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DR. B'S NATURE & WILDLIFE PHOTOS
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Copyright Notice: All of the images on this website are copyrighted and may not be copied or used without written permission. |
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DR. B VISITS THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS
In June, 2010, Dr. B and his wife joined a group of
veterinarians to visit the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador rain forest (see below
for that report). They spent seven
nights on a ship, visited ten of the Galapagos Islands, and crossed the equator
eight times. Even though they were on
the equator, the weather was pleasant and mild. The wildlife was abundant and tame, allowing close approach. They saw everything you see on National
Geographic shows about the Galapagos: giant tortoises, marine iguanas, land
iguanas, waved albatrosses, blue-footed boobies, flamingoes, Galapagos
penguins, flightless cormorants, many of Darwin’s finches, sea lions, Galapagos
fur seals, Bryde’s whales, lava lizards and even three kinds of Galapagos racer
snakes. They hiked every day, took
zodiac tours along the shore, and snorkeled once a day. The latter allowed swimming with penguins,
marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, and many sea lions. Dr. B called it the most spectacular trip he’s
ever been on! He took over 3,000 photos filling 44 GB of memory cards.
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Iconic Pinnacle Rock |
Going ashore in the zodiac |
A beautiful sunset on the Pacific |
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An unafraid Sea Lion |
Sea Lion playing with a stick |
Yellow Warbler |
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Galapagos Penguin |
Flightless Cormorant |
American Oystercatcher |
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Flamingo |
Galapagos Hawk, the main predator |
Blue-footed Booby |
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Elliot's Storm Petrel |
Waved Albatross and chick |
Waved Albatross |
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One of Darwin's Finches |
Magnificent Frigatebird |
Blue-footed Booby courtship dance |
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Nazca Booby (the "other" booby) |
Swallow-tailed Gull, found nowhere else |
White-cheeked Pintail |
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Land Iguana |
Marine Iguana |
Marine Iguana and Sally Lightfoot Crabs |
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Baby Marine Iguana |
Marine Iguana City |
Lava Lizard basking on Marine Iguana |
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Charles Darwin Research Station |
"Lonesome George," the last surviving Pinta Island Tortoise |
A saddleback tortoise from Espanola Island at the research station |
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Wild Santa Cruz tortoise |
Wild Santa Cruz tortoise |
Colorful Marine Iguana |
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Sea Lion |
Bryde's Whale |
Sea lion on the beach, our ship in the background |
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Snorkeling with a Green Seaturtle |
Snorkeling with a penguin |
Snorkeling with a Sea Lion |
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DR. B VISITS THE AMAZON RAIN FOREST
In June,
2010, Dr. B and his wife joined a group of veterinarians traveling with the
North American Veterinary Conference to Ecuador. As a pre-conference side trip, they spent
three nights in the rain forest of eastern Ecuador. It was amazingly humid; everything was
constantly damp, including clothes and all papers. It was surprisingly bug free, and mosquitoes
only found us when we were hiking trails after dark and stopped to take
photographs. Mosquitoes are a far bigger
problem in Illinois. The wildlife and
scenery were spectacular, especially the birds, monkeys, and amphibians.
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Sacha Lodge |
Hoatzin, a primitive, turkey-like bird |
Sunset over the lake |
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The canopy walk for viewing birds |
Chestnut-mandibled Toucan |
Red-bellied Macaws |
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Owl-eye Butterfly |
Owl-eye Butterfly |
Owl-eye Butterfly, close up |
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Leaf-cutter Ants |
The Kapok Tree tower |
Pygmy Marmoset |
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Squirrel Monkey eating a moth |
Red Howler Monkey |
Black-mantled Tamarin |
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Hyla punctata |
Ameerega bilinguis |
Hipsiboas geographicus |
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Bolitoglossa equatoriana |
Rhinella margaritifer |
Tailless Whip Scorpion |
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Ringed Blue Caecilian (a type of amphibian) |
Ringed Blue Caecilian; note the tiny eye and the mouth |
Giant true bug |
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DR. B VISITS AND STUDIES THE POLAR BEARS
In October 2009 Dr. B joined 22 other veterinarians on an expedition to Churchill, Manitoba, on the west coast of Hudson Bay to observe and study the resident Polar Bears. He saw over 50 Polar Bears, as well as a lot of other wildlife. There were white Arctic Hares, Arctic Foxes, and Willow Ptarmigan, all of which blended in with the snow. Around the town Red Foxes took the place of Raccoons as the local scavengers. On a helicopter ride he saw Moose and got a glimpse of a pack of Wolves. To view the bears, the group rode in Tundra Buggies, like a school bus on top of a fire engine chassis, making the windows 10 feet high and hard for a bear to reach (see the photos). Even though it was only October, it was COLD!
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DR. BARTEN VISITS ANTARCTICA
In February 2008 Dr. Barten joined 30 other veterinarians to tour Antarctica and view and study its wildlife. The trip was aboard a 400-foot ship that crossed the Drake Passage between the southern tip of Argentina and the Antarctic Peninsula. It was an amazing experience, with incredible scenery, weather, and wildlife. He saw thousands of penguins, several species of seals, big pods of Humpback Whales, and countless Albatross and other seabirds. |
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