When we go on a bird walk, birds don’t always appear frequently. We find ourselves walking through the woods, our guide walking ahead looking and listening. Sometimes our attention drifts to other creature spottings – and then, the birds might just have to wait.
Many frog experts do field research at Las Gralarias, where we stayed for a week in Ecuador. No wonder our guide, Marcelo, seemed able to spot even the smallest frogs so easily.
We now have lots of photos of spiders from our travels. As we look for birds the glistening spider webs attract our attention. This is definitely not one we’d seen before.
Our guide, Marcelo, showed us why half the leaf was missing.
The bee was much larger than we usually see, and the bright red color got our attention.
Is this a grasshopper? The flashy yellow eyes and the bright green body looked not quite real.
When we see lots of butterflies – as we often did in Ecuador – it seems a sign to us of a more balanced ecosystem.
Whether this sign of a more balanced ecosystem is true or not, the wealth of sightings on our many bird walks of gorgeous creatures and plant life was inspiring. Who wants to just look for birds when there are so many plants, animals, and insects to also observe?
June 2016
I especially love the first photo (the photo of the photo being taken) – it shows how really tiny some of these creatures are!
It’s not easy to get great photos of small creatures but these are lovely. When we go walking I always try to remember to look up and down often because that is where the best photo opps are waiting.
Thanks for that good advice. We agree that following it has made for better walking experiences for us.