Capuchin Monkey

Another highlight to my Costa Rica trip was eating breakfast daily with the monkeys. An open air restaurant draws in the "white-faced" monkeys trying to steal anything they could get their skinny little fingers on. It was quite a sight to see their cunning behavior as they would steal bread and sugar off the tables while the staff wasn't looking. It's a great way to wake up every morning!

Capuchin Monkey, originally uploaded by Hannibals Animals.

These last 2 images were a bit of a trainwreck, but I posted them anyway. At some point during the morning shoot, the camera mode setting got switched to manual. Of course, in all of the excitement, I shot first, looked later, discovering way too late, after about 100 images, that the whole shoot was a disaster. Well I salvaged what I could, and here they are. I couldn't throw away these, as the baby on the mothers back was the only time we saw them the whole week. Also, this was the closest encounter of the week, as luck would have it...Doh!

Costa Rica - Day 3 at a Glance-Part 1

On our 3rd day, we booked the "morning bird walk" tour that was free at the resort. Our guide was Costa Rican and knew broken english, but also german. There were 8 of us, and 6 were German. We set off around 6:15 a.m. down a trail we had yet to explore. Our first encounter, just a few yards on our journey, was a small bird on a limb which was backlit and dark, so I couldn't tell what it was. The guide said its common name in german, & then in english, he pronounced "oolay" . I didn't understand. I focused my camera, took a shot, but noticed my flash didn't go off. I turned it on, but the bird flew off. After reviewing my camera screen, I gasp at my horror. It was possibly, a small owl, I could see the eyes in the viewer. I asked the guide again what it was, and he showed me a picture in his bird book, a Pygmy Owl. I missed an owl! In fact, it was the smallest of owls there is. A Pygmy Owl is 6 in. in height at maturity, including the tail. My first bird on this tour, it was a freakin owl (my favorite species!) and... I missed it. Above is the shot without the flash. He is looking right into the lens, and my error missed a great, one in a million shot. I hope I get a second chance. I ask the guide what the pygmy's call was, and he showed me. He told me to listen at dusk for the sound, and call back. I filed this info away for nightime. We walked on.



We came across an Orange-Billed Sparrow, and was able to get off a shot with flash that worked well. We moved on and found a Blue-Grey Tanager, and by this time the lighting was nice. We come to a lookout spot, and take in the view from above. The Pacific Ocean is so much cleaner than I expected and the view was awesome! The guide spots a Laughing Falcon in the distance, so I take a shot. The other people on the tour were taking their looks too, so I never did get off a decent shot.





As we stand there and absorb the scenery, we hear noises moving loudly in the trees ahead. All of a sudden we are greeted by White-Faced Monkees. A bunch of them were crossing the path ahead and using giant vines to swing and walk across. My camera needs adjustment, I set it right, and fire away. They were quite entertaining. They seemed to perform for us, as they played with their mates. They stop and lounge in the trees above and are having a great time with eachother. They even want us to participate, so one particular monkey gets to a vine, stops, gives us all a big chessy grin, and proceeds to shake his vine up and down, just like you would imagine a monkee to do. Then, he grabs his mate, has his way with her, sets back down, and has his way with himself. Quite entertaining, I must say. The guide told us, that with all his tours, he has only seen this maybe 3 other times, so it was "something", to say the least. The monkees moved on, as did we, and found plenty more birds to view.


We discovered the Orange Chinned Parakeet building his/her nest in a termite nest, along with a few Fiery-Billed Aracari's (Toucans) which had the most colorful bellies compared to their much larger cousins, the Keel-Billed Toucan. The tour ended, we tipped our guide well, and set off on our own. The day started off fantastic, but now its time to go have breakfast and see if the monkees are there.
The monkees are a no-show. We wait for a bit, but...(to be continued-something else DOES show up)

Costa Rica - Day 1 & 2 at a Glance

Our day started at 2:30 a.m. when we woke up to get ready for the airport. Fastforward: We landed in Costa Rica at 2:00 p.m., found a Taxi to take us 90 miles to our resort for $80.00. (pretty cheap!) We entered the resort at 4:30 p.m. which was 14 hours of travel time. We checked in, took a shuttle to our bungalow, rid our burdon of luggage and took off to explore what we could before dark. Our resort was P-E-R-F-E-C-T! The entire place was set in amidst the jungle with preservation in mind over the almighty dollar. Very little of this rainforest was escavated for buildings, and what was, was replaced with beautiful tropical plants and groundcovers. The bungalows were set in around the largest of the ginormous trees, and the vines and such were kept in their natural state.
The rooms were pretty much what we expected, nothing froo-froo, but there was a fantastic view. We loved it that way, because we didn't want to spend any time there anyway. It was cozy, had a fridge for snacks and drinks, it was clean, had double beds, and the shower worked great.
Our first night out, we were lost. The map we were given was confusing. We took wrong turns a few times. It was a long walk back to the office, but we needed to get back there so that we could call a shuttle to take us to the snack shop because we were starving. We didn't realize just how big it was until we had to walk. We had burgers at an outdoor cafe and at this time it was dark. The sounds were awesome! The jungle comes alive at night, along with the ocean waves that we heard from our table. We decided to find our way to the surf, so that we could get a sneek peek at what to expect tomorrow when the sun was up. We walked among hermit crabs scavenging for food all over the beach on this night. We walked back to the office to get a shuttle back to the room. This was getting old real quick! />
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On our first morning, we headed to breakfast which was across the path, and as we approach, I see a monkey on the roof! Wow, monkeys for breakfast! We sat under the outer shelter, and was entertained by a few of the monkeys trying to steal food. We couldn't believe that on our first full day, in our first few minutes, we get to share our morning with monkeys! Who does that? We were ecstatic with amazement! We stayed until we realized we were the last ones there, and eventually left. I probably took 200 photos... already.
We start walking in no particular direction and are perplexed on what to do and where to go. With all this walking, we need a plan or we will wear out our shoes zigzagging. I thought that maybe we should rent a golfcart at least for the day so that we could get to know our surroundings for future endeavors. We headed toward the office and found out it was $55 per day. What a scam! But...it might just be worth it in timesaving and sense of direction for just one day...so we rent and take off. Wow, did we ever explore! We found all kinds of trails, found the beach, found the pools, and all kinds of stuff. We decided to find the other beach which is famous for its white sand, and start driving. />



This beach was not easy to get to. There is no way we would ever walk. We took a winding road up and down hills along the coastline for what seemed like miles. It had great views, but no one ever walks. We find our own little parking lot for golfcarts and hit the beach. It was gorgeous to say the least. The surf was bigger than any beach I've ever been to. We saw boogie boarders do their tricks and we enjoyed the day until sunset. We saw Scarlet Macaws flying high and squawking over the beach, and I could hardly contain my excitement. I had to get a great picture of these guys. I could hardly wait. I walked the coastline with my camera ready, but never did get a decent shot that day. Our first day at Costa Rica was more than we ever expected!...and... the Macaws will taunt me again...

Costa Rica at a Glance

I am back from beautiful Costa Rica! I took a bazillion photos, and am still going thru them, but...I did find 1 to tease my readers with. This monkey was kind enough to stop by, on his way to breakfast, and pose for his glamour shot. I have a million stories, and pictures, and way too little of time to blog it all with, so to do my stories justice, I will temporarily post this teaser, and settle in to my digital duties before I unload. Check back tomorrow, I just might have another teaser, if not a tidbit more of a story. Until then...