Apr 09 2009
Skywatch Friday: Sunrise Over Pilchicocha
The view east as we were leaving Sacha Lodge, 30 March 2009. For more sky photos from around the world, check out Skywatch Friday.
Archive for the 'Travel' Category
Apr 07 2009
Papallacta Pass 1: Hunting the Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe
The morning of March 10, 2009 was my first in Ecuador and I was in a distinctly unusual and not entirely comfortable situation. In 5 short days, I would commence co-leading a 2 1/2 week birding tour around a country with one of the most complex avifaunas in the world, yet I’d never been there [...]
Apr 03 2009
Cuter Sapsuckers
Don’t get me wrong…sapsuckers are cute. But in the Amazonian forest surrounding Sacha Lodge, I made the acquaintance of a sap eater that frankly blows our nifty little woodpeckers right off the tree in the cuteness department. Say hello to my little friend: Behold the Pygmy Marmoset–the world’s smallest monkey. How small? Well, according to [...]
Mar 26 2009
I Will NOT Call this Post “El Cóndor Pasa”
Andean Condor soaring into the clouds below Papallacta Pass, March 25, 2009
Mar 19 2009
One and a Half Hours at Mindo Loma
No hope of even beginning to catch up on Ecuador stuff, but I thought I’d share some of an incredible hour and a half we spent yesterday afternoon. It was after lunch, in the cloud forest near Mindo, Ecuador. The shot below is reasonably representative of the habitat. We turned off the highway into the [...]
Mar 18 2009
The Tapir is Here, if You Would Like to Come See It
From March 10-15, I had the rare pleasure of spending most of five days in the lovely cloud forest at Cabanas San Isidro, tucked into the east slope of the Ecuadorian Andes at about 2200 meters. I have very little time to share any of the many wonderful things I got to see and do [...]
Mar 09 2009
Adams County Weekend
Liz & I had a great weekend in southern Ohio, where I was a speaker at the 6th annual Adams County Amish Bird Symposium. The venue is certainly unusual–a spacious barn with power provided by a diesel generator. The shot above was taken during the lunch break. The audience was amazing–energetic and attentive during a [...]
Mar 06 2009
Night at the Museum
Last night, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club in Philadelphia. DVOC meets in pretty sweet digs: the Academy of Natural Sciences, especially when they are able to use the main auditorium, which they were last night. I gave my presentation on Kingfishers & their Allies, which seemed to go [...]
Mar 02 2009
The Many Uses of Spanish Dagger
Take a look at the landscape below. What can you tell me about the environment depicted? It’s a desert, or at least a dry habitat, right? The plain in the foreground, anyhow–who knows what the climate is like in the mountains? But the tall, spiky yucca plants at front right tell you, just as [...]
Feb 27 2009
Mexico Red and White and Green
It occurred to me one day during my recent trip to Mexico that I was taking a lot of pictures of red things, often with green and white as background or accents. Hmmm, I thought, I should get a good shot of Mexico’s flag–it would make a nice introduction to a blog post featuring those [...]
