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 ABOUTfeatured: 30 Best Snorkeling Blogs Fun Ways to enjoy the caribbeanArchive for the ‘Pelicans + Tropic Birds’Jun 20, 09 Comments Off
 bananaquit-nest-at-the-sea-aquarium Hello friends, how was your Saturday?? Mine was fairly busy In-between taking pictures of our guests swimming with the dolphins I did two underwater photo dives with the dolphins Aimee is training. Our goal was to try and get some promotional photos but the water visibility just wasn’t that great, but fear not we will keep trying.
This is our resident Bananaquit who has made herself a beautiful home for her babies in the mouth of a big stuffed fish! For those of you wanting to see this in person it’s up high to the left of the snack bar at the Sea Aquarium. The ladies at the snack told me they sometimes put sugar in the palm of their hands and she flies over and eats it right out of their hands? These birds are so tiny, I had to stand on a ladder and wait for quite awhile before she stuck her head out! It’s just such a great home!!
We just got an e-mail from Sheila at CARF saying she may have just found a home for one of our puppies, we are so happy we can hardly stand it!
Sorry so short we are off to a wedding party, talk to you all tomorrow, Barry
20-06-2009
Jun 6, 09 Comments Off
 wild-flamingos-in-curacao Good evening all, I just got home from photographing the flamingo’s! They have been hanging out just a few meters from the ocean in a little cove very near our main trail for the past few weeks now. This is the first time we have ever seen them here and I thought tonight I would go and see how close I could get? I rode my bike down to the beach without them seeing me, then quietly hid the bike in the brush. I was lucky they were on the other side of a big slave wall so I was able to crouch down and slowly make my way to an opening. I was doing well I thought until some of the other birds noticed my arrival and sounded the alarm. The Black Necked Stilts are the loudest and I am sure they were telling the flamingos all about this strange thing hiding behind the wall. Anyways I was able to get quite a few nice shots before they all decided to take off as you see here, it takes them quite a few steps on the water before they are airborne, they are very big animals! I was telling Aimee I have never seen them so rich in color as I did tonight, they must have a great food source here. The large group of flamingo’s in the background did not immediately fly off, they just sat out there eating but as I went over the wall and tried to get closer they took off to join their friends, you can only get so close!
Aimee and I both worked all day, I did get a fun baby Pasku shot today and will send that tomorrow. Hope all is well out there, I know it’s the weekend so we won’t be hearing from many of you. By now, Barry
06-06-2009
May 13, 09 Comments Off
 wild-parakeet Good evening friends and family how was your day?? I first want to thank all of you for the compliments! I was a bit shocked by how many of you liked the dolphin picture today, we received a ton of mail regarding that one?? Heck I’m just glad you guys are still out there keeping us company after all these years, we really enjoy reading your feedback.
I worked today but Aimee was off. I was able to do a dive with her at 1:00 being that we had no 3:00 programs so off we went on another “sponge locating dive” and had a blast! The moment we went under we realized how clear the water was but soon found out why, mother nature had turned on the current! We dove down to 50 feet staying low to the reef but still fighting the current head on. If you think just diving in current is hard, try to take pictures as well, there’s a challenge for you! Aimee would signal me to come over and shoot whatever she had just found and I had to find a way to stay in one spot long enough to do it, which is just a matter of body positioning and a little luck. Both of us really enjoyed this dive but burned our tanks up fast because of how hard we had to work to stay in one spot and we both exited with a headache from breathing so hard!
Your photo this evening was taken yesterday in our back yard of our now daily squawking visitors! I am starting to get real good at hearing them from inside, grab the camera, crouch down as low as I can and ever so quietly TRY to sneak up on them. Most of the time I get busted and they fly off screaming the whole way but sometimes like you see here I can get pretty close. It’s just so cool to live somewhere that has tropical birds flying around, we really enjoy them and hope they continue to come visit.
Aimee and I are going to the movies this evening for a night of relaxation and popcorn so I have to get moving! Talk to you again soon, Barry
05-13-2009
Apr 26, 09 Comments Off
 brown-throated-parakeet A late good morning to you all, our dumb internet was down again?? I just got home from a three and a half hour adventure with the dogs at Saint Joris. I carried my macro lens and tripod on the walk today and found some really cool stuff to send to you this week. Tomorrow and Tuesday I will be photographing a Dutch Politician who’s name is Hans van Baalen from sun up to sun down. I have been hired to photograph him everywhere he goes including onto a Navy ship and I think even the prison, should be a great adventure so if you don’t hear from me in the next few days this is where I am at.
