First photo

When Saima and I were in Mendoza, Argentina back in July 2007, we had a run in with some not-so-nice people.  Looking back, it was definitely a bad decision to walk to the bus station that evening, just as it was getting dark.  We turned a corner and found ourselves in a secluded area and before I knew it, there was an Argentinian thug ripping my camera from my neck.  I was left stunned - after all, it was my first time on that side of a robbery:)  Fortunately we were both unscathed.  After we regained our composure a distressing thought surfaced.  Every single roll of film that I had shot over our 4 weeks in Patagonia was in that camera bag.  Now that was what really hurt.

Since then we've been saying to ourselves that one day we'll go ahead and get a new camera.  Maybe even one of those fancy-shmancy digital SLRs.  It can be hard to justify, however, when you find yourself living somewhere like Hyattsville, Maryland.  Not that there aren't some great photo opportunities in Hyattsville.  Some adjectives that one might use to describe Hyattsville would be "gritty" or "raw."  I'll just come out and say it: I'd be afraid to walk around our town with anything worth more than about five bucks!  Interpret that however you want.

So I get this great job opportunity that sounds really interesting, dynamic, challenging, rewarding, AND it's located in Costa Rica of all places.  Hmmm, seriously?  So I finally had the excuse and after a little help from the Internal Revenue Service that so graciously returned some of my money that they had been watching for me, we decided it was time.

This is an exciting time to have a digital camera.  A photo is so much more than an image frozen in time nowadays.  You can mark the exact point on the earth where the photo was taken.  You can tag the photo with myriad labels and make your whole collection searchable.  Anybody in the world can find your images if you share them.  They can be posted on the internet in a number of ways, and passed around through social networks so that your parents are able to see photos of you from college...  I hope you're getting the picture - so much scope. 

Excerpt from a chat with Saima yesterday:

Me: "I saw an agouti, four snakes, a pair of great curasows, and a single female curasow just on a short walk up to Cerro Osa." 

Saima : "That's awesome.  I can't wait to see photos."

Me: "Errr, I ... didn't have the camera with me."

So today, Saima, this one's for you!

I heard this pair of macaws, referred to as lapas in this part of the world, fly over the clearing around 3 pm this afternoon.  Embarrassed by yesterday's amateur mistake of not having my camera and looking to redeem myself in the eyes of the two people who are following this blog (I actually thought it was up to four, and now it looks like it's down to two; no matter, one day I'll compile this into a book and probably sell at least three copies!), I grabbed the camera and headed across the field.  Fortunately, Fleur, a French researcher who has spent a lot of time observing macaws, was there to feed me some tidbits while the lapas munched through guavas.  She said that this was most likely a mating pair and that they have been spending some time in their nest cavity as evidenced by their bent tail feathers.  They like to nest in hollow tree cavities, but it gets a little tight in there so their tail feathers get bent.  You might also notice that both of the birds are eating with their left claw.  It turns out that for some unknown reason, the general rule is that macaws are "left-handed."  Interesting, huh?