Camera Critters...attack of the...

When we visited the Galapagos Islands, we saw many Frigate Birds, and they were all peaceful, except for this one female, who must have had young nearby, because she swooped down on passengers from our yacht cruise. This is very unusual behavior to see on the Galapagos, although it is understandable for a mother protecting her offspring. She didn't actually touch anyone, but many were temporarily frightened.

Posted for

Camera Critters

hosted by Misty Dawn. Thanks, Misty!

SkyWatch Friday and Camera Critters

Lookin' for blue skies...

Nope, not in this direction.

There's some blue over here, we'd better hurry!
© Richard Schear photos

Penguins in the Galapagos Islands look for some color in the equatorial sky.

Posted for

SkyWatch Friday and for Misty's Camera Critters

Mellow Yellow Monday: taxi in Quito, Ecuador

© Photo by Richard Schear, November, 2006

We laughed when we woke up our first morning in our Quito hotel, which was in the former British embassy, and looked out the front window of our room to see a familiar picture of The Kentucky Colonel.

There were many mellow yellows around The Colonel and his bucket-hatted young admirer, but this taxi was a far-from-mellow yellow, undoubtedly for increased visibility.

The sky, at 9000 feet (2750 meters) above sea level, rivaled the buses for blueness. After I got used to the altitude, we enjoyed staying in Quito and seeing something of the country of Ecuador before, and after, a yacht cruise in the Galapagos Islands five years ago.

Posted for
Mellow Yellow Monday
hosted each week by Drowsey Monkey. Thanks, Drowsey!

T is for tortoise, and for Tilley Hat

Galapagos Tortoises in the wild. They're big, and they're beautiful.

Coming out of the woods.



Eating.




My intrepid photographer in his intrepid-photographer hiking pants and Tilley Hat.




Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear, December, 2006



Posted for the letter T for

ABC Wednesday

Mrs. Nesbitt's totally terrific alphabetical meme. Hosted by Mrs. N. and her team.

Camera Critters: tame, working, and wild

Donkeys in Switzerland, April, 2011.

Horse'n'carriage, Seville, Spain, December, 2008.

Juvenile red-footed booby, Galapagos Islands.

© Photos by Richard Schear and Kay Davies

Posted for

Camera Critters

hosted every week by Misty Dawn. Thanks, Misty!

To see other critters captured on other cameras, please click

HERE!

Around the world with mellow yellows

Southeastern Alberta, Canada

Kapaa, Kauai, Hawaii

Galapagos Islands

Posted for

Mellow Yellow Monday

hosted by Drowsey Monkey.

Ocean Park, BC, Canada

Galapagos Islands

To see yellows from other places around the world, please click

HERE!

Dick in a sack race, Dominican Republic, 2004

Las Vegas, Nevada                                                                    Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear, copyright 2011.

Shadows on Genovesa (Tower) Island, Galapagos

Photos by Richard Schear and Kay Davies during our 2006 visit to the Galapagos Islands. Copyright.

Posted for  Shadow Shot Sunday, hosted every week by

Tracy at Hey Harriet! Thanks, Tracy!

To see other shadows as other people saw them, please click

HERE!

Yellow bird, we have no banana tree

Trees on the Galapagos Islands are scarcely more than large shrubs. Birds like this Yellow Warbler have adapted to the harsh terrain of the islands.

This juvenile Yellow Warbler is looking for lunch on the beach.

Yellow legs get dirty in the dark volcanic rocks of this Lava Heron's neighborhood.
                                                                                             Photos by Richard Schear, Kay Davies and Karina Lopez, 2006

The fluffy head of this young Frigate Bird won't stay yellow for long.

(If my heading doesn't make sense to you, listen to this song by the ever-popular Brothers Four)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlcPGKhIQaU

Posted for  Mellow Yellow Monday hosted each week by

Drowsey Monkey.

To see other yellows from other places, please click

HERE!

