Leaving the Nest (Ardea herodia) — Leaving the Nest (*Ardea herodia*)

The Aerial Dance

April 19, 2016 in April 2016

The birds pictured throughout belong to the family Ardeidae. Common near freshwater and marine coastal environments, there are 64 known species.

Returning with an Offering (Ardea herodia) — Returning with an Offering (*Ardea herodia*)

The great blue (Ardea herodia) is North America’s largest heron. Breeding in seemingly haphazard tree-top nests, a mated pair will carefully pass each purposefully chosen stick from retriever to nest-builder as a part of a biologically programmed courtship.

Courtship (Ardea herodia) — Courtship (*Ardea herodia*)

Often breeding in multi-species colonies, the great blue tolerates other heron species their colonies. Quite possibly a defensive measure against nest robbers, survival and reproductive success is a numbers game. “You can enjoy my neighbor’s eggs, but stay out of my home.”

Often nesting between branches in and around great blue herons is the smaller, but no less beautful, great egret (Ardea alba). Their all white body is adorned with fine dorsal feathers and a green facial cere during the reproductive season.

The Aerial Ballet (Ardea alba) — The Aerial Ballet (*Ardea alba*)

All images were photographed from a canoe. The equipment used was a Nikon D3 and Nikon 200-400mm f4.0VR attached to a Gitzo Series 3 tripod wedged between my body and the bow of the canoe.

Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) - Tanzania, AfricaCanon 30D + Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 HSM — Vervet Monkey *(Chlorocebus pygerythrus)* - Tanzania, Africa
Canon 30D + Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 HSM

Did You Know (43)?

August 28, 2015 in August 2015

Apes are not monkeys, and all monkeys are not the same. When primatologists’ describe a type of monkey, they begin by defining it as an Old World or New World species. As the name suggests, the Old World monkeys are those found throughout Europe, Africa and Asia while the so called New World varieties are restricted to the Americas. DNA evidence strongly suggests that the old and new world species are derived from a common ancestral stock that diverged about 40 million years ago. With an ocean separating the two populations, each variety evolved in response to their respective habitats. Forty million years later, there are now 78 species in old world and 53 in the new.

Geoffroy's Spider Monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) - Guanacaste Region, Costa RicaNIkon D7200 + Nikon 200-400mm f4.0 VR1 — Geoffroy's Spider Monkey *(Ateles geoffroyi)* - Guanacaste Region, Costa Rica
NIkon D7200 + Nikon 200-400mm f4.0 VR1

Geographic isolation and environmental characteristics are responsible for some of the key differences between the two groups. Monkeys found in the Old World tend to be larger than those in the new. New World varieties are entirely arboreal and many have prehensile tails that allow them to move throughout the dense forest canopies found in the American tropics. In contrast, many Old World species are as comfortable on the ground as they are in trees. Found from the deserts of Ethiopia to the snow-capped mountains of Japan, Old World monkeys have adapted to a variety of habitats. Other anatomical differences include an opposable thumb and trichromatic vision throughout the Old World, compared to a thumb in line with fingers and dichromatic vision in the new. When faced with the choice of new or old, one just needs to look at the face. The flat-faced Platyrrhines are found throughout the Americas while the narrow-nosed Catarrhines with their downward faced nostrils are found in the Old World.

Brown Stick Mantis - Horizontes Biological Station

Hidden in Plain Sight

July 20, 2015 in July 2015

Familiarity can be the breeding ground for complacency. The repetition of a morning’s commute is a mind-numbing experience as we become underwhelmed by the sameness of each passing moment. The redundancy of the route makes us blind to subtle changes and the little hidden pearls that are always present. The shackles of life’s endless rerun are not difficult to escape given the opportunity to break from work. It is the monotony of daily life that fuels the wanderlust that I feel down to my bones.

Cat's Eye Snake (moderately venomous) - Sensoria Rainforest Preserve

At 1:00 a.m., June 20, 2015 Tamy and I left the comforts of home for the airport to begin our tenth excursion to Costa Rica. As with a few prior trips to Central America, we were chaperones to fourteen high school students who would be doing research with leaf-cutter ants. Much like the 2014 trip, the students were everything a chaperone could wish for. Polite, committed and adventurous, each one of my charges became wonderful travel companions. While much of our time was devoted to making their experience a positive one, we managed to steal minutes throughout the days to pursue our passion for nature and photography.

Peek-a-Boo Bananaquit - Finca La Anita in Colonial Libertad

Adventure and international travel is a transformative experience. Rather than residing in some miniature recreation of home or a pseudo-utopian vacationland, eco-travelers revel in the realness of a place where non-humans freely interact with the humans in their landscape. Such experiences are a hard break from the “Groundhog Day” we relive in our working lives, and it is times like this when adults can play and begin to hunt for the gems that are hidden in plain sight.

Green Mantis - Horizontes Biological Station

Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) - Caribbean Slope, Costa RicaCanon 5D Mark III + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + Canon 1.4x converter — Scarlet Macaw *(Ara macao)* - Caribbean Slope, Costa Rica
Canon 5D Mark III + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + Canon 1.4x converter

Did You Know (32)?

February 10, 2015 in February 2015

Sandwiched between the Pacific and Caribbean, Costa Rica is a hotspot for bird watchers. A total of 894 birds have been recorded in this mountainous country who’s landmass is smaller than West Virginia and just a tad larger than Denmark. With more bird diversity than the United States and Canada combined, over 600 bird species are permanent residents. The diminutive scintillant hummingbird (Selasphorus scintilla), is Costa Rica’s smallest bird species while the 6.5 kg jabiru (Jabiru mycteria) is their largest. Ironically, the country known for flamboyant birds like the resplendent quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) and scarlet macaw (Ara macao) has chosen the drab clay-colored robin (Turdis grayi) as its national bird.

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