BACKYARD BIRDING IN MERIDA, YUCATAN AND BEYOND- AN OPEN DOOR INTO THE ANDEAN CONDOR
Female Andean Condor Looking through my binoculars while enclosed in a warm car and safely tucked in from brutal winds, I spied an immature Andean Condor flying in the distance close to a well-known condor roost More...
Isla Contoy: a bird watcher’s paradise
Isla Contoy is a bird watcher’s paradise with more than 100 species of birds calling this island their home. This uninhabited island has some of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean, where you can see More...
BACKYARD BIRDING IN MERIDA, YUCATAN AND BEYOND-SINGING THE BLUES PHOTO ESSAY
Enjoy this short photo essay of birds with “blue” plumage. While three are winging the blues, at the end is a bird that doesn’t like the blues. (Maybe it prefers “raspberry.”) Indigo Bunting and singing More...
BACKYARD BIRDING IN MERIDA, YUCATAN AND BEYOND-
BIRDIE BABIES PHOTO ESSAY Enjoy this short photo essay of baby birds with a glimpse of how they may metamorphose into an adult! And, yes, I used metamorphose as a verb, but you get the “picture.” PHOTO More...
BACKYARD BIRDING IN MERIDA, YUCATAN AND BEYOND-BELLY FLOPPING: TRICOLORED HERON
Tricolored Heron, Egret tricolor, Garza Tricolor (Spanish) Wading birds use different feeding strategies to capture their prey. But I think the more-than-three-colors Tricolored Heron may win the prize for small More...
BACKYARD BIRDING IN MERIDA, YUCATAN, AND BEYOND-OWL BE SEEING YOU: BURROWING OWL
BURROWING OWL, Athene cunicularia, “Tecolote Llanero” (Spanish) Time for some light heartedness and whimsy! I chose the expressive Burrowing Owl, a tiny ten-inch wonder that digs and lives More...
BACKYARD BIRDING IN MERIDA, YUCATAN, AND BEYOND-EYE RISK: PILEATED WOODPECKER
Begin this New Year with new hope, discoveries. I found something new to ponder. Pileated Woodpecker irregular shaped iris IMAGINE my surprise when I enlarged an image in my camera to see a ragged-looking More...
BACKYARD BIRDING IN MERIDA, YUCATAN AND BEYOND – PIGMENTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION? BIRD PLUMAGE: GLOWING OWLS AND VIRGINITY SIGNALS? PART 2 of 3
CAROTENOIDS Indian Peacock Carotenoid, pronounced like a cross between a martial arts form (karate) and a humanoid, USUALLY produces red, yellow, and orange feather colors. You can recognize these pigments More...
BACKYARD BIRDING IN MERIDA, YUCATAN, AND BEYOND – PIGMENTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION? BIRD PLUMAGE: PART 1 of 3
Wild Turkey Colorful feathers of birds are breath-taking. Even a drab feather is an amazing structure. But trying to figure out plumage color is not an easy task as the colors are either formed by pigments or More...
BACKYARD BIRDING IN MERIDA, YUCATAN AND BEYOND – WHAT’S THE EYE-DEAL? EYELIDS AND EYE-RINGS, PART 2 of 2
Colorful eyelids of Keel-billed Toucan That something as insignificant as an eyelid had its place in the workings on the universe, that the cosmic order did not overlook this momentary fact. More...
