"Hey, we should be monkeying around"

Let's move up the food chain from the reptiles of the last few days to mammals. The white-faced capuchin monkeys in this photo love to jump around on the roofs of the boats that carry tourists up the Tempisque River in Palo Verde National Park for wildlife tours.

At moments like these, I wonder what these monkeys are thinking. These two monkeys seem to be communicating with each other by reading each other's body language.

This week we are showing photos of Iceland on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

This is a photo of one of the boats used for the wildlife river trips on the Tempisque River in Palo Verde National Park. These trips are similar to the Jungle Cruise at Disney World, except the animals are real, and the river guides do not tell a bunch of corny jokes and puns.

There are tour guides who make the arrangements and drive visitors from Tamarindo to the river dock where the boats start their wildlife tours. I have been on this trip 5 or 6 times. The photos I have posted recently of the crocodiles and white-faced Capuchin monkeys were taken on one of these trips that I took with my brother-in-law last month.

We are showing photos of the architectural details of Budapest, Hungary this week on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo of a fierce, hungry crocodile

OK. This is not a nice crocodile. This is a photo of a large, hungry crocodile.

Several people yesterday left comments that they hoped my crocodile photos were taken with a telephoto lens. They were not. I took this photo from a distance of about 6 or 7 feet, a little more than 2 meters. I was in the safety of a boat.

You can tell from the angle of the photograph that I was shooting down on the crocodile at close range, as I could not get this angle if I were far away from the crocodile.

Once I was taking a photo of a crocodile on a river bank at such close range that when he scampered into the river he splattered me with mud.

Because of the comments I had yesterday, I will change my post for tomorrow and show the type of boat used for the wildlife trips for photographs such as these.

We are showing photos of architectural details of Budapest, Hungary, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

Nice Crocodile

The crocodile in this photo does not look mean, does he? He looks almost friendly, if you can overlook the many sharp teeth.

Crocodiles look menacing when lurking at the surface of the water. Crocodiles look terrifying when their mouths are open.

Tune in again tomorrow. Today's photo is a tease.

I took this photo while on a wildlife boat trip in Palo Verde National Park. I recommend these trips to the people who rent our condos in Tamarindo.

We are showing photos of the architectural details of Budapest, Hungary, on our Viva la Voyage travel photos site.

Monthly Theme - Passageways

Today's worldwide Daily Photo theme is "passageways," so here is a Costa Rican passageway. We do not have alleyways between old stone buildings the way they do in Europe or other old cities. We have walkways through the forests, such as this one in Rincon de la Vieja National Park.

This is the path that leads from the densely wooded cloud forest area down to a lower elevation where there are bubbling mud pits and steaming geysers that release geothermal energy. Rincon de la Vieja is a large volcano, not active, about 90 minutes northeast of Tamarindo.

To see how other Daily Photo bloggers around the world have interpreted the March 1 theme of passageways, Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Heron

This is yet another heron that we saw on our recent wildlife boat trip in Palo Verde National Park. I am sorry that I do not know the exact species. My guidebook on the birds of Costa Rica has photos of 252 species, but there are more than 860 species of birds in Costa Rica, more than the USA and Canada combined.

Maybe someone more knowledgeable about birds than I am will know the type of heron in this photo. Regardless, I like the black and white pattern of its feathers.

White ibis

Egrets and herons are very common, but this is a white ibis. The difference is the down-curved bill, which looks well adapted to spiking food without having to move its neck as far as would be needed for a straight beak.

The white ibis has several other distinctive features. It has a pink coloration on its face that is bare skin rather than feathers where the beak meets the face. In flight, it reveals black tips on its wings, which are hidden when walking. Its neck is also straight in flight.

White ibises are most commonly found in Costa Rica in the wetlands around he Gulf of Nicoya, which is exactly where I took this photograph. The Tempisque River in Palo Verde National Park flows into the Gulf of Nicoya, which divides the Nicoya Peninsula from the area of Costa Rica nearer to San Jose.

White ibis reach lengths of 63 cm (25 in), so they are smaller than many herons or egrets. Their scientific name is eudocimus albus. Not surprisingly, they are known locally in Costa Rica as ibis blanco.

Tico boys fishing

I have shown a few of the many crocodiles that we saw during our boat excursion on the Tempisque River in Palo Verde National Park. Here are a few local boys fishing in the same area. I hope they know how to stay out of the way of any crocodiles who swim or walk by.

Costa Ricans call themselves "Ticos." The main English language newspaper in the country is even called he "Tico Times," so it is not a derogatory term at all. It is derived from the practice of Costa Ricans of adding the suffix "tico" to the end of a word to form a diminutive version of the noun and refer to a small item of the noun.

Crocodile and his teeth

I count 32 teeth in this photo. Assuming that the crocodile has the same number of teeth on the other side, that would make 64 teeth to grab, slice into and chew its prey. The extra large fourth upward tooth is distinctive of a crocodile and is a way to distinguish between crocodiles and alligators.

I am relieved that the crocodile did not attack the heron that I showed during the past few days. Fortunately, the crocodiles in the western hemisphere are not as aggressive as the Nile crocodile, but people should keep their distance nevertheless.

