After the worst journey i have yet to endure (as detailed in my “Gods Driven Crazy” thread!), I finally caught up with my friends on what would prove to be an amazingly exciting adventure and a truly wonderful experience over the next couple of weeks visiting a number of private estates, gardens, farms and Lodges in the cloud- and rain-forests in different parts of Costa Rica where I hoped to find and photograph the elusive Resplendent Quetzal or even a Jaguar.
The Toucans were out in force to greet me when I finally reached the very remote Laguna del Lagarto Lodge in the forests in the far north of Costa Rica just five miles short of the Nicaraguan border.
The Lodge (originally a private house which was later extended with several very comfortable guest rooms) is reached after a long drive through the rain on a dirt-road through pine-apple fields and protected wild forest.
The Lodge stands in its own extensive gardens and forest besides a river. Feeder stations have been set-up directly in front of its covered verandas so that even when it rains, (after all, these are Rain-Forests!) you can photograph in comfort and stay dry. The natural background is the soft green foliage of the forest and the staff keeps the feeders fully supplied with fruit so animals and birds of myriad species arrive in an endless stream to enjoy this bounty.
Two different kinds of Toucan (Keel-billed and Black-mandibled Toucans) and their boisterous and rather aggressive cousins, the Aracari, are among them:
