In search of 1000 Bird Photos
Nick Kontonicolas has a goal. He is in pursuit of photographs of 1000 species of birds.
See Chapter 1 from Nick's Pursuit click here | See Nick's Weblog click here
I started taking pictures of birds some 20 years ago, but after years of filling up my trash can with bad slides, I lost interest. My old photo equipment was collecting dust until digital photography came along. A little over a year ago, I traded in all of my old equipment and purchased a Nikon D100 digital camera along with a Nikkor 80-400mm VR zoom lense. I was back in business and bad images were ending up in my PC's Recycling Bin instead of the the trash can.
I needed a goal other than taking better pictures because I knew that if I kept at it, better pictures would eventually come along. So I came up with a goal that will keep me busy for a while; to take pictures of at least 1,000 different bird species. Since there are less than 400 birds that I can get to around my house, this would also give me a reason to travel to birding hot spots around the world.
I would like to share with you some of my adventures along the way, in a form of monthly updates. Sometimes I will talk about a specific birding area, while other times I will focus on a specific event or bird species. I welcome and look forward to your input on how to make my images better, and more importantly, on how to increase my species count.
Nick Kontonicolas
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kontonicolas/birds.htm
Chapter 2: Guanacaste, Costa Rica
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A few weeks after I purchased my Digital camera, I talked my wife and two daughters into a trip to Costa Rica. All three of them have no interest in birding, but the all-inclusive resort offered a huge pool, many activities and a chance to get away somewere warm in the middle of winter. I knew Costa Rica was a birding paradise, but I had no idea on what I would find at the resort. I did some research on the web, only to find out that the region we were heading to (Guanacaste) was not known as a birding hot spot. I knew that I could not spend much time away from the resort (see wife and kids), so I figured that the only chance I had in taking pictures of birds was around the resort itself. So off we went to the unknown hoping for the best. And what a trip it turned out to be! |
| The resort was built just a couple of years ago in a beautiful setting facing the Pacific Ocean and surounded by a tropical forrest. When we got to our room, I walked out to the balcony. The view was magnificent, but best of all, I saw my first photo subject of the trip feeding at a tree just a few yards away. I ran back in, unpacked my photo equipment and proceeded in taking pictures of bird #38, a Streak-backed Oriole. That tree produced six species of birds during my stay!! |
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| I was able to get in a routine that allowed me to take many pictures and still spend a lot of time with my family. I would wake up before 6am, explore the area next to the resort for a couple of hours, come back and wake everyone up so that we can have breakfast. After breakfast, we would spend some time at the pool or ocean, and then have lunch. The gang would then head back to the room for a nap and I would spend time exploring the surroundings. Here are some of these images :
• 5 images of a Bare-throated-Tiger Heron catching a frog
• Ringed Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher, Boat-billed Heron, Brown Pelican, Whimbrel, Willet, Great-Blue Heron, Spotted Sandpiper
• Steely-vented Hummingbird, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Cinnamon Hummingbird(2)
• Stripe-headed Sparrow, Tropical Gnatcatcher, Rufous-naped Wren, White-lored Gnatcatcher, Banded Wren
• White-winged Dove, Inca Dove, Common-Ground Dove, Great-Crested Flycatcher
• Boat-billed-Flycatcher, Orange-fronted Parakeet, Yellow-naped Parrot, White-Throated Magpie Jay(2)
• A list of most of the bird species I photographed in Costa Rica (46+)
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