The Traveling Widower

Tag: wildlife

Includes posts about whales, hummingbirds, or anything specific to viewing wildlife

  • Hot and Humid in Costa Rica

    A smiling male photographer stands in a lush green jungle, wearing a t-shirt and carrying a backpack. He holds a camera in his hand and is surrounded by tropical foliage.
    Not me, my Avitar, AI generated

    March 25th, 2026

    It’s hard to believe that the trip is almost over – time really does fly sometimes. And I am so looking forward to waiting in line for hours at the Houston airport next Sunday.

    On Tuesday night, we sailed over the border from Panama to Costa Rica, and were given instructions by the trip lead to change the clocks on our phones and computers to stay on Panama time, rather than setting back an hour. Since the ship goes back and forth between time zones each trip they stick with the Panamanian zone to avoid messing up the crew shift schedules. We docked in Golfito in the morning, and let passengers wander into the (very) little town. Nothing was open. Of course, it was only 8AM on Costa Rica time.

    The town of Golfito is in the Golfo Dulce (Gulf of Golfito/Golfito Bay), the deepest gulf in the world. If you are interested in geographic trivia, now you know. The plan for the day was to do either kayaking or Panga rides along the Mangrove trees at the edge of the rainforest. I chose the lazy route – a Panga ride. I was hoping for a lot of wildlife, and carrying a heavy expensive camera in an open kayak did not seem like a particularly smart idea. The second outing for the day was a visit to private rainforest property, which was great for bird watching and photography. Woo Hoo.

    One interesting feature of this part of Costa Rica is that this gulf sort of blocks the wind, so you get a lot of rain, and the humidity and heat can be unbearable. Not Woo Hoo. You can tell immediately when you wake up that it is going to be humid – all the windows are fogged up.

    Two round portholes on a ship, one displaying a warm sunset glow and the other showing a foggy exterior view.

    For some reason, this area is a haven for the ultra wealthy. Jeff Bezos had his yacht here the other week. When we pulled in today, Mark Zuckerberg’s super-yacht was docked across the way. And then this huge, weird looking ship with a helipad midship, pulled in. This also belonged to Zuck. It carried all his toys – like a helicopter, a small sailing yacht, and a small submarine. There were probably a few cars as well. I guess if you have it, you flaunt it. 

    The first outing on Wednesday was nice and relaxing – it was hot and humid, but the panga’s have tops over the seated area,  and it was pretty nice when we were moving around at high speed. We cruised along the mangrove shores for an hour, hoping to replicate the experience we had with the Monkey Islands in the Panama Canal. Not even close unfortunately. We did see a few birds and a snake, but that was about it. It was still a nice ride – the jungle is beautiful, and it was really nice being out on the water. And I did get some very nice shots of a white egret and three-colored heron.

    Lush green tropical forest with palm trees among dense foliage.
    A white heron perched on a branch above calm green water, surrounded by lush greenery.
    A blue-gray heron standing on a branch among lush green leaves, near still water.
    A white bird standing on a branch over calm green water, poised as if about to catch fish, surrounded by lush green foliage.

    The next outing required sailing across the bay, which we did over lunch. By then, it was getting really hot and humid. Miserable is the word that comes to my mind. The landing was on a rocky beach, and it was a wet landing meaning you have to get your feet wet walking from the boat in the surf to dry land. I brought the wrong water shoes, and had to do a step-ouch-step dance up to the sand. The place we landed in had a bunch of Macaws overhead in the trees, but I was too busy changing shoes to get the camera out, so I missed the photo op. When we were all set, a bunch of us were assigned to one of the local guides, and off we went on our hike through the gardens. 

    It’s kind of hard trying to describe this place – it is a huge (500 acres) family owned property, which borders a national park. It’s a jumble of hiking and walking trails, with chicken coops, ponds (with a resident Cayman), native plants, and areas where pineapples, coffee, cocoa and other fruits are grown. The jungle surrounds everything’s, so you don’t feel like it’s a plantation – the family maintains it as sort of a eco-tourism business. And there are all kinds of birds flying and screeching. It was an interesting experience – not too great for photography, so lugging my heavy camera and lens around was an effort. But I did get a few good photos….but not of the Macaws or Toucans. Darn.

