At LA Carolina we were blessed to see the the Fruits Loops spokesperson Tuocan Sam. This was the first time I have seen a Tucan in the wild, I was pretty excited. I sure wish I had the K5 for some high ISO settings and some longer glass but you make due with what you have.

It was earlly morning , low light , this is where the K5 would have been handy (not to mention a 300 f4 or so ...)

#1



#2



After a while he finally came down to a more photo freindly roost !

#3




He posed for me here probably my best shot , however he forgot to wipe his mouth

# 4



Edit : forgot a couple with the versitile DA* 50-135


#5



# 6

[Bob Harris]

what wonderful shots you took, now I know why their bill is yellow. Thanks for sharing him with us. Bob

[slowpez]

Sam is a mighty handsome bird Dave. I really like the third one. You might want to introduce him to Otis.

[Scottnorwo]

Nice shots. Like the last one. one last look before he flies the coop

[Rupert]

Good looking shots! Love that last one! Beautiful bird....not comparable to a handsome Squirrel, of course, but still very attractive. Baby Otie gave him a peek and two paws up!
Regards!

Great looking shots Dave, I see your fine birdie.....and that stash of food!
[IMG] [/IMG]

[Sailor]

It's great to meet Sam after seeing his cousins - 3 and 6 are my favorites in this series. You guys sure did and saw alot on your trip.

Jer

[daacon]

what wonderful shots you took, now I know why their bill is yellow. Thanks for sharing him with us. Bob

ha thanks Bob indeed who knew ? I figured they would set out a bowl of milk and some fruit loops

Sam is a mighty handsome bird Dave. I really like the third one. You might want to introduce him to Otis.

Thanks Susan - Ottis owned that Peach earlier

Nice shots. Like the last one. one last look before he flies the coop

Thanks Scott yeah the closer I got ... eventually they said 'No Mas"

Good looking shots! Love that last one! Beautiful bird....not comparable to a handsome Squirrel, of course, but still very attractive. Baby Otie gave him a peek and two paws up!
Regards!
Great looking shots Dave, I see your fine birdie.....and that stash of food!

Thanks Rupert - Ottis and Co would have loved this area ... warm and food as far as the eye could see.

It's great to meet Sam after seeing his cousins - 3 and 6 are my favorites in this series. You guys sure did and saw alot on your trip.
Jer

Thanks Jer - that's our motto. We try when we travel to do and see as much as we can. I mean the time goes by in a blink of an eye - there is so much more there (might warrent a trip back methinks). We can relax back here in the GWN , it was a great holiday.

[Bob Harris]

One last question, is this a fairly common sight or did you feel lucky to see the toucans while you were there and do the locals eat Fruit Loops and is the cereal popular there, thanks Bob

[RobG]

I like some of these shots, but the colour balance seems to be a bit wrong in some of them - too much yellow. It looks like the saturation is a little too high maybe as well?

[kengoh]

Nice series and beautiful bird. Love the last pic.

[daacon]

One last question, is this a fairly common sight or did you feel lucky to see the toucans while you were there and do the locals eat Fruit Loops and is the cereal popular there, thanks Bob

It depends on what area you are in. On the coast where we stayed not so much. In the interior I can't really say. Certainly at the ranch where we stayed it was common as the owners set up a favorite treat. I mean I got within 5 feet of one. The only other place I saw one was at the Arenal Observatory (Volcano) where there was a guide with a scope spotter showing the masses this Toucan that was about 200 feet burried in the trees - then I felt extrenely privelged as I did not even look (but there werre lots of other species there). I belive 33% (or maybe 25%) of the country is Natural Parks which we never got to many of them so it may be more common in some of those areas. Tourism is huge we ran into one guide who was offered a University teaching position (for a tourism course).

Haha the other questions not sure I even saw one box of ceral the whole time I was there let alone Fruit Loops.

I like some of these shots, but the colour balance seems to be a bit wrong in some of them - too much yellow. It looks like the saturation is a little too high maybe as well?

Rob I think you are spot on with that comment. The more I look at them particularly #3 and #4 they are over processed. I have some workflow and presets , they may have gone through the wringer twice. Once on the little laptop I brought with me and once again on my home machine. Thanks for pointing that out.

Nice series and beautiful bird. Love the last pic.

Thanks Ken appreacite the comments.

[dcmsox2004]

boy, these beauties put our local birds to shame... dull in comparison.... dave m

[tessfully]

I love these photos and on my monitor they look true to colour values when I compare the things around the bird.

Wonderful shots!

[daacon]

boy, these beauties put our local birds to shame... dull in comparison.... dave m

Thanks Dave yeah no doubt come spring here the Geese,ducks and coots with the odd robin and Red winged Balckbird just won't seem the same.

I love these photos and on my monitor they look true to colour values when I compare the things around the bird.
Wonderful shots!

Thanks Tessfully I still think #3 and #4 could be toned down a bit - they were originally processed on my Baby Dell not much of a photo processing laptop.