Trinidad and Tobago Day 8: The Boas!

These boa constrictors get their own post. Seeing these guys in the wild was a huge highlight for both of us. There were two of them, assuming a male and a female who had just gotten done carrying on some important business. They were slowly emerging from a hole in the ground. The bigger one (most likely the female) was pushing 7.5 feet, the 'smaller' one about 7 feet. Wow! Totally awesome sighting! I could hardly contain myself. (They don't even fit in the frame in the shot below)

The male and female had significant color variations around their tails. Check out the macro shots of their skin and how different the skin is. They both had a really pretty blue sheen at certain angles. So gorgeous.

We watched them for about 30 minutes and I straightened them out so we could attempt to measure them - they're so smooth, I love the way snakes feel. (and did you know that snakes kind of smell good? Weird, but true). I've never had much of a fear of snakes - much to my parent's dismay when I picked up a copperhead at a young age- which is good, because having no fear means better photos! I used three different lenses for the pictures, including the macro.

They were extremely low key. Beautiful snakes.

Eventually, the female slowly snuck away into the forest, but the male took his time. Such a cool experience!

My World Tuesday and Abc Wednesday (C's for constrictor!)

Drenched Web

A drenched spider web at dawn. Wonder if the spider realizes how well his humble abode is decorated? Macro Monday

Mountain Laurel

Mountain Laurel - the best smellin' stuff you'll ever sniff- from Hill Country, Texas on a rainy day this past spring. We actually made this photo into a 'thank you' card for our wedding in August. The mountain laurel smells like grape koolaid, such a good smell! But the laurel bean is extremely poisonous to people and animals. And word on the street is that if you're in an enclosed area with the bloom, after a while, ya get a little tipsy and sick to your stomach. This stuff grows like crazy in the Hill Country and the past three field seasons, we would all happily bask in the goodness of the scent when it started blooming in mid-March. Today's Flower

Saturated

Flooded fields from earlier this week. Monochrome Weekly

Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw (and tail)

These pictures are a about a year old but they are some of my favorites. I was thinking of them recently, because they are pretty much the only good raptor shots I've ever gotten (other than a Black Hawk in Costa Rica). And lately, I've been a little frustrated with getting raptor photos so I thought I'd reminisce about these. They were taken in Tennessee, a block from my parent's house. Zac and I were on our way to Warner Park and this Red-tailed Hawk was standing over what appeared to be very fresh roadkill (a rabbit). It's a good thing it's a quiet neighborhood, or else these pictures never would have happened.

I was freaking pumped about getting sharp, full frame shots of his head! I realize some of the shots are rather grotesque and perhaps bothersome (hey, I'm vegan and love rabbits, it kinda grosses me out) but the guy's gotta eat, and this rabbit probably kept him fed for up to a few days.

I can't believe he let us approach him this easily and seemingly carefree. A few years before this, there was a juvenile Red-tailed on the bridge in the backyard. I didn't have the fancy camera gear yet, so I went out with my old Nikon film camera. I got within 5 feet of the bird, which was pretty crazy. I'd like to have the romantic thought that he is the same bird...

Thursday Challenge: Messy

Trinidad and Tobago Day 6: Little Tobago and Tropicbirds!

Skywatch Friday

Today was saw some pretty great stuff. We left for Speyside (the complete opposite side of the island, about a 1.5 hour drive) fairly early in hopes of getting to go to Little Tobago Island. We lucked out. We waited on the beach for about an hour before we hopped in the little boat. It was just us, the 'guide' (mediocre guide), and two uh, how do I put it nicely?...Well, I can't put it nicely. Two other people who got the big time thumbs down. I'll refrain from further comment.

Despite the other two people (blah!), Little Tobago was pretty awesome. The boat ride over was a ton of fun - holy speedy little trip! Thought we might fly outta the boat there a few times! The water was a little rough and the guy was having a difficult time docking it. So, we kinda jumped out into 4 feet of water and swam to the shore. Which was sketchy, because I had the camera gear, ya know? Somehow, the whole jumping into the water thing ended all right. Luckily, Zac is 6'4 so I passed it on to him when he was in the water. Yikes.

We took a short hike to the top and saw some Magnificent Frigatebirds, a few Brown Boobies, 4 Red-footed Boobies and roughly 75-80 Tropicbirds. Sweet!

There were two Tropicbird nests at the top of the ridge. They were pretty well hidden by the trees and branches but I got a headshot that is pretty cute. You gotta love birds on nests! These guys were, dare I say it- neat-o!

We stayed at the top for about 30 minutes (we could have stayed all day) and I tried desperately to get flight shots. For a photographer (and one who takes lots of bird photos), I'm really not a patient person. And flight shots are my nemesis. They make me insane, really. The ones in this entry were a few select ones out of probably 150. I deleted the vast majority of them. I actually really love the first two shots, despite not being crystal clear, and am more or less happy with the others, considering my usual (un)luck with the flight shots.

I didn't even take a picture of the view up there because I was so intent on getting a damn flight shot. That kind of bothers me but oh well. It's imbedded in my head at least. It was really cool to be up there watching all the birds. It was a horrifying drop off and looked like there were some some crazy currents at the bottom. Good stuff!

On the hike back down we saw an Audubon's Shearwater's burrow but there was no bird in it. I didn't know they nested in little ground holes though, so that was interesting.

We got back to the boat and dropped our two favorite people (please note sarcasm) off and then we went snorkeling for about 30 minutes. Again, not enough time in the water but it was still excellent snorkeling. This is one thing I regret about the trip: not bringing my snorkeling gear. We tried to go lightweight so I didn't bring it. I freaking love snorkeling! So, well, the logical solution now is to find a cheap ticket to Hawaii and just snorkel for a week. Zac agrees. It was his idea.

We eventually headed back to Crown Point, got some groceries, coffee and gorged on a tasty dinner of hummus, baba ganoush and rum and pineapple juice. Excellent.

(all pictures are of Red-billed Tropicbirds, other than the dark one, a Magnificent Frigatebird)

Blue Monday

Flash of Wings

(Golden-crowned Kinglet)

Bird Photography Weekly and camera critters

This Thing

I found this a couple years ago when I was working on Padre Island National Seashore (not my favorite place in the world). It was buried pretty deep in the sargassum seaweed. I can't seem to figure out what it is. Guessing something cetacean oriented, maybe inner ear related. But..I dunno. Pictures online didn't really mesh with that idea too well. One day I'll find out. I should bring it into the marine department at HSU here. Yes, that's what i should do.

Macro Lovers

Flooded Fields and a Couple Birds

Ah...so yeah, it's STILL raining. Slowly...going...crazy...quickly...going...crazy...Two days ago we made a break for it, thinking we might get a little time sans rain. Wrooong. We drove to north about 20-25 minutes, straight into some gnarly looking clouds. We saw at least 5 different rainbows. The skies were so confused: rainbows, low hanging black clouds, a few rays of so-called sun shining through. It was weird.

The water is still really high (not surprising) and many of the fields are still flooded. Check it out. That water is not usually there. The saturated fields made the shorebirds happy though, that's for sure. Tons of 'em! I got a picture of a killdeer and a Bonaparte's Gull. The gull had some messed up secondary feathers (probably from the weather) on his right side, but when he finally flew off, he was doing just fine. He was gorging himself on worms. We watched him for a while; he was thoroughly enjoying the grub. Watery Wednesday and Weekend Reflections