I travelled  to Costa Rica on February 5th for a week of birding photography.   Since I had enjoyed Costa Rica so much the year before I jumped at an opportunity to go again.  The workshop was led by a local nature photographer, Raymond Barlow.  We  focussed on photographing birds in natural light (no flash).   I figured that it couldn't be any harder than taking pictures of birds from a moving and/or bobbing boat that I had to deal with in Florida.  However,  I discovered that trying to take pictures of Hummingbirds in flight was extremely challenging for me.  Even when the birds are supposedly stationery on the branch they seem to be twitching.  

Looking at the map of Costa Rica, I flew into San Jose which is in central Costa Rica and stayed in Alajuela, which is a suburb about 15 minutes from the airport.   During the week we travelled to a few places outside of San Jose such as La Paz and then moved on to an area called Providencia within Los Quetzales National Park.    On this map, you can find La Paz Waterfall directly above San Jose and Los Quetzales  National Park, directly below San Jose.

I flew into San Hose's international airport where Raymond met me.  We were staying at Buena Vista Hotel, Alajuela, Costa Rica which was about fifteen minutes away from the airport.  This photo was taken outside in the gardens overlooking the mountains.  You can see how hazy it was.  

The above image shows my equipment set up used on this trip  for taking photos of the birds.  This lens is a 300 2.8mm Nikon lens which I rented for the trip.  It weighs around 2900 grams so it is not a light lens and it was  too heavy for me to hand hold. I also added a 1.4 or 2.0 teleconverter to the lens so I was able to increase the focal length of the lens to take pictures of distant birds.  For a birding lens, this is actually about as short of a length as you would want. 

I took this photo in some gardens while I was practising using the  new equipment  in the above image (rented and borrowed).   I really liked the colours of the butterfly and flowers.

We stopped off the highway (generous description) to take pictures of a waterfall near La Paz.   

A view from the road.

A close up view of the waterfalls.

The first afternoon we spent a few hours at an observatory east of San Jose.   This Crimson-collared Tanager averages 19-20 cm (7.5 to 8 inches) in length.  As you can see the bill is a striking pale blue and the legs are blue-grey.  

This Green honeycreeper is a small bird 13-14cm  (5-5.5 inches) and weighs 14-23  grams.  These birds are  in the tanager family.  

The male  Green honeycreeper is mainly blue-tinged with a black head and a mostly bright yellow long decurved bill.

This is  a female Green honeycreeper.   The female is grass-green, paler on the throat, and lacks the male's black head.  

The Clay-colored Thrush is the national bird of Costa Rica where it is well known as the yiguirro.  This bird was known as the Clay-colored Robin until 2010.  

The Thrush resembles the American Robin as it is about the same length, 23-27 cm (9 to 10.5 inches) and weighs around 74-76 grams(2.6 oz) on average.  

The plumage of the Thrush is brownish, somewhat lighter below than above.  

The Palm Tanager is about 19 cm  ( 7.5 inches) long and weighs around 36 grams.  They are a grey to dull olive-green in colouring.  These birds are social and restless and eat a wide variety of fruit as well as nectar and insects.   

This female Passerini Tanager is a medium-sized passerine (perching bird).  This bird was named for Carlo Passerini, a professor at the Museum of Zoology at the University of Florence.   The adult is 16 cm long and weighs 31 grams.  The female has a grey head, olive upper parts becoming brighter and paler on the rump.  Her wings  and tail are brownish.  The species feed on small fruits, usually swallowed whole, insects and spiders.  

The Passerini Tanager was formerly known as the Scarlet-rumped Tanager.  

This is a male Passerini Tanager.    Unlike the female, the adult male is mainly black except for a scarlet rump, silvery bill and dark red iris.  

A Black-cheeked  Woodpecker.   The adult is 18.5 cm long and weighs 63 grams.  The bird has a black patch through the eyes and on the cheeks, a yellow forehead and a red nape. 

This is a male Black-cheeked Woodpecker since its crown is red.   The female has a black crown.  These  birds feed on insects but will also eat substantial amounts of fruit and nectar.  

This Golden-hooded Tanager is a medium-sized passerine bird.  Adult birds are 13 cm long and weigh 19 grams.  

The Blue-grey Tanager is 16-18cm(6.3-7.1inches) and weights 30-40 grams (2.2-1.4 oz.).  Adults hae a light bluish head and underparts, with darker blue upper parts and a shoulder patch coloured a different hue of blue.  The bill is short and quite thick.  The female and males are similar but the young birds have duller colours.  Actually 13-15 subspecies are commonly recognized differing by the exact hue of the blue of he shoulder patch versus the rest of the plumage.   

The Blue-grey Tanager lives mainly on fruit but will also eat some nectar and insects.  This is a common, restless and noisy species usually found in pairs but sometimes in small groups.  

The Blue-grey Tanager frontal view.

This Collared Aracari is a Toucan.  Like other Toucans, the Collared Aracari is a brightly marked and has a large bill.  The adult is typically 39-41 cm (15-16 inches) long and weighs 190-275 grams (6.7-9.7 oz).  

The females and males are alike in appearance, with a black head and chest and dark olive green upper parts apart from a red rump and upper tail.  

The Toucan has a reddish collar on the neck.  The underparts are bright yellow, with a round black spot in the centre of the breast and a red-tinted black band across the belly.  The bare facial skin is black, becoming ruddy behind the yellow eye.  The upper mandible of the bill is dull yellow, marked with a black saw-tooth pattern on the cutting edge and a black tip  Small flocks usually consisting of 6-15 birds move through the forest with a rapid direct flight.  This species is primarily a fruit-eater but will also eat insects, lizards, eggs and other small prey.