Took my first trip to Costa Rica to photograph birds/wildlife/nature in February and was very pleased with the opportunities available. I'd encourage anyone who has the opportunity to go to take it.
Here's a small sample of some of the images I created. Everything was taken with a 6D or 7D2 and a 100-400mm IS v2 or 500mm/f4.
Beautiful! Can you share where you went? We went to the Osa Peninsula and Arenal last time but that was not particularly targeted at birds. I want to focus on birding the next time we go.
Scrumhalf wrote:
Beautiful! Can you share where you went? We went to the Osa Peninsula and Arenal last time but that was not particularly targeted at birds. I want to focus on birding the next time we go.
To protect the interests of the folks who post on this board from time to time who conduct tours, I'd prefer not post the info publicly. However, I'll be happy to tell you some of the places I visited if you'll pm me.
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David Garcia wrote:
Very nice shots. Was this a photo specific tour or did you find these locations on your own?
I researched several sites on the web, and went on my own with two other photographers. I just compared my work to the description of some photographers/tour operators who conduct tours and estimate I did about 75-80% of the work they offered for less than half of the cost.
jeffdjohnston wrote:
Took my first trip to Costa Rica to photograph birds/wildlife/nature in February and was very pleased with the opportunities available. I'd encourage anyone who has the opportunity to go to take it.
+1!
We had a wonderful trip down there in Feb-Mar of 2013. We visited the Osa Peninsula, Monteverde and Arenal. The diversity of wildlife and scenery is wonderful, and the government and people have done a great job making it accessible.
Here's a small sample of some of the images I created. Everything was taken with a 6D or 7D2 and a 100-400mm IS v2 or 500mm/f4.
Nice shots. Another lens I find useful is a 200mm macro lens which gives a safe working distance with the small but deadly vipers found in Costa Rica.
I have made three trips where I created the itinerary and rented a car to get around and a fourth trip that was last minute that I made this past January and where I used a guide (Juan Carlos Vindas jcvpictures at gmail) who made the lodging arrangements and provided a car and a multi-flash setup (difficult to transport by air) for a cost of $250 a day which included meals.
Easy to find lodges that specialize in bird photography and will have feeding stations that they maintain for toucans and hummers and other local birds. Other lodges are in and around birding areas and then there is the delta areas where you can find crocs and iguanas and spoonbills and other large birds.
Travel is easy and best to estimate an average driving speed of 35 MPH when planning drive times between locations. Car rental insurance is very expensive and about half the cost of the overall rental but it provides a lot of flexibility to go wherever you want and to haul your gear. Plan on arriving a day before any tour and leaving a day after it ends to make your flights.
Great shots, Jeff! I am extremely jealous of the barbet - never have managed a good chance at one. I'm also stunned by the awesome perches you managed for the aracari (wow!) and the toucan. Those, and the viper (nice perch too) would be my picks of this great set. Looks like you had a blast with excellent results.
