Marty’s photo of the day #4505: Most people incorrectly assume that flamingos are born pink. What actually happens is that they start out white and turn pink from the beta-carotene in the algae, brine fly larvae, and brine shrimp they eat. (Photographed in Bonaire)
Marty’s photo of the day #4504: The fish on top is a Bermuda chub, and the one below it is most likely an immature bar jack. During the many times Deb and I snorkeled this part of the reef, I saw this pair often. If I didn’t have a camera, I would have assumed I […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4503: Bonaire has both brown-throated parakeets and yellow-shouldered Amazon parrots. The two species look alike, but there are subtle differences between them. The most noticeable difference is that the parakeet is slimmer than the parrot. Last month, I was lucky enough to photograph both of them. Yesterday I featured the […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4502: Bonaire has both brown-throated parakeets and yellow-shouldered Amazon parrots. The two species look alike, but there are subtle differences between them. The most noticeable difference is that the parakeet is slimmer than the parrot. Last month, I was lucky enough to photograph both of them. Today, I’m featuring the […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4501: This is an eared dove, photographed at a spring on the island of Bonaire.
Marty’s photo of the day #4500: This is a green iguana, photographed on the island of Bonaire. It’s not the same iguana that tried to climb up my wife’s leg for a bite of her sandwich.
Marty’s photo of the day #4499: I photographed this trumpetfish last month while visiting Bonaire. For me, these fish were more interesting to watch with the naked eye than in photographs. I was pleased, however, when I looked in the Caribbean fish guide Deb picked up on the island, and my trumpetfish photo is arguably […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4498: As far as I know, my father was devoid of creativity. When I was six years old, I got a Diana camera and promptly filled the first roll of film with nothing but photos of feet. My father scolded me and threatened to take the camera away. Perhaps that’s […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4497: There are only two tiny freshwater springs in Washington-Slagbaai National Park on the island of Bonaire. This yellow warbler was the most challenging bird to photograph at the first spring. It would come in, grab a sip of water, and take off—seemingly all in one continuous motion.
Marty’s photo of the day #4496: When Deb and I visited the island of Bonaire earlier this month, we enjoyed 26 hour-long snorkels. I fell in love with above-water wildlife photography many years ago, but all those snorkels made me passionate about underwater wildlife photography, too. It’s incredibly challenging, as underwater creatures never stop moving. […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4495: Troupials (a type of oriole) were among the most colorful birds Deb and I saw on the island of Bonaire. They were introduced from the nearby island of Curaçao in 1973, so they aren’t a native species. Though, being that the islands are only 50 miles apart, I’m surprised […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4494: Honeycomb cowfish were among the most unusual, “should be in a science-fiction movie,” fish occupying the reef around Bonaire. If you look closely, they even have horns. They were also shy, making them difficult to photograph. Behind the honeycomb cowfish is a spotlight parrotfish (immature phase).
Marty’s photo of the day #4493: Deb and I have returned from 13 wonderful days on the island of Bonaire, surrounded by 2 travel days getting there and 2 travel days getting home. All of them bookended by a hurricane hitting Texas, just a day after we had a connecting flight in Dallas, and a […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4491: Goodbye from Bonaire. Deb and I return to the United States today, but because we have a connecting flight through Miami, just ahead of Hurricane Helene, I suspect some delays. In fact, our flight out of Bonaire has already been delayed by 20 minutes, and it doesn’t even leave […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4490: This long-spine porcupinefish is about 20 inches long. If frightened, it could swallow a large amount of water to inflate a pouch near its stomach, thereby doubling in size and raising spines all over its body. Deb and I didn’t see any of these fish during our first week […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4489: During Deb’s and my first few days on Bonaire, every flamingo sighting warranted a stop. Now, after two weeks, they are basically pigeons. Just kidding. We’ll still stop from time to time to watch them. And we see them in light pink, deep pink, and basic white. There’s a […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4488: If I could figure out a way to bring this mother and her foal back to Montana with me, I would! Humans brought donkeys to Bonaire in the 1600s to perform manual labor. Later, machines replaced the donkeys, and they were abandoned to roam the island. Wild donkeys have […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4487: Yesterday, Deb and I drove to the northern end of Bonaire for a second visit of Washington-Slagbaai National Park. At midday, we found an out-of-the-way picnic table and enjoyed a delightful lunch, accompanied by thirty or so blauw-blauw (six-inch-long whiptail lizards with bright blue tails). The blauw-blauw obviously knew […]
Deb and I had another outstanding day on the island of Bonaire. First, we went to Washington-Slagbaai National Park on the north end of the island. We had intended to visit the two springs in the park that attract birds, but we didn’t have the luck we had the last time we were there. Today, […]
