Pura Vida! Ancients in the Tarcoles

Currents of Life, Rivers of Change               11 July 2013

Juvenile Fasciated Tiger Heron, Sarapiqui River, Costa Rica

Rivers shape our world.  Seasonal floods recharge the landscape with nutrients, and animals readily use rivers as food-rich corridors for dispersal and migration.   Humans are no exception.  Our largest cities often build upon rivers, and human cultural epicenters have been defined by the character of the rivers upon which they grow. In so many ways, rivers drive the evolution of life on earth.

Abstract Waters, Sarapiqui River

Great-tailed Grackle, Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Great Egret, Tarcoles River

Some are clean, some are turbid, some are swift, some are slow, and some have been nearly loved to death. Each major river has its own current, its own course, and its own natural history to tell.  Naturally muddy, crystal clear, or ravaged by agricultural runoff and urban effluent, the assemblages of plants and animals along a river, both visible above the surface and hidden below, represent a collection of interdependent adaptations unique to the river and ever sensitive to the changes along the watercourse.

American Crocodile, "croc walk", Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

American Crocodile, View from the Bridge, Tarcoles River

Amid rivers of change, crocodiles have changed very little.  Here since before the dinosaurs, crocodiles have transcended the eons, witnesses to mass extinction after mass extinction.  They can scavenge as well as ambush, can fight off the most brutal of bacterial assaults with blood rich in natural antibiotics, and they can go without food for over a year.  In a strange twist of fate, the success of human beings along the rivers of the world holds the potential for being the first catastrophic change crocodiles will be unable to survive.

While the American Crocodile is very large, capable of attaining weights of a ton and lengths of over six meters, it is not larger than human industrial change. And while it is also very dangerous, sometimes taking human life without feeling, it is a rich and mysterious part of the Earth's history that is in greater peril by the hands of humankind.   In recent years, conservation biology efforts around the world have rallied around crocodiles and alligators and, in some places, have helped restore an ancient beauty to the life of the river.

American Crocodile

The Tarcoles River in Costa Rica hosts some of the greatest density of large crocodiles in the world, and certainly in the Americas.  In some places, more than fifty crocodiles inhabit a square mile.  Ecotourism dollars are dollars well spent.  When a local economy thrives because people give money to see the beautiful and fascinating animals of a wild ecosystem, the incentive to protect the resource is great.  Paying local guides is one way to support protection of wildlife, but there are also unusual guardians.  At the head of the bridge above the Tarcoles River, a bustling fruit stand benefits continually from giant crocs.  The fruit stand provides a place for people to park cars before walking out onto the narrow bridge.  With such a great diversity of unusual and inviting fruits, dried foods, jellies and a line of colorful sarong fabrics, money quickly changes hands. A steady run of new customers will park and arrive minute by minute, day by day, so long as there are crocodiles to see in the waters below.  The fruit stand employs a very sincere guard to watch over parked cars while tourists are away, and so the masses walk out to pay their respects to an ancient and impressive ambush predator. As much out of thanks as out of curiosity, people return with a smile and head to the fruit stand.  As the crocodiles live their lives in the river below, a fast flow of cash seems to ensure some kind of a future for the flow of life on the river below.  Do currents of currency ensure currents of wild waters?

As much as crocodiles have survived change, durable through all that nature can deliver, they now serve as a protector of the wild.  In a strange twist, it is this same human species that has threatened them the most that will work to protect them in the future.  Through such protection, the crocodiles become a financially motivating keystone species.  So, while the crocs have witnessed so many extinctions over the millions of years, they are perhaps now unwitting agents of extinction prevention.  So long as there are crocodiles in the rivers, money will change hands at a rate that may encourage the protection of those rivers and their ecosystems.  In the right light, done in a sustainable way, the health of an economy will lead to its environmental prosperity.

All images were made with a refurbished Canon 7D and 300mm f4L IS lens, and a Canon 28-135 IS lens. A Canon electronic cable release and Gitzo basalt tripod with ball head were used to make the long exposures of the tiger heron on the Sarapiqui River.  Special thanks to all in Costa Rica who continue to protect the wild!  

Snow, Cold, Beauty All Around

And the Snow Grew Deeper Still...            21 February 2014

Along the Saint Croix River, deer beds are low, deep in the snow.  I imagine the insulation of three feet of snow must work wonders against the bitter, relentless subzero cold.   As I encounter each deer bed, my snowshoes tower above the tiny swirl of leaf litter in the basin of the bed.  The deer must be barely visible, if visible at all when bedded, a tiny black nose or soft ears poking just above the skim of white powder. My fears of Winter's ability to decimate the herd are fading quickly. This is a warm shelter that must rival a well-made quinzhee hut.   Indeed there are are good numbers of deer along the river, despite fifty days this winter with waking temperatures far below zero Fahrenheit (-18 C).

When the winds blow, even the winter-hardened, skillful hunter retires to hibernation.   On calm days, I venture out on snowshoes to see what stirs and to feel some connection with the bitter cold.  While birds are scarce this year, otters have decorated the snow with endless trails along frozen bays skirting the open water seeps.  There is life here and there in the frozen quiet calm.

These images were made with a refurbished Canon 7D and 300mm f4L IS lens.  The header image was made using a Nokia Lumia 928 phone with Carl Zeiss optics.  No fingers were lost in the making of this blog.

