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Long-Spine Porcupinefish

Long-Spine Porcupinefish

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 […]

Flamingos of Bonaire

Flamingos of Bonaire

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 […]

Attack of the Blauw-Blauw

Attack of the Blauw-Blauw

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 […]

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Marty’s photo of the day #4486: Bonaire has a dry climate, and there are only two tiny freshwater springs in Washington-Slagbaai National Park. While Deb and I were staking out one of those springs earlier in our trip, this black-crowned night heron flew in to join us. Today we are headed back to Washington-Slagbaai National […]

Crested Caracara

Crested Caracara

Marty’s photo of the day #4485: Bonaire has a dry climate, and there are only two tiny freshwater springs in Washington-Slagbaai National Park (which takes up the northern quarter of the island). Those springs were outstanding for birding, and I will be posting quite a few bird portraits from them in the coming weeks. A […]

Bonaire Donkeys

Bonaire Donkeys

Marty’s photo of the day #4484: Humans brought donkeys to Bonaire in the 1600s to perform manual labor. Later, machines replaced the donkeys, and they were abandoned by the humans. Bad humans! Good donkeys! As such, wild donkeys still roam the island. They have a tough life here, and being that Bonaire has a dry […]

Frigatebirds

Frigatebirds

Marty’s photo of the day #4481: Deb and I spent part of yesterday on the balcony of the condo we are renting in Bonaire, watching frigatebirds soar and feed. Photographing them was a challenge, however, because the birds changed direction often, and they were at the outer limits of my most powerful lens. I think […]

Ruby-Topaz Hummingbird

Ruby-Topaz Hummingbird

Marty’s photo of the day #4480: Greetings from Bonaire. When traveling, I enjoy the challenge of finding and photographing exotic snakes, but here there is only one, tiny underground snake—so that’s not gonna happen. Replacing that challenge are exotic birds. And photographing fast-moving ones—like this ruby-topaz hummingbird—are, indeed, a challenge.

Brutus the Iguana

Brutus the Iguana

Marty’s photo of the day #4479: Greetings from Bonaire! Today, Deb and I drove to the quiet side of the island and spent the day at Washington-Slagbaai National Park. The park contains a maze of rough gravel roads, giving our rental truck the workout it deserved. I hadn’t driven a manual transmission since growing up […]

Greetings From Miami

Greetings From Miami

Marty’s photo of the day #4477: Greetings from Miami! Yesterday, Deb and I started our two-day trip to the island of Bonaire to celebrate our 40th anniversary. We flew from Missoula to Dallas to Miami. In Miami, we had a 12-hour layover, so we stayed in a hotel at the airport. Hopefully, our luggage spent […]

Dragonfly From the Pond

Dragonfly From the Pond

Marty’s photo of the day #4471: The dragonflies have had a prosperous summer, eating mosquitos at the seasonal pond on the lower level of the Essen Wildlife Refuge. Last night, this dragonfly flew to the upper level, where my outside office is, and said, “Please, I can’t eat anymore. I must rest!” This is a […]