Topic: Critters of Costa Rica

[Bryan]

These are some photos from a trip my wife and I took to Costa Rica a few weeks ago.  It was our first time there and the thing that impressed me the most was the wildlife, so I'm dedicating this photo essay to that.  I brought 3 cameras, a Canon AE-1 with 4 rolls of Ektar 100, a Bolex B8 8mm movie camera with a roll of E100D and a View Master Camera loaded with Velvia 100.  It was a lot to lug around but I had a great time shooting film.  The following photos were all taken with the Canon AE-1. 

The first night we spent at the home of an old co-worker of mine that has been living there for the last 15 years.  He has a 10 acre farm in Atenas so we spent the day touring his farm.  This photo is a Golden Silk Orb-Weaver that we ran across on the walk.  It has a leg span of at least 4 inches.  They are venomous, almost as bad a a Black Widow bite.
Golden Silk Orb-Weaver by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

The next 3 days we spent in Jaco Beach.  It's a small beach town/tourist trap on the Pacific side.  One of the things we did there was a tram ride up the side of a mountain that takes you through the jungle canopy.  this is called an Owl Butterfly because of the markings on it's wings.
Owl Butterfly by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

This was a large Iguana that didn't seem to mind having his picture taken.  He was about 4 feet in length.
Iguana by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

[Bryan]

The next tree days we spent in an area called Manuel Antonio, it's right next to the Manuel Antonio National Park which is a very popular tourist destination.  Our hotel room had a semi private pool shared with the room above us.  Every morning was a Monkey Pool Party.

Pool Monkeys by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Pool Monkey by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

This Jesus Christ Lizard hung out by the pool the entire time we were there.  He did make himself scarce when the Monkeys came around, they would consider it a nice snack.  They are called Jesus Christ lizards because they can walk on water.  I saw him run across the pool a few times.
Jesus Christ Lizard by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

[Bryan]

We took a walking tour of the Manuel Antonio National Forest.  We did see Sloths there but they were too high in the trees to get a good photo with the lens I had.  There were Monkeys everywhere, it was fun to watch them steel food from the tourists.

3 Monkeys in a tree by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Monkey by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

[jharr]

Looks like a beautiful place Bryan. You certainly got some good wildlife photos out of it. Thanks for sharing.

[Late Developer]

Bryan - fantastic set of photos.  The wildlife / birds are amazing there. 

My wife and I went on tour Costa Rica a few years ago; Monte Verde Cloud Forest, Mount Arenal, San Jose, Rain Forest (Jungle) / Tortuguero and a week scuba diving in the Pacific off Guanacaste province.

Sadly, I can't post the results here as we only had d*g*tal cameras with us on that occasion 

[Bryan]

Thanks guys!  for me the best part of the trip was seeing all the wildlife.  The one thing that I wish we had time to do was visit one of the volcanoes.  My wife wasn't interested in that, she said we have plenty of volcanoes back home.