The parakeets have really settled into our yard now and are here almost all day long, in fact I can hear them squawking outside the window even now. These birds not only blend in with just about everything they also seem to eat just about everything!
Sorry so short, the day is half over and I really have a ton to do!! Till tomorrow, Barry
04-25-2009
Apr 18, 09 Comments Off
 brown-throated-parakeet Hey guys, just a quick note as I have so much to still do tonight. I am going diving with my buddy Marco tomorrow at 2:30 at Blue Baai if any of you are interested? Your better off buying a tank from them for 13naf because if you don’t you have to pay 15naf to get in and another 5naf to use the beach, just tell the guards your diving and renting equipment from their dive shop. Oh and for those of you wondering what naf is, that’s our local money in guilders, 5 naf is around $2.30us. Marco and I are planning on swimming on our backs to the big underwater wall and starting the dive there, I can hardly wait.
Ok finally as promised, here is one of our beautiful squawking Brown Throated Parakeet’s. They are also called a Caribbean Parakeet or as the locals here call them, Prikichi and the Dutch call them a West-Indischi Parkiet, cool huh? They have been in our yard everyday eating these seed pods from the peacock flowers, they just plain love them. If you have never had the chance to watch a parrot or a parakeet eat it’s really incredible how well they can use their feet! I mean look at this guy, balancing on one leg while holding his seed pod with the other in a strong wind, that’s talent folks you don’t just learn this overnight! I really hope they continue to visit our yard, I may build a little blind tomorrow to hide under so I can get real close.
I need to get my camera ready for the dive tomorrow, I still have to clean it from the dolphin swim I did today, got some cool split level shots!
Bye my friends, see you tomorrow, Barry
04-18-2009
Apr 15, 09 Comments Off
 two-cara-cara's Good evening all, I found these two Cara-Cara’s or as they say here in Curacao, Wara-Wara’s the other morning as we were leaving Saint Joris. I quickly pulled the car over along side the road and quietly got out but was only able to get one shot off before they spotted me and flew away to some other lucky cactus. They don’t seem to mind you staying in your car but once you open that door they usually always fly away, I guess this is why they invented the zoom lens! Aimee and I just never seem to get tired of seeing these magnificent flying hunting machines and we see them almost everyday on our travels around the island.
It was again really busy at work today! After work I raced home, put on my bike gear and took off for a fun one hour ride before dark. The island is slowly getting dryer from the lack of rain which is turning the trails into a dustbowl once again!!
That’s about it, Aimee and I are going diving together tomorrow can hardy wait!! bye, Barry
04-15-2009
Apr 1, 09 Comments Off
 White-Tailed-Hawks
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 03-31-2009
Mar 27, 09 Comments Off
 Hummingbird-Feeding-Her-Babies 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
Mar 27, 09 Comments Off
 Nesting-Hummingbird 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
Mar 27, 09 Comments Off
 Saffron-Finch 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
Mar 27, 09 Comments Off
 American-Kestrel-Eating-a-Bananaquit Good evening guys, I had so many people ask me what do the American Kestrels eat and until today I really didn’t know? Well at 4:00 today I got my answer! I watched in disbelief as this Kestrel attacked this little yellow bird in mid flight and brought him back to earth to eat. I never would have guessed he was hunting this type of prey? I thought he was only eating lizards? I told you all these birds were incredible hunters, it seems nothing is safe when these guys are on the prowl. I also observed this Kestrel flying over the tree tops and noticed every other bird flew off in the opposite direction in fear for their lives!!
It was a long day at work today am going to bed early. Hope all is well talk to you all tomorrow, Barry
03-16-2009
Mar 27, 09 Comments Off
 Two-American-Kestrels Good evening once again, yes, more American Kestrels, we just can’t seem to get enough of them! I found these two beauties this morning sitting side by side high atop a very tall cactus scanning the area for breakfast! These birds are some of the greatest hunters on the planet, just check out those feet! They were so cool sitting up there this morning, those cactus were really swaying in the wind but didn’t seem to bother them a bit, it would have made for a nice piece of video.