Open Water

Subzero Life Around the Currents                     27 January 2014

Bald Eagle, Mississippi River bluffs, subzero temperatures...

Wisconsin is a strange place in winter.  So long as the rivers flow, we will be witnesses to water in all of its forms when the temperature dips into the deep freeze.  Open water serves as a winter oasis for wildlife, and survival is assured for many species.

Hooded Merganser, female, over open water

Common Mergansers

Feet tucked in feathers, a Bald Eagle travels along the open water.

To the wildlife photographer, open water is a busy concentration of wildlife. To the waterfowl, it is a chance at overwintering, a hole in an otherwise frozen universe.   To the eagle, it is better odds, a source of captive prey.   As the winter moves along, the drama unfolds, shifts, and renews itself a thousand times over.

A young Bald Eagle tests mergansers and goldeneyes for weakness.

Young Bald Eagle, Canada Geese, Trumpeter Swans, and Common Goldeneye

The rare bird alerts repeat the contents of each open water oasis, some of them tinged with humor or regret. "For those wishing to see the Long-tailed Duck, I will save you the trip. It has just been eaten by an eagle," reads one report.   Nonetheless, I venture to the spot and watch with my breath held as young Bald Eagles attempt to dine on Common Goldeneye ducks.

The sun goes down, and I continue on for home where the furnace and family are equally warm and dim lights yield academic reflection of a world that can be brutally cold.

All images were photographed with my old Canon 40D and old Canon 300mm f4L IS lens, thrown in the van for days when unexpected photography may arise through serendipity.  Be well, and pursue life in every breath, in every cup of tea. 

Right at Home

-11 Fahrenheit and Plunging                   5 January 2014

Snowy Owl

A nationally famous Snowy Owl invasion year is upon us, and, with owls in good condition, this one isn't likely due to dwindling food supplies.  Perhaps it is a strong recruitment year in the owl populations of the eastern North American Arctic.  These images of one Arctic visitor were taken at Crex Meadows State Wildlife Area in Burnett County, Wisconsin.

The owl was spending some time along Dike 4 and 5 Flowage, right along the Main Dike Road.   I kept my distance and observed the owl from the gravel road for nearly forty-five minutes before the owl, as if hearing a distant call, focused intently on the southern horizon and finally lifted off toward the unbroken ice of Phantom Lake.  The owl's flight was as lovely as unusual.  There is no other bird on Earth that flies like a Snowy Owl, with giant wings bent at the wrist but held rigidly, then, defying all rigidity, dipping into a deep bow before springing back to the top.  It is almost as if a gull and an owl had shared flight engineering tips and swapped parts before the Winter migration...

Both images were made using a refurbished Canon 7D and 300mm f4L IS lens.  I used a Gitzo tripod and Canon electronic cable release.  No vehicles came down that wintery gravel road for the entire forty-five minutes I observed the owl (Yes, it is wild up here!)  To combat the strong North winds, I slung my camera strap over the top of my lens so that it wouldn't kite my camera into subtle shaking.  With wind-blown tears freezing in the corners of my eyes and some loss of physical control in my hands due to the cold, it was very hard to achieve critical focus.  While the tree made for a busy picture, I was very happy with the position of the crescent moon, barely visible in the image.  This was as good as it got for me!

Through a Different Lens

Trumpeter Swans in Wide Angle                       30 December 2013

A quick look at Trumpeter Swans from a new view, these images were made at 5 degrees below zero Fahrenheit and photographed using a GoPro Hero 3+ Silver. Open water remains where there is enough current, and these swans tend to overwinter here, though they do a mysterious disappearing act for a couple of weeks each year.   This day was spectacular in its beauty and its cold, but it also was a day where I learned to see things differently.  

Fancy Hats

A Gallery of Winter Birds       26 December 2013

Blue Jay

Winter brings a certain monochromatic lull to Wisconsin.  From a distance, the land is white with scattered shades of gray and black.  Even the balsam fir, bur oak, and sugar maple give the impression of blackness against the subtle tones of white snow.  Look more carefully, and you begin to see the deep greens of the evergreens, the scattered yellowing of lichens upon black ash, and the peachy orange of the paper birch.   Look even closer, and you find the deep red of the birches’ newest growth and the optimism of an aspen or a willow in the greenish yellow photosynthesis of young bark.  And then…there are the birds!

Red-bellied Woodpecker and a rare look at the red belly!

 American Tree Sparrow

 Downy Woodpecker

 American Tree Sparrow

 Tufted Titmouse

Northern Cardinals, Blue Jay and Red-bellied Woodpecker...winter color

Wisconsin’s winter birds are surprisingly colorful.  In the truth of their versatility, it could be said that each bird, each durable survivor of winter, must “wear many hats” in its ecosystem.  Equally, in art, each species of Wisconsin winter bird seems to be wearing a decorative hat!  Enjoy this gallery of fancy hats, the perked up, personality inducing, colorful and bold caps that adorn our most resilient permanent residents.

Blue Jay

White-breasted Nuthatch

Tufted Titmouse

Northern Cardinal

Oregon Dark-eyed Junco

Blue Jay and Downy Woodpecker

Mourning Dove and Winter

All of these images were made with a refurbished Canon 7D and Canon 300mm f4L IS lens.  These images were handheld, and the prior evening’s carbohydrate loading on chocolate and cookies provided the stability of arms against shivering cold. Peace on Earth!