This is a Three-toed Sloth. Once a week they descend from their home in the trees to use the restroom on the ground. We were very lucky to find this fellow just as he was beginning his journey to the jungle floor.
As he came down the main trunk he took a wrong turn onto a large branch. When he got to the end of this branch he let go and hung down looking for another branch or perhaps the ground. From the time he let go, until he came back up and grabbed the branch again was 26 seconds (I checked the time stamp). During that 26 seconds I took 32 images. Hoping to get one where he was looking my way; making eye contact with the viewer in the final image. And that is what I got… one frame. In the other 31 images you can’t even see his eyes. Those 31 will all be deleted.
Don’t be afraid to hold the button down and smoke off some frames during a “rapidly” changing situation. It can be the difference between getting the shot or not. Back in the days of film when it cost 35 cents per frame this was a lot harder to do. Now in the digital age it cost nothing but a keystroke to delete the non-keepers.
Good Luck and Good Light!
Steve
Image: Three-toed Sloth, near Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica
