intiphoto
Nature, wildlife & all sorts of photography
Squirrel Cuckoo | Panama, 2014
Parque Natural Metropolitano is a large (265 hectare/655 acres) park located only a 20 minute drive from downtown Panama City. There are several well-marked trails leading extending over several kilometers through the park, enabling the visitor to see a range of wildlife, including a variety of birds, monkeys and even turtles.
We visited the park on our last day in Panama, and are very glad we did. Despite its proximity to the city, it is fairly easy to see a range of wildlife. We didn’t arrive particularly early (the best time to see birds and a lot of other wildlife), but we still saw a great variety of animals, including sloths, many types of birds, woodpeckers and a large snake (which gave us a scare twice). This beautiful Squirrel Cuckoo really stood out. We saw several, mostly from a distance, but were able to get close to this one by approaching slowly as it was trying to find a meal 🙂
Comments always welcomed!
Taken at Parque Natural Metropolitano, Panama City, Panama.
A Study of Geometry, part 2 | Glasgow, 2014
Yesterday in Glasgow – at the University of Glasgow’s Cloisters
Comments always welcomed 🙂
A Study of Geometry | Glasgow, 2014
Today in Glasgow
Comments always welcomed 🙂
‘Blue sunset’ over Glasgow University | Glasgow, 2014
A break from the recent posts about our trip to Panama 😉
Today was one of the first beautiful days in Glasgow since I’ve been back. It was also one of the first times I decided to head out to take pictures again. My goal was to capture some of the beautiful light during the golden hour – just before sunset – and how this contrasts with the blue sky. A blue sky has been a rare sight this winter.
I captured this shot of main tower at Glasgow University with an ultrawide angle lens (at 13mm on APS-C – 19.5mm full frame equivalent). I used a circular polarising filter in order to make the sky and colours stand out more.
As always – comments appreciated! 🙂
Beautiful colours projected on Glasgow University’s main tower as the sun sets. You can see the (tiny) moon rising just over the roof of the building, about halfway down the width of the picture.
Sloth Sleeping in Tree | Panama, 2014
These are probably some of my favourite pictures of our trip to Panama. With a bit of luck we spotted this Brown-throated Sloth sleeping high up in a leafless tree. It was still very early (around 7.20am) and the light was beautiful – a warm glow, contrasting with the deep blue sky behind. At first, we weren’t sure what it was, but we knew it was some animal – it was too far away to properly make out what though. As we walked around to get a better view (though we had to stick to the road – we couldn’t just roam freely through the jungle), we were lucky to get a better view of the sloth, ending up with a nice full-frontal view, with the sloth’s peaceful, sleeping face clearly visible, its arms wrapped around a branch. It’s amazing to consider that this is how this peculiar animal sleeps regularly! 🙂
Taken on Pipeline Road, Panama, February 2014.
Comments always welcomed 
Getting closer, we could make out the sloth’s back, high up in the leafless tree
A closer view
Walking on, we got a better, frontal view
Holding tight, the sloth slept away peacefully
Float | Panama, 2014
A male White-necked Jacobin hummingbird appears to float in the air.
Taken in Gamboa, Panama, February 2014.
Comments always welcomed 🙂
Blue-Crowned Motmot | Panama, 2014
For a fleeting moment, this Blue-Crowned Motmot sat on a branch in sight. I quickly aimed, took this shot, and the motmot disappeared into the canopy again…
On this day, I learned that motmots ‘bite’ feathers out of their tail to give them their distinctive ‘racquet’ tail. Bird fashion, if you may 😉 The natural world is such an amazing place!
Taken on Pipeline Road, Soberanía National Park, Panama. Comments always welcomed! 🙂
Blue-Crowned Motmot
Angry Monkey! | Panama, 2014
An angry white-headed capuchin monkey screams as it sits on top of a branch. I think it was annoyed by seeing humans 😀
Taken last week at Soberanía National Park, Panama.
Red Poison-Dart Frog | Isla Bastimentos, Panama, 2014
Here are various shots of the spectacular Red Poison-Dart Frog (apparently actually a color morph of the Strawberry poison-dart frog). This spectacularly coloured, small – they only grow up to a maximum of about 25mm or 1 inch in length – morph is found only on the Bastimentos island in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago in Panama. Several frogs can be seen in the pictures, which can be differentiated by the unique patterns on their back. Finding them was a bit of a challenge, as they’re so small and remain largely stationary, but, luckily, we were able to find several of them 🙂 Red Frog Beach on Bastimentos is called after these frogs, but we never got around to visiting it, though apparently they’re not always found at that beach. Instead, these were taken near the main town of Isla Bastimentos.
More shots from Panama to follow… And as always, comments welcomed 🙂
Dragonfly, gecko, motmot | Panama, 2014
3 weeks in Panama has meant radio silence on here, in part due to infrequent (and unreliable) internet access while away. Now that we’re back, I’ll be able to post again.
Here are a first few shots from our amazing trip. These were taken on our second day away, during the first hour we spent along Pipeline Road in Soberanía National Park in Panama. An amazing place, all the more considering how close it is to Panama City! These shots were taken in low light (ISO 5000, 4000 and 12800 [!] respectively), in the lower parts of the canopy.
Feel free to comment!
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