Good evening bloggers!  This morning I picked up our friend Sara who just arrived from the States and took her and the puppies to Saint Joris.  We walked a new loop today that went thru some of the most beautiful areas in Curacao.  Early into the walk we heard this screeching noise coming from high above our heads and looked up to see two big birds of prey the size of eagles literally floating in mid air.  I thought they were just Cara-Cara’s and they were so far above us that it was impossible to tell.  Well when I got home and looked at the photos I discovered we just saw some of the rarest birds on the island.  These are White Tailed Hawks and from what I learned there are less than 10 breading pairs on the island and less than two pairs on Aruba and Bonaire!  Cool huh?  I found out that they build nests in the tallest cactus so we are now going back out this week to begin the search for the nest.  As we continued our hike towards the ocean I shot a fun cactus panoramic and also came across a beautiful American Kestrel sitting in a cactus right along the trail.  We hung out with him for a bit until we got distracted with other birds and even an area filled with caves, it was turning out to be a great morning.  I took Sara to our little beach with all the junk, we even found the same Curacao hat that was still there from last week when I took that silly shot of Indi laying behind it.  My find of the day was a nice yellow bucket!  It’s a guy thing!  I have had friends in the States that would be driving down the interstate at 75mph and spot a bucket along side the rode during a blizzard and go back for it, they mean that much to us!  I even once saw an experiment where they asked 25 guys what would you rather have, a night out with a beautiful woman or a dozen buckets??  I think all of them took the women but hours later wished they had taken the buckets!  Seriously ladies if you are ever lost on what to get your man, grab a bucket and watch his eyes light up!!  Sara found it funny that I was so excited out the bucket today but they are so useful.  After our treasure hunting at the beach we continued our hike stopping only to check for any more kitty’s at the top of the mountain but none were to be found.  After a brief search we worked our way back down the slippery slopes and finally to the waiting car, it was a great two hour trip! 

 

I burned up the rest of my day building some driftwood items, going shopping and yes dear cleaning up my computer room!  We are still waiting for UTS to come out and fix out internet problem, it’s so difficult and frustrating trying to get things like this done here!

 

We just got finished having another great dinner on the grill and watching American Idol, Aimee has the kitty on her lap and the dogs are ready for bed, see you tomorrow, Barry

Good evening gang, Aimee and I both worked today, she got to play and work with dolphins and I took pictures was a very busy day! 

 

Your photo this evening is another from Klein Curacao.  As I was walking back along the beach I came across this old unused pier that was completely filed with these beautiful Royal Terns!  The pier was close to 30 feet long and was parallel to the shore.  I took a bunch of photos all in order to stitch together for a panoramic, not sure how it will look when finished but I think it may be pretty cool.  I just sat there watching as these guys just stood with their heads into the wind just hanging out being fairly quiet. 

 

I made dinner reservations at a new place called El Gancho so I need to get moving.  Hope everyone is well, again thanks for all the photo comments in the past few weeks, you guys are great!

 

See ya, Barry

 

03-30-2009

Good evening from a little place called Curacao!  I was just thinking before we came here I never even heard of this island??  And I can still remember Aimee getting that phone call from our friend George asking if she was still interested in a dolphin job and the look on her face when she hung up.  We both had to get a World map out and find this place, Bonaire and Aruba you always here about but Curacao, most people can’t even say the name correctly? 

 

As promised here is another hummingbird photo for you, this time mamma feeding her just born babies.  I think Cival and I were both shocked when we saw how far momma stuck her beak down the babies throat to feed, you really almost have to see it to believe it!  In the time we were there we watched mamma feed her babies three times and after each feeding she would then lay on them for around ten to fifteen minutes.  As you can see the baby doesn’t even have it’s eyes open yet.  We also noticed that when the babies poop they push their butts up and over the edge of the nest and poop out of the nest, that’s what you call early potty training!!  Not sure what mamma was feeding them but it was in liquid form.

 

That’s about it, felt terrible this morning but a bit better now.  Talk to you tomorrow, Barry

03-20-2009

Good evening friends, still fighting this stupid cold but had a fun day just the same.  Aimee called me this morning from another part of the island saying she saw some young flamingo’s wading in the water close to the road.  So I quickly ran over to my friend Cival’s house, picked him up and away we went.  When we got there we found the flamingo’s but they were now to far away to get a nice shot.  I tried walking out in the water to get closer but the mud was to deep and almost lost my shoes in the process.  There must have been well over a hundred adults and twenty youngsters.  The adults were glowing pink and the youngsters were a whitish grey color and we noticed that none of the young ones were in the main group they were always on the outside by themselves?  So after that little adventure and a bunch of driving around we headed back into town.  Cival sent me some photos a few days ago of a hummingbird that was now nesting in a palm tree at his grandmas house so figured we would go shoot that instead.  When we got there I was thinking, ok this is a nesting hummingbird so it’s most likely going to have a nest that is very well hidden and will be tough to shoot.  Boy was I wrong!  This beautiful momma has made a nest about four feet off the ground right along his Grandma’s main walkway on the top of the highest palm leaf and seems to have no fear of humans at all.  We set up our cameras and tripods about a foot and a half from her nest and she could have cared less?  We watched for hours as she fed her two babies and sat on them as you see here, yes under her are two live babies, will send that shot tomorrow, it’s so cool.  The tiny nest was built from every possible thing you could imagine, I even saw many pieces of hair, fabric and cotton.  Many thanks again Cival, I had a great time can hardly wait to show her to Aimee on Sunday! 

 

That’s about it, not feeling so great now.  Bye, Barry

 

03-19-2009

Good afternoon all, I am home sick today with a cold or something, again so many people at work are sick so it’s kind of like “take a number, your next”! 

 

Since the birds seem to be such a big hit here’s another new one we got this week, this is a Saffron Finch.  The locals call this bird a Saffraanvink, say that five times real fast.  It is thought that this little golden beauty was probably introduced to Aruba and Curacao by man many, many years ago and can now be found living all over the island.  This is a seed eater, looking on the ground for all kinds of seeds.  I found this one and it’s mate by Alex Plaza in the Sea Aquarium parking lot and from what I was told by the guards they have been here for a few years.

 

I did manage to take the dogs for a walk this morning but that’s about all I will be doing today.  I just heard there was a jail-break from our local prison less than a mile away, I can see and hear the helicopters over the desert looking out our window.  Where do you run when you live on a tiny island, I mean what’s the point??  Maybe the guards got bored and let them out just to have something to do today, hey it’s possible!

 

Talk to you tomorrow, Barry

03-17-2009