When people who rent our condos in Tamarindo ask about activities for their children, I always recommend the nature tours on boats in Palo Verde National Park. I describe it as being similar to the Jungle Cruise at Disney World or Disneyland, except that the animals are real, and the tour guides do not recite a memorized script of corny jokes and puns.

I think it is an enriching, entertaining and educational experience for young people, and for us adults too, to watch wild animals in their native habitat. The people who stay in our condos often tell me that they have enjoyed the excursions and that their children have returned home with enthusiastic stories to tell their friends of seeing crocodiles, monkeys and other animals in the wild.

For more photos of animals in the wild, at least the coral reef version of underwater wildlife, you may enjoy checking out our Viva la Voyage travel photo website. This week we have posted underwater photos from Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, west of French Polynesia.

Safety for the heron

Fortunately, the crocodile was more interested in going into the water than attacking the heron. Maybe the bird consists of too much feathers and bones and not enough meat to interest the crocodile.

I suspect that the bird knew that the crocodile would not attack it, as it did not fly away, or even walk down the river bank, as the crocodile moved along side the bird and then went into the water.

Tomorrow I will show you 32 of the 64 reasons that this bird should be pleased that the crocodile went right past the bird and into the water.

Today is Sunday, so we have posted new photos on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week, we have photos from the Cook Islands. We have featured some underwater photos because in the South Pacific, the beauty that you see above ground does not even scratch the surface of the beauty below sea level.

Is the crocodile moving in for the kill?

As we watched the crocodile lurking in the underbrush along the muddy river bank, the crocodile slowly slithered through the mud towards the heron.

I felt like I was watching one of the episodes of the old television program Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Where was the voice of Marlin Perkins calling to Jim Fowler, 'The heron could make a tasty lunch for the ravenous appetite of the relentless predator crocodile, whose sharp teeth and gaping mouth would devour the bird in one lightening quick strike."

Did the bird see the crocodile? Should we interfere with mother nature and shout at the heron to alert her to the danger? Answers tomorrow.

Danger lurks

Here is the crocodile that was lurking just to the right of the heron in yesterday's photo. Would this cold-blooded killer move in closer? Would the heron escape? You will have to return to this blog tomorrow and the next day for the answers.

Our boat in the Tempisque River in Palo Verde National Park idled in the river so we could watch this episode of nature play out live in front of us.

Crocodile lurking below

I took this photo exactly 12 seconds after the photo of the bird posted yesterday (as shown by the time data of my digital camera). With a crocodile like this lurking in the water, it is smart for the bird to be very careful when walking on the branch that extends over the water.

During a wildlife boat trip in Palo Verde National Park recently when this photo was taken, we saw dozens of crocodiles, all from the safety of a boat.

Today is Sunday, so we have again posted new photos on Viva la Voyage, our travel photo site. This week we are featuring photos of Papeeta, Tahiti. If you have not stayed in an over-water bungalow, come visit the website and enjoy the view.

Heron watching his step

This bird is walking very carefully across this branch in the Tempisque River in Palo Verde National Park. Why? Tomorrow I will show you a photo that I took exactly 12 seconds after I took this photo. It will show why this bird has a very good reason not to make a misstep on this log.

Mangroves in the estuary headwaters

We are now in the headwaters of the Tamarindo estuary. Unlike the wide expanse of water shown the last two days, we are now snaking through narrow waterways of still water lined with dense mangroves.

Most of this area is wonderful habitat for wildlife, but impassible for humans. The mangroves are so thick that it would be impossible to get out of the boat and try to walk through them.

I have read some articles about how mangroves are depleted in the southeastern USA because of the population growth of Florida and development of coastal areas. Costa Rica has set aside 25% of its land area as national parks and wildlife refuges, more than any other country.

Although Tamarindo has grown a lot in recent years, it is comforting to know that on the northern edge of town there is a large natural area such as what you see in this series of photos, set aside for wildlife, and on the southern edge of town is the Langosta estuary, whcih is not as large but is also a mangrove estuary.

If you missed yesterday's post, this is a little reminder that we did a new post on Sunday on our travel photo site, which is vivalavoyage.com and this week we are showing photos of Buenos Aires.

Low tide in Tamarindo estuary.

You can tell that it is low tide in the estuary by the gap between the water level and the trees. We are still in the wide part of the estuary, heading from the mouth by the ocean up into the backwaters, which I will show tomorrow.

At the right edge of this photo there is a hint of the dominant vegetation to come, which are the mangrove trees that I mentioned yesterday.

Our Tamarindo estuary tour took several hours. It included a stop and a walk through the forest as well as the boat ride gliding through the still waters and looking for wildlife.

Today is Sunday, so my wife and I have a new post on our Viva la Voyage travel site. Today we are featuring one of our favorite cities, Buenos Aires, Argentina, including a few photos that show the pulsating action of the city. It is quite a contrast to the slow pace of life in the Tamarindo estuary.

