The Ubiquitous Finch

 (Léase en español / Read in Spanish)

“The finch?”, you’re saying to yourself. “They’re going to show pictures of a finch?”
 
Okay. Admittedly the finch is rather ubiquitous. Sparrows are also in the finch family, so between the two of them there are finches in every corner of the globe, except frigid Antarctica. They’re rather like our friend the pigeon, right? However, while you may not think of the finch as being an exciting bird, did you realize that in southern South America alone, there are at least 77 species of finches? And just in the department of Tarija, Bolivia, it is possible to see 32 of these. So now you should be saying: “Oh, well then I wonder which finch they will show?”

Meet the Saffron Finch.

We were excited to see this bright yellow bird flitting around so we got quite a few

The Monthly Mystery Macro misterioso del mes

Cada mes vamos a poner un reto de foto macro misteriosa. He aquí el primero:
 
Each month we will be posting a mystery macro challenge. Here is the first one:

Here's the challenge: What is it? If you have an idea, leave a comment in the box below where it says "Enter your comment..." Later in the month we will be posting an entry with more details. So... What do you think?

El reto es: ¿Qué es? Si cree que sabe, deje un comentario en el recuadro abajo donde dice "Enter your comment..." Más tarde en el mes pondremos una entrada con más detalles. Así que... ¿Que opina?
  
UPDATE: Click here for the answer.

ACTUALIZADA: Haga clic aquí para ver la respuesta.

Cyclone Monica and our Fascination with Birds

 (Léase en español / Read in Spanish)

We are fascinated with birds. We are fascinated by their antics, their habits, their songs. We are curious to seek out and identify species that are new to us. We love to shoot them with our camera and capture them on film. However, our fascination with birds has not been a lifelong one. The truth is, this fascination started in 2006, and the funny thing about it is we owe it to a cyclone.

In April 2006 we spent three weeks in the ‘Land Down Under’. And as chance would have it, shortly after we arrived in Cairns, in northeastern Australia, Cyclone Monica made landfall. Although Cairns was not in the direct path of the storm, there was still enough wind and rain that at one point the roads in and out of Cairns had to be closed. So we were forced to cancel some of our planned activities and found ourselves ‘trapped’ in Cairns.

Oddly enough, being trapped is what gave birth to our fascination with birds. Our principal motive for going to Cairns was to snorkel. But since snorkeling in a cyclone was clearly out of the question, and we couldn’t leave the city, what were we to do?

El Ciclón Mónica y nuestra fascinación por las aves

 (Read in English / Léase en inglés)

Nos fascinan las aves. Nos fascinan sus payasadas, sus hábitos, sus cantos. Con curiosidad buscamos e identificamos especies que son nuevas para nosotros. Nos encanta captarlas en fotografía y cazarlas con una cámara fotográfica. Sin embargo, nuestra fascinación por las aves no ha sido una de toda la vida. La verdad es que esta fascinación brotó en 2006, y lo raro es que la debemos a un ciclón.

En abril de 2006 visitamos la isla-continente de Australia. Poco después de llegar a la ciudad nororiental de Cairns, como la casualidad haría que fuera, el Ciclón Mónica llegó. Aunque Cairns no estuvo directamente en el camino de la tormenta, había tanto viento y lluvia que tenían que cerrar las calles de entrada y salida. Por tanto, tuvimos que cancelar algunas actividades que habíamos planeado, y nos encontramos ‘atrapados’ en Cairns.

Por extraño que parezca, debido a eso nuestra fascinación con los pájaros nació. Nuestro motivo principal en visitar Cairns fue para bucear con tubo o esnórkel. Pero como bucear en un ciclón no era una opción, y tampoco salir de la ciudad, ¿qué haríamos ahora?

The Passion Flower

 (Léase en español / Read in Spanish)

If you were hoping to see exotic, this is it! (Well, sort of. More on that later...) Allow us to introduce you to the Passionflower. We found this plant growing in a passage way which led to the first place we stayed in Tarija.

Passiflora incarnata

Its principal characteristic is the strange form of its flowers. As you can see, they