Some animals I like just because of their names. Thus is the case with the Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine. I was lucky enough to come across this one early in the morning in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. Porcupines are primarily nocturnal so it was great to photograph this bristly beast in daylight. Even so, the light was very dim, but due to the fact that he/she was resting, I was able to use a slow shutter of 1/30th of a second with no worry of motion blur.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/30th of a second

This was the first of many coatis that I saw on my trip to Costa Rica back in March. These guys are pretty widespread throughout much of South and Central America and even range up into the southwestern United States. I had my camera on the ground when this one passed by, foraging in the leaves — most likely looking for crabs — in Corcovado National Park.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 250mm) ISO 3200, f/4 at 1/400th of a second

If you’ve looked into my Costa Rica gallery, you may have seen this shot before but I never posted it to the blog. This was the only time I’ve ever seen a mountain lion/puma/cougar (they’re all the same thing) in the wild. And she was only five feet away. She wasn’t five feet away when I took this photo — more like 40 feet — but she was five feet away when I first came across her the night before. It was the first time I visited Corcovado National Park down in southern Costa Rica. I arrived late in the day and had to hike for about an hour or so to reach a permanent tented camp on the beach. I had about an hour of good light left after setting up camp so decided to go for a hike in the rain forest that led down to the beach. The forest was very thick and I had my longest lens mounted to my camera so I decided to stop, take off my backpack and change to a shorter lens. As soon as I had my lens off my camera is when I felt a presence to my left and turned to see the puma. She had a dead white faced capuchin monkey in her mouth and was backing into the brush. I couldn’t believe my bad luck — the shot of a lifetime and I had a camera with no lens on it. The next morning I got up at about 4 AM and hiked through forest. Sure enough, I found the puma, but without the monkey. This is the one shot that I got before the puma turned and walked away.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second, Nikon SB-800 flash

I photographed these tent making bats on my second trip to Costa Rica, back in 2007. They get their name from the practice of constructing tents out of large leaves. Many bats will roost under one tent, sheltered from the tropical weather. These particular bats were roosting in the tree right next to my tent and were just getting ready to head out for the night. Contrary to the reputation of most bats, I find these guys quite charming looking with their furry little faces.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm f/5.6 manual focus lens, ISO 100, f/5.6 at 1.1 seconds

Baird’s Tapirs are the largest land mammals in Latin America. They aren’t particularly aggressive, however, and act more like a docile cow as they forage in the rain forest. This one had no idea that I was lying on the ground just in front of him and he kept coming toward me, nose sniffing the ground, searching for fresh leaves to eat.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 70mm) ISO 3200, f/2.8 at 1/100th of a second

This is one of the many tree frogs that I met on several night walks in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. I’m not sure of the exact species (if you do, please let me know). He was a little guy, but seemed to have a big personality as he boldly peered into the front of my macro lens.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 105mm macro lens, ISO 200, f/16 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-900 flash units

These two scarlet macaws seemed to be having a pleasant conversation high in the canopy of Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. Scarlet Macaws mate for life, so maybe they were discussing plans for the future.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second

It ended up being a good day for the snake and a very bad day for the lizard, but for a moment it looked quite the opposite. The green rat snake was obviously trying to eat the whiptail lizard, but the lizard put up a good fight and at one point actually had a bit of a strangle hold on the snake. Eventually, however, the snake was too much to handle and nature did what nature does. This was taken in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica — not on my recent trip but on a previous trip back in 2007.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/125th of a second

My guide in Costa Rica told me that this was a lineated woodpecker, but further research leads me to believe that it is actually a pale billed woodpecker. The pale bill and almost uniformly red head being the giveaways. Both birds are very large, although the pale billed is even larger, averaging about 15 inches in length. These birds can be found from northern Mexico, south to Panama.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/2000th of a second