Costa Rica-one of the world’s wonders

2022 was a great year for Deb and I traveling; lots of great places and birds! The bad news is that I am far behind in my image processing. I am still processing pictures from Ecuador taken last August. Normally I do not “cheat” and skip ahead (we went to Costa Rica in November); I process the pictures in the order they were taken. By processing I mean running them through software that converts the image from a “raw” or digital format to a JPEG format that can be visualized on a computer or printed onto paper. During this conversion using a number of different programs, including Photoshop, the image can be enhanced-brightening, darkening, sharpening, etc. Depending on the image, that can take 5 minutes or it can take hours. This image was taken by Deb (and she became impatient to see it), and to us, it epitomizes Costa Rica; rivers, lakes, birds, rain forest, volcano, clouds. It was taken in northern Costa Rica at Cano Negro. During the wet season (which it was at the time of this image) the river floods and forms large lagoons on the surrounding flatlands. During the dry season these lagoons dry up trapping millions of fish. As the lagoons get smaller and eventually disappear, thousands of birds and alligators (Caiman) gather for the feast.
Taken with a Canon R7, 100-500 lens (at 100 mm).