At our most recent meeting we were pleased to welcome Paul Alistair Collins, who shared his experiences of Panama's rainforest.
©Alistair Paul Collins
During his time working on television reality shows set in Panama, he started exploring the rain forest, discovering an old, derelict communication tower, built in the 1960s. This has been renovated and now is at the heart of the Soberania National Park, and is used as an eco-lodge.
(All the following pictures are Copyright: Paul Alistair Collins)
This is the canopy tower, as it is now. It is an ideal location to see the hundreds of birds that live in the different levels of the rainforest. From the ground such birds are difficult to photograph, and to capture the variety of colours and forms, whereas from the higher levels of the tower their full glory can be revealed.
Toucan
Woodnymph
Hummingbird
Trogon
At different heights within the forest sloths can be seen sleeping in the trees and there are butterflies and frogs. The butterflies are territorial and can be seen fighting one another. The Glass Frog has transparent skin and it is possible to see the stomach through the skin.
Sloth
Butterflies
Glass Frog
Down at ground level there are relatives of many familiar bird groups, such as the gallinule, related to the moorhen.
Gallinule
You can visit Paul's website to see more pictures, and explore other locations where he runs workshops for photographers:
https://www.paulalistaircollins.co.uk/