Michael & Patricia Fogden

Natural History, Dec, 2000

One of us (Michael) began as an Oxford University ornithologist studying birds in Sarawak, Malaysia, while the other (Patricia) is a mammalogist who originally specialized in bats. We still tend to think like scientists and occasionally publish papers in scientific journals. For the past twenty years we have lived in a mountaintop home next to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica.

We're most interested in documenting animal ecology and behavior--the ways in which animals feed, reproduce, and escape predators and how they interact with plants to their mutual advantage. We did one project on rainforest snakes, covering everything from constrictors to vipers. Snakes are specialized feeders. Many predators will take a wide variety of prey, but some species of snakes feed exclusively on other snakes, others want only rodents, and still others concentrate on snails or scorpions.

Another project concerned the reproductive strategies of frogs. Most people think of them as tied to water, but a great many frogs are independent of water. Some lay their eggs in damp leaf litter, some create nests of foam, and some even carry their eggs or tadpoles in pouches on their backs. Many have evolved elaborate forms of parental care.

Currently we are photographing hummingbirds and their flowers. Everyone knows that the exchange of nectar for pollination benefits both bird and flower, but the myriad adaptations that enhance the relationship are a never-ending source of wonder.

We are naturalists first and photographers second. We love nothing better than to wander in the forest without cameras and just watch what's going on without having to worry about photography. In fact, some people are shocked to find that we don't particularly like taking pictures.