Marty Essen's Blog, page 257
January 21, 2019
The portrait of an Amazon frog
Marty’s photo of the day #2781: Here’s a tiny unidentified tree frog that I photographed in the Amazon Rainforest of Peru. How considerate of him to stay still for his portrait.
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January 20, 2019
Fox on the tundra
Marty’s photo of the day #2780: I’ll let a short excerpt from my second book, Endangered Edens: Exploring the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica, the Everglades, and Puerto Rico, explain this shot from the a few miles south of the Arctic Ocean:
We watched with binoculars, as the fox zigzagged across the
tundra, apparently hunting for rodents. She was headed our way—getting closer,
and closer. Didn’t she see us? Soon she was right in front of us. We all froze
as she loped by, cut across a shallow channel, and disappeared over a hill. At
no time did she acknowledge our presence.
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January 19, 2019
Close encounters of the swan kind
Marty’s photo of the day #2779: “Am I close enough for my portrait? I can move closer if you want.”
(Swan, photographed in Italy.)
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January 18, 2019
“Spectacular executions” held here.
Marty’s photo of the day #2778: This is part of a wall that at one time went around the top of the L’Arena di Verona, the fourth largest coliseum in Italy. The coliseum was built in the first century, and it’s actually older than the more famous coliseum in Rome. A sign just inside the arena entrance stated that “spectacular executions” were held here. Thank God the civilized world has moved away from such barbarism. Besides it was inefficient. How many people can you kill spectacularly in a year? Here in the civilized United States, we pass out guns like candy, use them to kill an average of 33,667 people per year—some quite spectacularly—say a Hail Mary to the Second Amendment, and chalk it up as the cost of freedom. But I digress. The coliseum wall is quite beautiful, isn’t it?
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January 17, 2019
Deep in the Amazon Rainforest . . . a pet macaw
Marty’s photo of the day #2777: This is a blue and yellow macaw. I don’t remember his name, but he belonged to someone in the Yagua tribe. So, yes, I photographed him deep in the Amazon Rainforest, but he wasn’t exactly wild.
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January 16, 2019
Antarctica cliff climbing?
Marty’s photo of the day #2777: Anyone for a little cliff-climbing along the coast of Antarctica? But if you fall in, you won’t last long!
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January 15, 2019
Monkey mischief
Marty’s photo of the day #2776: Why it’s not a good idea to walk directly underneath a white-faced capuchin monkey. The locals call those big round seeds “donkey balls.”
(Photographed in Costa Rica)
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January 14, 2019
Fur seal in the fog
Marty’s photo of the day #2775: Here’s a fur seal that I photographed on a foggy day, on an island near Antarctica. It didn’t seem like it at the time, but when I go back through my Antarctica photos now, I realize that it was a very foggy trip. Which was fine—it added to the mystique.
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January 13, 2019
Speed to burn
Marty’s photo of the day #2774: Here’s a trio of alert pronghorns. Once they start running, no one can catch them, as they’re the fastest land animal in the Western Hemisphere, and second fastest overall, behind the cheetah. Their top speed is roughly 55 MPH.
(Photographed in Wyoming)
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January 12, 2019
Orangutans, Americans, and Palm Oil
Marty’s photo of the day #2773: I photographed this orangutan on the island of Borneo. Every year, species survival grows more difficult for orangutans. The primary reason for this is habitat destruction to create oil palm plantations. While it’s easy to blame the local people for this, we in the United States and other developed countries share the blame—because we are the ones buying palm oil. Please check your labels and avoid products containing palm oil!
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