A couple of weeks prior to our heading to Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica, Sharon’s sister spent some time at this birding heaven. While she was there, she sent Sharon an excellent photo of the Green Thorntail. It’s a great hummer species, one we had not seen or photographed, so that was exciting. But what blew us away was the photograph. Sharon’s sister is your basic smartphone photographer, so when the photo hit Sharon’s phone, a close-up, sharp, great color, photo we weren’t sure what was up. One thing is for sure, the bar was set for our Adventure.

One of my first questions of Harry, the guide at the lodge, was, “Where’s the Green Thorntail?” We found out it was being seen at Lisa’s hedge. The next five afternoons, I was at that hedge. We saw this small hummer almost first thing, so I got the Lifer, but no photo. It was harassed by the Rufous-tailed and Violet-crowned Hummingbird, keeping it far away from our glass. Day after day, I would be teased with a slightly better photo, but still nothing like what Sharon’s sister had sent. Then on the third day, we discovered that the photo was taken through Harry’s scope, which explained the frame-filling shot she sent. This knowledge though didn’t let me off the hook. I need that better photo. Finally the last day, I had figured out enough of Thorntail’s movements to stake out this one section of hedge it frequented the most. Parked there, I finally got the photos. Phew, I was feeling the self-induced family challenge!

The Hummer Deck at Rancho Naturlista is paradise! The trees, sky, and air are filled with the sights and sounds of thirty or more bird species of the rainforest. You will hear many of the birders wanting to capture the sounds to take home with them because of the calming tranquillity they instill in the listener. When you have your camera up to your eye, your head is filled with these sounds, making the photography that much sweeter (love the silence of mirrorless!). Then the Red-billed Pigeons thunder into the sky, a clap of wings that is startling, taking to the air with them are the other smaller birds that rely on the pigeons to sound the alarm. You can’t hear the person next to you it’s so loud, let alone the birds that a second before were contentedly feeding. Usually in the quiet, the shy birds appear from the depths of the forest, and just when you get your lens locked onto that small, shy bird, the explosion hits. Every time this happened last week, I would look up and see the Bicolored Hawk just perched there looking innocently. That’s until it spots potential prey, and then off he would fly. It was peaceful!

I am very guilty of, at times, being really narrowly focused on what I want to photograph to the exclusion of other subjects. A good example is my current Adventure to Costa Rica. We were here last year after the amazing Snowcap, the 2nd smallest hummer in the world. I got it, but I can do better so, here I am. And I was in front of the bush where they’ve been seen, and I was staring really hard to find it (there turned out being two present). In the same shrubs were a dozen or so Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds. They are everywhere, a pretty darn common hummer here, so a lot of the time I give them no never mind. Then I started to watch them, they were perching a lot. They not only perched, but were “talking” with their tails. With the light, the tails glowed, and it was truly obvious how they got their name. Yes, I did get shots of the Snowcap but they weren’t improvements over last year. But I did accomplish even better for the day with a photo I really love, capturing the uncommon from the common … hummer.