Las Baulas National Park

When I began the series of aerial photos of the Tamarindo area taken from the gyrocopter a couple of weeks ago, I showed a few photos of the Tamarindo estuary. The estuary is part of the Las Baulas de Guanacaste National Park, which also includes the leatherback turtle nesting grounds on Playa Grande and a marine sanctuary in the waters off shore.

This is the sign for the La Baulas National Park posted on the side of the road as visitors enter Tamarindo. The park office is only about 2 minutes form the center of Tamarindo. You can walk along the beach from the main part of Tamarindo beach to the entrance of the Tamarindo estuary.

As shown on this sign, there are a variety of activities in the park. I will next share with you a series of photos from the estuary tour. The turtle tours mentioned on the sign are led by park rangers at night during the nesting season from October to March.

The park and estuary form the northern border of Tamarindo. The park protects 379 hectares (936 acres) of land and 22,000 hectares (54,000 acres) of ocean habitat.

Las Baulas translates to English as the leatherbacks. THe full name of the park in Spanish is Parque Nacional Marino La Baulas de Guanacaste.

Playa Grande & the Tamarindo Estuary from the air

Here is the first photo from my son's gyrocoptor aerial tour of Tamrindo. This shows the mouth of the Tamarindo Estuary, with the beach of Playa Grande running to the left and the estuary snaking behind it on the right.

Playa Grande and the Tamarindo Estuary are part of the Las Baulas National Marine Park. The beach at Playa Grande is the primary nesting site for the endangered Pacific leatherback tortoises. They swim to Tamarindo from the Galapagos Islands to lay their eggs.

If you enlarge the photo and look closely, you may be able to detect that there are some homes and small hotels nestled within the trees near Playa Grande. That is the site of a major environmental controversy over the boarders of the park and whether private property near the beach should be purchased by the government to protect the beach (and, of course, at what price should the land be purchased).

As I have mentioned before, Costa Rica prides itself on having a larger percentage of its land set aside for national parks and wildlife refuges than any other country -- 25%. The country has many needs for government expenditures, including roads and other infrastructure. Spending tax money to buy expensive beachfront land, primarily from foreigners, is difficult. On the other hand, some international environmental groups have put pressure on the government to proceed with expropriating land, otherwise they have threatened to withhold funds from conservation initiatives underway or planned.

Landowners have challenged the government's right to take their land, but my understanding is that earlier this year the court has ruled that the government has the authority to do so. This is a difficult issue and the position of both sides undoubtedly has merit.

As you can see from this photo, Playa Grande and Tamarindo Estuary are a beautiful area. With all of the growth and development in recent years in Tamarindo, which you will see in some fo the upcoming aerial photos, I think it is worthwhile to have areas set aside for wildlife and conservation close to Tamarindo. And the pristine area shown in today's photo is indeed close. The town and beach of Tamarindo are right below the spot from which this photo was taken, as the mouth of the estuary is a very popular place for surfers.

Empty Crocodile Mouth

Here is an empty crocodile mouth about to chomp on some food.  The worldwide Daily Photo Theme for July 1 is "empty," so I thought this would be a Costa Rican version of that theme.

I took this photo while on a wildlife boat cruise in Palo Verde National Park.  We saw probably 40 or 50 crocodiles in the wild on that trip, which took about 90 minutes or so.  At one point, the boat operator stopped and held out some chicken parts to feed one of the crocodiles.   

I did not use a telephoto for this photo.  In fact, I had the opposite problem.  In some of my photos the crocodile jumped up right out of the frame where my camera was pointing.  We were safely within a boat that was large enough for about 20 people, but we could have reached out and touched the crocodile if we had been so foolish. 

Needless to say, the river where this photo was taken is in a different area than the river where we were doing the river tubing trip.

Tomorrow I will show the runner up of a photo that I considered for the theme of "empty."  It is completely different.

"Click here to view thumbnails for all participants" in the City Daily Photo Theme Day.

A monkey and my mother-in-law

This is a photo of a white-faced Capuchin monkey and my mother-in-law.  My mother-in-law is on the right.  (OK, I know, that was cruel and cheap, but she is used to my sense of humor and I think her computer is broken right now anyway.)  

Wildlife boat excursions are popular for visitors to Tamarindo.  The boat tour operators bring fruit for the white-faced Capuchin monkeys, and they will hop on the boat and take food directly from your hand.  In this case, the monkey reached out to touch and lean on Glenda's hand, even when she was not feeding the monkey.  

This photo was taken while on a wildlife boat trip on the Tempisque River at Palo Verde National Park.  I have previously posted some close up photos of the monkeys, which you can find under the index tab for monkeys.  I thought that this photo would give a perspective on what the wildlife tours are like.

By the way, to place my little joke at my mother-in-law's expense into perspective, I should add that she flew down with me to Costa Rica from the USA and my wife was supposed to join us the following day, but an emergency arose at work and my wife stayed back in the USA.  That left me -- oops, excuse me, that gave me the opportunity and pleasure -- of hosting my mother-in-law in Costa Rica for a week's vacation.  Just the two of us.  

I have travelled with her on other trips on which she has joined my wife and me, including about half of our honeymoon in France!  I never let her forget that, because it gives me license to have fun at her expense including, hopefully, on this website.