep.

The beach is relatively clean and devoid of sea shells, though it is littered with drift wood ranging from piles of splinters to pieces easily larger than my truck. Both hermit crabs and more traditional crabs scurry out of my way as I march northward in the sand. It's amazing how well these crabs' coloration matched the sand. I watch a White-necked Puffbird sally back and forth from its snag a few times.

In the distance I see a gathering of large dark birds at the shore line. Even at such a distance, their shape is unmistakable, Black Vultures. Time to go see what putrid carcass they've hauled up this time.





As I near, I realize what it is, an adult sea turtle. With the sun quickly setting and the tide coming in I have little time to work; the bravest of the waves are already coming up past the turtle carcass. I decide on a wide angle approach to try and capture some of the beach's beauty in hopes of offsetting the heartbreaking scene in front of me. I whip out the 10-24mm lens, a couple of flashes and get close and low.

I shoot until the tide line has reached me. Covered in sand and turtle water I call it quits. A couple of sunset shots and a beer finish off this coastal excursion; I head back to base.

Now, of course I would have much preferred to see this gorgeous creature alive and well, photos or not, but you know what they say about life giving out free lemons... Make margaritas.

Pura Vida,

-Don
www.RainforestDon.com
AsydaBass@yahoo.com



The setup: