Christoffel Trupial
Hi everybody, Aimee here. We switched jobs for the evening. I am doing the photo of the day and Barry took the pups to the trail to do some upkeep maintenance. As you know yesterday we had such a great day, full of sweating and laughing and hiking, well today is full of sore muscles and great memories. Some days you would just like to do all over again, and that was one of them. But, what a great reason to be tired, huh? Today’s photo is like the treasure at the end of the rainbow. Or better, the trupial at the top of the mountain. These birds are common on the island and it has a beautiful distinctive call heard mostly in the morning. As you can see it is quite the eye-catcher with the black, white and orange feathers. There is even a very nice hotel named after this popular bird here on the island. We do see them all the time, especially on our trail where they prefer to hang out on cacti. However, just because we see them often does not mean they are easy to photograph! We have been here for more than five years and yesterday we hit the jackpot on finally getting some great trupial shots! So, as Emily and I were catching our breath and Junior was bouncing around on the rocks like a mountain goat, Barry quietly laid down on his belly and shuffled along until he got within good distance of this beauty and he fired away! As you can see, I think he came home with a winner. This Trupial was sitting on a branch that was hanging out over a thousand foot cliff with the ocean in the background. Well, these birds are very opportunistic feeders and most of the hikers are having some kind of snack a the top of the mountain, so they can run around and pick up the leftovers. Well, that’s about it, we have some real bird-lovers on the e-mail list so I am anxious to see how you all like this one. Have a great weekend everyone and as for our friends back in Rapid City: Stay warm! Aimee
