COSTA RICA
Costa Rica has more than 800 bird species and many different biotopes, including rainforests and the exotic birds that inhabit them.
After completing close to 30 photo blinds in Hungary, I wanted to see if the same concept could work in another location. I set out with a small group of people to Costa Rica, a whopping 10,000 km (6,214 mi) away from my home village, with a plan to build functional, high-quality bird photo blinds.
As a result of our six-month building project, we completed a combination of blinds in the Laguna Del Lagarto area that offer good settings for photographing typical rainforest species—toucans, aracaris, honeycreepers, colibris, and King Vultures—in ideal settings. To attract the world’s most colorful vulture, the King Vulture, we built an underground blind and provided carcasses for feeding. And we built four more blinds to attract 15–20 species of birds daily, to within a good photography distance, with bananas and other fruits.
La Laguna Del Lagarto Lodge has 500 hectares of land, and 100 hectares of it is unmanaged rainforest. The lodge offers high-quality accommodations with phone connections (no Internet). You can find more information at www.hidephotography.com.
A view from inside the King Vulture blind. The blinds were built to offer comfortable working conditions.
The Keel-billed Toucan is popular among photographers who come to Costa Rica (Ramphastos sulfuratus)
Nikon D700, 300mm f/2.8, 1/1600 second, f/4.0, ISO 800, manual focus, Gitzo tripod and video head, blind. Costa Rica, 2010.
King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa)
Nikon D300, Sigma 300–800mm f/5.6, 1/400 second, f/7.1, ISO 800, manual focus, Gitzo tripod and video head, blind. Costa Rica, 2009.