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A many-banded daggerwing butterfly taking salts and water from a damp spot on concrete. I photographed this butterfly while visiting the tiny town of Yelapa along Mexico's western coast.  What struck me right away was the butterfly's size and the pair of swallowtail-like extensions on the hind wings.  It was also very unusual in that it had distinct stripes on both the dorsal and ventral sides of the wings, and a hexad of dots at the front wings' vertex.  It was unlike any butterfly I had seen before. The many-banded daggerwing caterpillar feeds on plants related to figs, which partly explains why they don't occur very far north.  The odd adults show up in mid-US latitudes, but are more accidental than born and bred there.  They are mostly found in tropical areas around Mexico, southern Texas, and Central America. It was very hot out, and the butterfly was extending its proboscis and taking moisture and salts from the damp concrete.  We were walking up to t...

A great kiskadee flycatcher is looking to "hawk" a falling water drop. This bird really impressed me.  I saw numerous individuals over the wide range of places we visited in our many ports of call in Middle America.  Their bold colours and vibrant songs caught my attention almost everywhere I went.  And their behaviour was fascinating.  They often perched on bare branches or posts that were free of surrounding clutter.  Then, when one spied a flying morsel, it would dart through the air to quickly capture its quarry, then return to its perch to continue hunting. I was watching one individual that was hawking water drops.  A drop would form at the end of a branch and then fall.  From its perch, it would fly towards the falling drop, anticipating where it would be when it arrived.  And then, in mid-air, it would snag the water drop in the same way it grasped insects, and return.  It happened again and again.  What a way to get a drink! Ano...

This is the best photo of a toucan I managed to get in all of Middle America. This bird is not the same one as Sam, the Fruit Loops toucan.  The colours are all wrong, and the bill's colours are not in concentric circles.  While not the largest toucan, the keel-billed toucan is a good size, reaching up to 22 inches in length; a third of that length is the bill.  It is found in southeastern Mexico, about half of Central America, and parts of Venezuela and Colombia.   As you probably know, the toucan is a prime consumer of fruit.  It is considered frugivorous, meaning it consumes a diet made mostly of fruit.  Figs happen to make up a large part of its diet, but it also eats bananas, papayas, berries, cherries, and some fruits you have never heard of.  However, its diet doesn't end there, as invertebrates and small vertebrates are also included.  The vertebrates include small snakes and lizards, but they will also take eggs, young chicks, and tr...

Top left and bottom:  recent photos.  Top right:  photo taken in 2005. There were two species of iguana I photographed while visiting Middle American countries on our cruise this year.  One was the very large green iguana, and the other was the black spiny-tailed iguana.  I photographed a spiny-tailed iguana 21 years ago while visiting Tulum in eastern Mexico.  I noticed there is quite a difference between the one I shot back then and the one I photographed recently.  I think they are the same species, although they are located over 700 km apart.  The species shows significant variation over its range. I watched both species move about their environments.  In the warm climate, they could move fast.  Although I never saw the black spiny-tailed iguana climb trees, they apparently are good at it.  It was the green iguana, though, that really caught my attention.  I couldn't believe how fast it went up a tree, across multiple branc...

  Top:  white pelican, osprey, curlew Bottom:  flamingo, coot, snowy egret As someone who works on stuff, I know that "The right tool for the right job" is an important adage.  And although I have used lineman's pliers as hammers and screwdrivers as pry bars, I can do a better job with the right equipment.  In a way, birds have the same predicament and philosophy.   There are six main ways that water birds obtain food.  They can: Catch it with long necks and pointy beaks.  Such are the egrets, herons, and cranes.  A long neck allows lightning strikes, while a sharp beak can be used to both impale and thrash prey. Sieve benthic material.  Wide bills with lamellae allow bottom mud and organic material to be strained, pushing out water and tiny solids like sand and silt while keeping small organisms hidden in the debris.  Birds with this ability include flamingos, some ducks like shovelers, and spoonbills. Probe the benthos for li...

El Salvador Maya temple - abandoned around 1200 AD, before the Spanish incursion. El Salvador has a long history of indigenous inhabitation.  Tazumal, the largest of the excavated sites, has 16 identified structures and a main pyramid that rises about 80 feet above the site's base.  I hiked around the site several times, climbed up as high as I was allowed, and photographed the site extensively. The area was only inhabited for 900 years or so by the Maya and later inhabited by Pipils until it was totally abandoned around 1200 AD.   The site was excavated beginning in 1942 and inaugurated in 1952.  The site was originally made with raw stone but was coated with concrete, which prevents it from being recognized by UNESCO.   Around the 5th century AD, the nearby volcano erupted, covering the area with ash and rock.  The site was abandoned for several generations and eventually reinhabited, where work continued.  This is not uncommon in El Salvad...