Working at the Aquarium we deal with people from every country on the planet. I kind of pride myself in saying that in the past five years “I have seen it all” or so I thought? The other day during a dolphin encounter a man picks up his son and instead of taking him to the restroom to pee, he just held him over the water (like Michael Jackson with his baby) and let his six year old pee into the water in front of 18 customers and three of our dolphins??? I was not there but I have seen the photo, anyone wanting to see it as well just say so and I will send it to you, it’s unbelievable “what are people thinking”?? For the life of me I just can’t understand it, would love to go to their house and do that same thing? Crazy huh? Now, I have seen it all!
I am going to be late for my night dive, talk to you tomorrow, Barry
03-14-2009
Mar 12, 09 Comments Off
 Caribbean-Parakeet Good evening all, it’s strange writing two of these in the same day, now I know why I try so hard to do them at night. Today at work I walked out to take pictures of a dolphin swim when I noticed a baby blue tang (fish) laying up on the concrete along the waters edge. Wait this has a happy ending! I said to myself “oh poor little thing, how did you get up here” thinking it was dead! I gently poked it with the tip of the umbrella I was carrying and he moved!! I quickly dropped the umbrella, gently picked him up and tossed him back in the water. As I watched he first just kind of floated sideways but minutes later after swimming in circles he started to swim normally and after five minutes of wondering what just happened he took off, is that amazing or what? I saw him 30 minutes later in the same spot swimming in and out of a little cave. He would have had to jump almost 2 feet out of the water to get up there and no I do not think this was a suicide attempt! But weird huh? Here’s a bird that drives me crazy! These beautiful Caribbean or Brown-throated Parakeets are scared of everything making it very difficult to get close to them. I took this picture out of my car window yesterday, if I would have gotten out he would have been gone! These birds are usually always in pairs or in groups and can easily be found, just listen for the loud squawking and follow the noise! Aimee went with Eveline tonight to her three hour dog training class somewhere on the island. I am guessing it’s a long ways away because every time she goes we have to put gas in the car the next day. It’s time to get the o’l grill fired up for a chicken wing fiesta, I’ll talk to you all tomorrow, Barry 03-11-2009 Mar 12, 09 Comments Off
 American-Kestral For my bird lovers this evening we have a nice little American Kestrel. Our mating pair is back and it looks like they have at least two youngsters with them as well. For my local bird photographers grab your camera and head to the Sea Aquarium. They can easily be found behind the new Dolphin Suites Hotel perched high on a cacti, light pole, tree or as you see here a piece of wood. We think this is one of the younger ones, like a year old because the two adults were sitting next to each other while this one flew all around them but staying close at the same time. I am always amazed at how close these beautiful birds of prey will let you get to them without flying off, this little one was just a squawking away and in the distance you could hear another one answer. We had a wonderful time at the Avila Hotel last night was so great to see our friend Tone. Today was Aimee’s last vacation day, it’s back to work for her tomorrow, if you can call playing with dolphins work?? 03-07-2009 Mar 1, 09 Comments Off
 Curacao Pelican Happy Valentines Day everyone! I searched all day for an appropriate photo but came up empty handed every time. I figured if I sent another photo of two dolphins kissing I may start getting hate mail so I settled on Mr. Pelican instead! I took this shot this afternoon so it’s fresh off the press. These pelicans are sitting on everything we own around here all day long just waiting for an opportunity to steal fish from someone. I swear some days it looks like a pelican refuge instead of a dolphin park, they are in the air above you, floating everywhere in the water and parked on every fence post we have, really some days it’s quite the sight. Occasionally one will land in the dolphin lagoon. The second they land it’s like they know “this was a big mistake”! I have never seen a dolphin grab one but they sure love to chase them and surprise them, it’s actually pretty funny! Aimee is feeling much better tonight which is good being that we have dinner plans at the Avila Hotel tomorrow night, would hate to cancel that fun evening! My feet are doing much better, this is the first night in 2 months that I don’t have a band-aid covering an open crack on my foot. I am going to start wearing socks from now on, no more walking around bare foot. Aimee just made us another meal from our new Newcastle Wyoming cookbook. The friends I stayed with while fossil collecting a few months back sent me home with an awesome cook-book that was put together from recipes from all the surrounding ranches, I am loving it! If this sounds of interest to you as well let me know and I will hook you up! Hope you all have a great Valentines Day, talk to you tomorrow, Barry February 13, 2009 SITE MAP
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