Hi there! You visit often? Let me show you around these rocky crevices… This is a Sally Lightfoot crab, known by its technical name Grapsus grapsus (I don’t make this up – Wikipedia says its true). They live along the rocky shoreline where the turbulent ocean meets land, feeding mostly on algae and sometimes dead animals or marine life. They also appear to be quite photogenic! We are at Sheta Boka Park, Curacao.
She is a Blue Tailed Emerald Hummingbird – Chlorostilbon mellisugus – nesting in a palm tree next to the ‘people’ pool we were hanging at while in Curacao. Within her nest are 2 incredibly small eggs, and the nest itself is a mere two inches in height. I’m not as close to the hummingbird as it appears, using a zoom lens so as not to disturb.
This is one of the very last baby sea turtles to hatch and scurry its way to the sea. We came across him/her early in the morning with about 10 feet to go… and yes he/she made it to the ocean! We later found a bunch of nests up the beach where this and many others had come from the night before. You see this on National Geographic, but to observe it person is pretty sweet!
Yeah, this is an everyday occurrence! At first glance, one is incredibly surprised to see this California Sea Lion on the fishing boat’s stern, with a few guys taking photos… not normal. Then after 5+ minutes, you realize this might actually be a regular thing when the captain comes back with a fish for the mammal. Trained you wonder?
Life of leisure! This pair of California Sea Lions – male and female – are sunning themselves on a single large rock where the Pacific Ocean meets the Gulf of California, at the tip of Baja California Sur, Mexico.
On its way south this past September, this Monarch spent a day hopping between the flowers by the lake. Was very fortunate we could watch its activities while enjoying our early morning coffee and green tea.
According to internet blogs, the Gold Dust Day Gecko originated from Madagascar, and was introduced to Hawaii in 1974 by a university student. Bright green in color, it gets its name from the gold specs across its back. We saw this one at the airport sunny itself on a rock among passengers.
Credit my daughter for being able to pick out this chameleon. True to it’s name, its multi-shades of green made it hard to see at first. It was in a mid-size dense tree out front of a breakfast place we were eating at in Maui, Hawaii. This is my first chameleon to see and photograph in the wild, and can say I’m amazed at the horns, the ability for the eyes to look forward and backward at same time, and how the hands can grip a small branch so tightly. And yes, they do rock back and forth as they walk!
Growing up in the North, I thought iguanas were these exotic reptiles. The first time I saw one live in Mexico was fascinating… and then I saw another… and another… and… you get the idea. This handsome specimen preferred the shade of a palm tree by the pool.
How about this for excitement… Watching a jaguar eat a chicken’s foot from a human’s hand in the middle of the night! Belize’s Caribbean Wildlife Centre rehabilitates injured wild animals, and are known for their jaguar community.
