Face-to-Face with an iconic mammal

 (Léase en español / Read in Spanish)

Nothing is more iconic to Bolivia than the omnipresent llama (pronounced “YAH-mah” in Spanish). When most people think of Bolivia (if they’ve even heard of the country), they often think of the llama. This is understandable since two-thirds of the world’s llamas (or about 2.5 million) live in Bolivia! In fact, the llama is Bolivia’s National Animal and is the only mammal depicted on their flag, located inside the Coat of Arms, as seen to the right. (To make it larger click on the picture.) According to the Bolivian Constitution, the llama “symbolizes the richness of the fauna of the Republic.”

Another interesting fact that shows the importance of the llama in Bolivia is in their Sign Language. The sign for the country of Bolivia is a combination of the sign for llama and for flag.

So it was inevitable that we would come face-to-face with llamas in Bolivia. And what

The Anonymous Climbing Vine

 (Léase en español / Read in Spanish)

The earth is full of mysterious flora and fauna. And some mysteries are harder to solve than others. There were some nice guesses for this month’s mystery macro, but no winners. A common opinion was that the photo looked like an underwater sea creature. To be honest, if I hadn’t known, that would have been my guess. But it is not fauna. (And for the record, Bolivia is landlocked with no ocean coast.) The guesses then shifted to flower petals. That’s closer since it is flora; but it is not a flower. Here I present the entire photo from which the mystery macro was taken:

For size perspective, that is the tip of my thumb on the left of the picture. So, what is it? Here’s the flip side of the same object:

La enredadera trepadora anónima

 (Read in English / Léase en inglés)

La tierra está llena de flora y fauna misteriosa. Y algunos misterios son más difíciles de resolver que otros. Había buenas ideas sobre el macro misterioso del mes, pero no había un ganador. Varios pensaban que la foto parecía ser de una criatura submarina. La verdad es que, si yo no hubiera sabido, habría dicho el mismo. Pero no es fauna. (Y para que todos sepan, Bolivia es un país sin litoral.) Luego la idea de ser pétalo de flor se expresó. Esta fue mejor porque es flora, pero no es de una flor. A continuación presento la foto completa del macro misterioso.

Para perspectiva del tamaño, se puede ver la punta de mi pulgar a la izquierda. Entonces, ¿Qué es? He aquí la otra cara de la misma cosa.

El no-tan-poco-común benteveo

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Lo raro con las aves es que si son exóticos y raros o no depende de su perspectiva. Pasamos una mañana en Coimata, que queda veinte minutos desde Tarija en movilidad. Es un lugar con precipicios cubiertos de vegetación y aguas cayendo en cascadas. Disfrutamos de ver la flora y fauna más de cerca. Luego, saliendo del parque, escuchamos un fuerte y diferente reclamo de ave. Miramos a nuestro alrededor y divisamos un ave grande en un árbol. Debido a la distancia y a la luz filtrada solo una foto salió lo suficiente bien para poder ver los detalles:

El ave en el centro tiene su lomo hacia nosotros y su cabeza vuelta a la derecha. Nos emocionamos mucho este encuentro singular, y cuando llegamos a casa

The Not-so-rare Great Kiskadee

 (Léase en español / Read in Spanish)

The thing about birds is that what may appear exotic and rare depends on your perspective. We spent a morning in Coimata, just 20 minutes from Tarija by vehicle. The area has plant covered cliffs and beautiful cascading falls. We enjoyed seeing the native flora and fauna up close. Then, as we are leaving the park, we hear a loud, unusual bird call. We look around quickly and finally spot a large bird in a tree. Due to the distance and the shaded light only one shot came out good enough to see details. Here’s what we got.

The bird in the center has his back to us and head turned to the right. We were really excited about this rare sighting and when we got home we carefully examined