    A colorful bird perched on a branch, featuring a green head, red chest, and black tail, surrounded by lush tropical foliage.
    A vibrant heliconia plant with bright red and yellow flowers, surrounded by lush green foliage.
    A group of chickens in a makeshift coop made of corrugated metal, surrounded by lush greenery and trees.
    A toucan perched on a mossy tree branch surrounded by lush green foliage.
    A close-up view of a crocodile's head partially submerged in water, with textured skin and a visible eye, surrounded by lush greenery.
    A brightly colored bird perched on a branch, featuring green, red, and gray plumage against a blurred green background.
    Two red macaws flying against a clear blue sky.

    I captured one short video worth sharing, something I’ve seen in documentaries, but never live – leaf-cutter ants. Very strange, and they are all over the place.

    After our hikes were over, we sat around re-hydrating for a while, watching the Macaws fly overhead (but never quite in range of my camera). Most of us were ready for A/C and a shower – I was pretty much drained at that point, so I did my ouch-dance across the rocks, and boarded a Zodiac back to the ship. 

    Two more days to go. And one last photo – high humidity usually leads to nice sunsets. Here’s one.

    Mark Zuckerbergs private yacht

    Peace.

  • Birds and Monkeys…and Keep Your Hands in the Boat!!

    A group of unusual, spiky insects clinging to a tree trunk in a natural setting.
    Bats!!! Really.

    March 22, 2026

    Remember all the time honored warnings your parents used to give you when you were young? “Don’t run with scissors or a knife in your hand”, “Don’t play in the street” or “Don’t talk to strangers”. Well, one of the warnings you get on cruises, when you go off on small boats for activities, is “Please keep your hands inside the boat”. Now I know why. I’ll fill you in on that in a bit.

    Today was the first full day of activity since boarding the ship. We passed into the canal the previous night, an experience I’ll cover in another post. This has been a very busy trip, and it has been hard to keep up with writing new posts. Lo siento. After passing through the locks, the ship passed into Gatun Lake, which was created during the development of the canals – at the time (early 1900’s), it was the largest man-made lake. It’s still huge – check out a map of Panama and you’ll see for yourself. The boat anchored in a quiet bay, which gave us most of the day to explore along the islands and rainforest national parks around us. In the morning, I opted for a visit/hike to the Soberania National Park, which is a haven for bird watchers. We had a 30 minute ride in Pangas (small boats) to get there, which was fast and fun – you get to pass huge LNG and container ships, making their transit through the lake portion of the canal. The lake is also a tourist attraction, so their are a lot of small boats buzzing around, and this particular morning, a bunch of dragon boat teams out practicing.

    A group of people paddling in a boat on a calm river with green trees lining the shore and a building in the background.
    Low-angle view of an industrial bridge with pipes running along the structure, reflecting in the water below, under a partly cloudy sky.
    A tall industrial structure reflecting in calm water, surrounded by greenery and a cloudy sky.
    A large cargo ship with colorful containers on deck navigates a calm body of water under a cloudy sky.
    Large cargo ship named Corvette sailing on water under a cloudy sky.

    There is of course history behind the big crane in one of the photos – it was purchased from Germany before WWII – it was built for maintaining U-Boats. It is sort of a museum piece, but they don’t know what to do with it. The railroad bridge we went under also has a lot of history – it crosses the main river which feeds the lake, and is part of the line which crosses coast-to-coast. When the water in the lake gets to high, even the Pangas can’t go underneath (unless everyone ducks).

    We headed to Gamboa, which for a long time was a thriving town when the US owned the canal, but is now a ghost town with just few businesses keeping the lights on. But it does get some tourist traffic for the rainforest park – birders, hikers and even some cyclists. Our groups were headed first to a large observation tower where you can climb 170 or steps to an observation deck above the forest canopy. Yeah, another spiral staircase, just like the Moaning Cavern. It was fun and a good test of my heart, but we did not see much in the way of wildlife. 

