crates | May 7, 2012
Central America is the site of contending crustal plates–notably the Cocos Plate in the Pacific Ocean which is being subducted beneath the Caribbean Plate right off the western coast of central america at a rate of 72-81 mm/yr. It’s this area where the Central America Volcanic Arc exists which forms the volcanoes of Guatemala, [...]
crates | May 6, 2012
It was 3 am and my bleary eyes found it hard to see through the beating of my windshield wipers, but the tiny object in my headlights appeared to be something other than a small twig. As I got out of the car and picked it up, I realized it was a salamander quite different [...]
crates | February 13, 2012
I keep getting these different types of fish confused. I was checking out their differences and characteristics and thought that I would summarize what I found here. Goldfish: Apparently goldfish were bred in China over a thousand years ago for their colors from the Prussian Carp (Carassius gibelio gibelio once called Carassius auratus gibelio) originally an [...]
crates | May 3, 2010
COSTA RICA BIRD SPECIES Bold type indicates new life species for me (40 out of 82 total species IDed) San Jose Volcun Poas Hwy to Tortuguera Tortuguera Arenal Volcano area Los Chiles Boat Trip Hanging Bridges Guanacaste Rock Dove (Common Pigeon) x House Sparrow x [...]
crates | April 24, 2010
ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD A male Anna’s Hummingbird showing his bright, irridescent gorget. This color is not contained in any pigment in the feathers, but is caused by the refraction of the light which is caused by the physical structure of the feathers. ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD A side view of the same Anna’s Hummingbird. The gorget on his chin [...]
crates | April 12, 2010
Central America is the site of contending crustal plates–notably the Cocos Plate in the Pacific Ocean which is being subducted beneath the Caribbean Plate right off the western coast of central america at a rate of 72-81 mm/yr. It’s this area where the Central America Volcanic Arc exists which forms the volcanoes of Guatemala, El Salvador, [...]
crates | April 11, 2010
This is Concepcion, a volcano, forming part of an island (Ometepe) in the middle of Lake Nicarauga. It was putting forth steam and smoke just as our plane flew over. There was a heavier cloud of material that you can just see on the other side of the volcano which was proceeding [...]
crates | April 10, 2010
I had a fantastic time in Costa Rica. It was over too soon! I added lots of new species of birds to my life list, and saw lots of wildlife and terrific scenery. I’ll try and talk about the trip in the future. It’s too much to talk about all at once, so I’ll probably [...]
crates | January 30, 2010
My father returned home from the hospital today! He had open heart surgery last Monday (Jan 25) which went very well. I guess they said that he could have gone home yesterday (Friday), but he said he wasn’t ready to leave yet! Four days seems like a very short stay after such major surgery, [...]
crates | January 24, 2010
Last Thursday (Jan 21) my father had some chest pain after returning from the store. It wouldn’t go away, and soon my father realized that this wasn’t the normal discomfort that he sometimes felt from the acid reflux which he sometimes has. Then he did something out of character–he asked his next door neighbor to [...]