Our first stop on Tuesday the 26th was a beach on the north shore of Santa Cruz island. We started on this beach, and then walked to Las Bachas. On the way, we saw much wildlife, including our friend El Canario María:
Yellow Warbler
We saw our first of many Lava Lizards:
Lava Lizard
Lava Lizard
Lava Lizard
Lava Lizard
And the ever-present Sally Lightfoot Crab and Frigatebird:
Sally Lightfoot Crab
Frigatebird
Las Bachas beach is named after "las bachas" - remains of barges abandoned by the US at the end of WWII that floated to the beach and have remained there rusting ever since:
Group at Las Bachas
Las Bachas
On the way back, we stopped by a salt lake where flamingos can be found (we did not find one). However, we did find other things, including a Marine Iguana bathing:
Marine Iguana
Various shorebirds were in and around the lake:
Black-necked Stilts
Black-necked Stilt
Sanderling and Plover
Sanderling taking wing
Plover and Sanderling
Whimbrel
We returned to the original beach, where many of our party went snorkeling. Jill and I, however, stayed on shore to watch birds and other wildlife. We were rewarded! Many Sally Lightfoot crabs:
Sally Lightfoot Crab
Sally Lightfoot Crab
A nice little Lava Heron (I think):
Lava Heron
Lava Heron
Lava Heron
Several Brown Pelicans floating through:
Brown Pelican
Brown Pelican
Brown Pelican
Brown Pelican
A Great Blue Heron coming in for the evening:
Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron
More Yellow Warblers and finches:
Yellow Warbler
Darwin Finch
Our first Galápagos Flycatcher (we would see more on a subsequent island):
Galápagos Flycatcher
Another Whimbrel:
Whimbrel
More Galápagos Plovers:
Galápagos Plover
Galápagos Plover
A Wandering Tattler:
Wandering Tattler
Wandering Tattler
Marine Iguanas:
Marine Iguana
And, of course, the elusive Bare-footed Jilly Bird:
Jill
Once everyone else was done snorkeling, we returned to the ship:
MV Origin
We got underway while we lunched:
Before we disembarked, I watched our hard-working crew unload a Panga. Much activity like this went on behind the scenes and we were not generally aware of it as passengers. This is sped up 6x.
Our destination for the afternoon was Cerro Dragón, "Dragon Hill", named because it looks somewhat like the head of a Land Iguana from some angles. Here it is from the beach:
Cerro Dragon
On the beach and the early part of our hike we found more of our friends the Marine Iguanas:
Marine Iguana
Marine Iguana
Marine Iguana
There were Boobys diving for food:
I found bumblebees in the foliage:
Bumblebee
And we found more Sanderlings:
Sanderling
As well as our sentinel, the Mockingbird:
Galápagos Mockingbird
It was a warm day, and the hike was through desert terrain. Always bring water and wear sun protection!
Hiking at Cerro Dragón
We were on the hunt for Land Iguanas. We found evidence of their existence, including tracks and a bone:
Land Iguana tracks (with people tracks)
Iguana Vertebra
And then we found what we were looking for - a nice big Land Iguana. Very different from the Iguanas seen on the mainland:
Land Iguana
Land Iguana
Land Iguana
Land Iguana
Land Iguana
Land Iguana
We saw five or six land iguanas that day.
We made it to the top of the hill and I stopped to take a panorama:
Like millions of other people, we went chasing the Great American Eclipse. We chose Nebraska, since everybody we knew was going to Wyoming, and the climate models suggested a good probability of clear weather. Our initial camp was at Lake McConaughy, which is just inside the line of totality. My sister Danielle and her husband Edward got there early to start scouting. Our plan was to check weather forecasts and then go mobile the day of the eclipse. The morning of August 19 I got up early and snapped this shot of the moon on its way to its date with destiny: Sunday morning we checked the forecasts. It was not looking good for Nebraska in general, but east-central Nebraska seemed better than western according to the forecasts. So we packed up camp and headed out to Camp Augustine, a Boy Scout camp near Grand Island, Nebraska: They had camping spots available, and a large field which would be good for observations. After a rather hot, muggy, sleepless night (dry camping wi
In my previous post on this lens, I used a 1.4x teleconverter on both lenses. I got a request to repeat the test without the teleconverters, so here are the results. These are all shot at ISO 400, f/5.6 at 400mm, 1/1600s, autofocus with the center point, RAW. It is later in the day, and it looks like light clouds and shadows moving in the breeze are slightly changing the lighting between the shots, so caveat emptor. First the whole image with the old lens: Next, the new lens: Here are the locations of the crops I took: First, the center crop. The old lens: The new lens - again, sharper even in the center (although the moving shadows from the windy day make it a little harder to tell): The left edge crop, the old lens: The new lens - significantly sharper: And now, the corner crop, the old lens: And the new lens. It is no contest: The chromatic aberration is not as bad with the old lens without the teleconverter - but the sharpness i
On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse crossed a huge swath of the United States. We had been planning a trip to see it ever since the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse . Our chosen destination was at Chalk Bluff River Resort and Park , near Uvalde, Texas, due to statistical likelihood of clear skies in South Texas: The main attraction at Chalk Bluff is Nueces River and the the eponymous bluffs that rise above it: Chalk Bluffs The eclipse was widely publicized. Enough so that the state of Texas found it necessary to put warnings on its highway signs: Texas DOT warning sign Texas DOT warning sign We arrived at Chalk Bluff on April 6. As eclipse day approached, it became clear that the weather was not going to be our friend: NWS blended forecast for eclipse day So, what was originally going to be an "Eclipse expedition, with a possibility of some birding" became a "Birding expedition, with a possibility of seeing an eclipse". It is fortunate that we chose thi
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