To all my blogger friends, I haven't been able to comment very much as we have been traveling, and won't be home for a while yet. However, I'll try to drop in on some memes when and where I can. No, we're not in the Galapagos Islands again. We're in Paris now, and heading for the south of France later this week. Please don't feel sorry for us, just forgive me for not commenting on your posts. - K

"I" is for Iguanas around the world

Land iguana, Galapagos Islands

Land iguana, Galapagos Islands

Marine Iguana, Galapagos Islands

Marine Iguana, Galapagos Islands

Costa Rica

Dick meets iguanas in Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Click photos to enlarge.

Costa Rica

Quintana Roo, Mexico

Posted for ABC Wednesday, Mrs. Nesbitt's alphabetical meme,

hosted each week by her very talented team.

To see what others have made of the letter "I" please click

HERE! 

Yellow doesn't get much mellower than this

Dick enjoyed this hammock at the Miconia Hotel on San Cristobal when we visited the Galapagos Islands in 2006, but he had trouble getting himself out of it later.      (Photo by Kay Davies)

Posted for Mellow Yellow Monday, hosted every week by

Drowsey Monkey. Thanks, Drowsey!

To see other mellow yellows from around the world, please click

HERE!

"F" For Flightless Feathered Friends on Fernandina

                                                                                                                                                                 Photo by Richard Schear

Flightless cormorants (Phalacrocorax harrisi), also known as Galapagos cormorants, are unique because they are the only cormorants to have lost the ability to fly. This bird is the largest cormorant on the planet today, also one of the world's rarest birds, and the subject of an active conservation program.

After diving for food (fish, eels and small octopi) in the shallow water no more than 100 meters off the shores of only two islands, Isabela and Fernandina, the cormorants dry their short wings in the sun (as shown in the picture above) because their feathers are not waterproof.

In the Wikipedia photo to the right, we can see the bird's upper coloring is blackish, its lower parts brown, and its eye turquoise.
I wish my eyes were turquoise.

Posted for the letter F in ABC Wednesday,
an alphabetic meme hosted weekly by Mrs. Nesbitt's
team of fantastic photographers.


To see how other people around the world used the letter F,
please click
HERE!

B is for bicycle, backbone, borken ...huh? borken??

Bicycles in Beijing... cyclists in this Chinese metropolis are fearless, even when smog covers the city.
This photo, taken on our trip to China in 2008, was retouched to remove some of the smog, but it still isn't clear.

The backbone of a whale, just off the tourist pathway on the island of Fernandina in the Galapagos chain.
In this World Heritage Site, tourists are not allowed to touch any of the plants and animals, or their remains.
Tourists are always accompanied by a naturalist guide who informs them and reminds them not to touch.

Sometimes Dick's work involves him traveling to northern Alberta to see clients. Stopping to refuel on a recent trip,
he saw this sign on the gas pump. He couldn't use his credit card at the pump, so he had to go inside to pay.
(I'm so bad, I just love typos, except when I make them myself.)

Barcelona's beautiful waterfront, with the statue of Christopher Columbus.

The letter B appears twice, in this cloud above the island of Kauai, Hawaii.
Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear.

Posted for ABC Wednesday's letter B.

To see where others around the world have found the letter B, or how they've used it, please click

HERE!

Shadow shots from different places this Sunday

Dick, right, and others, make shadows on the Spirit of Kauai as they prepare to go snorkeling as part of our 'Captain Andy' catamaran cruise in Hawaii last month. Unfortunately, I didn't feel well enough to snorkel.

A rather interesting little dragon and his shadow in China's Forbidden City.

This cute little juvenile Nazca Booby casts a shadow on the rocky soil of one of the Galapagos islands.

We had an excellent guide named Arnold when we visited China. Arnold, center, talks to the group, most of whom are in the shadow of the building at left. My husband Dick, with his shady hat, stood in the sun at right, to hear Arnold talk about the history of this section of the ancient emperors' fabulous Forbidden City.

Posted for Shadow Shot Sunday,

hosted by Tracy at Hey Harriet.

To see other shadows from other parts of the world, please click

HERE!

Too many shadows to count when Dick photographed this hotel in California's Old Town San Diego.