Trinidad & Tobago April & May 2013

Wildlife sightings from Limosa Holidays tour to Trinidad & Tobago April/May 2013.

Red-billed Tropicbird (Phaethon aethereus)

White-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus)

Silkmoth species (Rothschildia vanschaycki)

Butterfly Orchid (Psychopsis papilio)

Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus)

Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens)

Rufous-tailed Jacamar (Galbula ruficauda)

Trinidad Motmot (Momotus bahamensis)

Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis)

White-bellied Antbird (Myrmeciza longipes)

Trinidad Chevron Tarantula (Psalmopoeus cambridgei)

Green-rumped Parrotlet (Forpus passerinus)

White-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgas cayennensis)

White-bearded Manakin (Manacus manacus)

Rufous-vented Chachalaca (Ortalis ruficauda)

Green-backed Trogon (Trogon viridis)

Great Antshrike (Taraba major)

Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza)

Purple Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes caeruleus)

Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza)

Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)

Hercules Beetle (Dynastes hercules)

Common Otter (Lutra lutra)

Black-bellied Dipper at Thetford

Black-bellied Dipper at Thetford is now wandering from the small steam that it spent the winter. Photo taken 28 Feb. 

The Gambia January 2013

Photographs from a recent Limosa tour to The Gambia

African Thrush (Turdus pelios chiguancoides)

Guinea Baboon (Papio Papio)

Little Bee-eater (Merops pusillus)

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Clouded Flat (Tagiades flesus)

Small Orange Acraea (Acraea serena serena)

African Jacana (Actophilornis africanus)

Blue Savannah Sapphire (Iolaus menas menas)

Yellow-billed Stork (Mycteria ibis)

Greater Painted-snipe (Rostratula benghalensis)

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)

Caspian Tern (Sterna caspia)

Nile Monitor (Varanus niloticus)

Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides)

West African Crocodile (Crocodilus niloticus)

Malachite Kingfisher (Alcedo cristata)

Abyssinian Roller (Coracias abyssinica)

Long-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus climacurus)

Pink-backed Pelican (Pelecanus rufescens)

African Finfoot (Podica senegalensis)

Black-bellied Dipper Thetford

Front cover!!

Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra) & Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris) Whitlingham Country Park Norfolk 13th December 2012

Lucky morning as these two would normally be in the most distant sections of the Great Broad.

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll (Carduelis hornemanni hornemanni) Aldeburgh Suffolk UK GB December 2012

Can't resist tame birds. Perhaps surprisingly it was still very tricky to photograph well. At least it didn't fly away, but it could spend a couple of hours missing and feed in the no-go area of the yacht club car park. Other little difficulties included its rapidly moving bill as it continually munched away on Long-horned Poppy seeds. It spent long periods partially obscured by the Long-horned Poppies and in sunny conditions the Poppies cast distracting shadows on the bird. In dull conditions it was awkward to balance the depth of field with high shutter speed to stop bill movement. You would need a good to get depth of field to enable both the bill and wing to be in focus (especially as it is such a podgy thing).