    View of a spiral staircase with a concrete surface and a surrounding mesh railing, leading downwards, surrounded by greenery.
    View from a platform overlooking a dense green forest, with wooden pathways visible below and a person walking on the path.
    A panoramic view of a lush green forest under a partly cloudy sky.

    After descending, I opted to return back to the other attraction for the morning – a hummingbird viewing station. Now that was more like it. There are quite a few species of hummers in the rainforest, but this time of year, fewer show up at the feeders since all the plants are flowering. Too much too earth. But, a bunch of them still buzz over to the visitor center for an easy meal. It was amazing to see so many hummingbirds dividing around the feeders – there are literally swarms of hummers flying around, and they had little button feeders if you wanted to have them feed out of your hand. Which of course I did. I had two hummers and about 6 wasps on my hand. I quickly abandoned that effort. I wasted a lot of shots on the feeders, but focused on the birds when they sat in the trees. I managed to capture some incredible images, probably better than what I got from the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum last year. The hummingbird pictured below is a White Necked Jacobin. There were two other species, but I did not get any good photos of them.

    A vibrant blue and green hummingbird perched on a slender branch against a blurred green background.
    A vibrant hummingbird perched on a twig, showcasing its shimmering blue and green feathers in a natural setting.
    A vibrant hummingbird perched on a branch, showcasing iridescent blue and green plumage.

    That was about it for the morning excursion (that word has new meaning of late…no bombs involved). I think we were all soggy from the humidity, but it was a really beautiful and enjoyable experience in the jungle.

    The afternoon off-ship activity was a bit easier on the body – boat rides around what are referred to as the Monkey Islands….for obvious reasons. There are large numbers of four different species of monkeys on the islands. Duh. The rain forests all over Panama and Central America have a variety of resident wildlife, including monkeys. When the river valley was flooded to create the Gatun Lake, all the peaks of high hills became islands, each with family groups of monkeys. There is lots to eat, so the monkeys stayed and the populations pretty much stay in their isolated world (although they do swim). 

    We went off on the Pangas again and just cruised close to shore, looking for movement in the trees. And there was a. Lot of that. The Mantled Howler Monkeys are the easiest to spot, and we found one family group that provided some good photo opportunities. We had seen (and heard them) in the morning – their sound was used to create the T-Rex roars in Jurassic Park. You can hear them from far away.

    Two monkeys resting on a tree branch surrounded by green leaves.

    The next ones we spotted were these cute little monkeys (Geoffrey’s Tamarin), right along the shore. Here’s the rest of the story I teased about. The naturalist invited me up to the bow of the boat, so I could photograph the little beasties better. As I moved in, I grabbed the side of the boat, not realizing that the driver was intending to just ram the boat into the trees. My hand became a bumper between the boat and a tree. Fortunately, I screamed (more like a very loud curse) and the driver backed off before my fingers were crushed. Not much damage done – it hurt a lot, but only my little finger was bruised, and a small amount of blood from a cut. I kept on taking photographs for the monkeys…..it was worth the pain. The naturalist was more upset than I was.

    A close-up of a monkey sitting on a tree branch, looking attentively to the side with a blurred green background.
    A close-up image of a monkey sitting on a tree branch, surrounded by green foliage.

    We kept on cruising after that, and spotted another species of monkeys (White-Throated Capuchin Monkey) a Snail Kite that posed for us, an Anhinga drying it’s wings, a small alligator and some incredible tiny bats (cover photo). 

    A close-up of a capuchin monkey sitting among green leaves and branches, with a contemplative expression.
    A Snail Kite decided to pose for us
    An Anhinga, drying it’s wings

    I spent an hour or two reviewing and curating a few of the photos – I could leave today and be very satisfied with the results. High hopes for the rest of the trip. And I’ll keep my hands in the boat from now on.

    Peace