The Dutch Caribbean (Curaçao)

A fantastic holiday in the Dutch Caribbean visiting my brother in law and taking the opportunity to photograph Curaçao and some of the local wildlife.

Backyard Birds

Birds spotted in the backyard of our hosts Lars and Esmeralda. The great thing about photographing and watching birds is that you just need a little bit of green around you and some patience, and then you can usually get some encounters with the local bird life.

Tropical Mockingbird

Bare-eyed Pigeon

Troupial

Tropical Mockingbird

Bare-eyed Pigeon

Tropical Mockingbird

White-tipped Dove

Tropical Mockingbird

White-tipped dove

Common Ground Dove

Troupial

Bananaquit

Blue-Tailed Emerald (Hummingbird)

Brown-Throated Parakeet

Sea Aquarium

Photos taken at the Curacao Sea Auarium. Usually zoos and animal parks are great places to practice taking photos of wildlife. The animals in the parks usually also attract wild birds which can again be great to take photos of. But the best part is that the kids love to see the animals!

Magnificent Frigatebird

Magnificent frigatebird

Moray Eel

Brown Pelican

Kokomo Beach

We spotted some flamingos in a salt pan en route to Kokomo Beach. At Kokomo Beach we saw some birds and then watched the Iguanas and got some great opportunities to take several close up shots of these mini dinosaurs.

American Flamingo

Green Iguana

Saffron Finch

Rufous-Collared Sparrow

Green Iguana

Yellow Oriole

Saffron Finch

Green Iguana

Chicken with chicks

Yellow Oriole

Willemstad

Some impressions of the capital of Curacao.

Shete Boka Park

One of the great day trips on Curacao this park offers several areas you can visit with unique terrain and good chances to photograph smaller birds and reptiles and just the overall scenery.

Green Iguana

Laurent's Whiptail

Green Iguana

Laurent's Whiptail

Green Iguana

Boka Pistol

Rufous-Collared Sparrow

Lunch at Jaanchies & snorkeling with turtles

We had lunch at the famous lunch place Jaanchies and tried some iguana (it's really quite bony) and afterwards went to the beach to go snorkeling with the turtles. It was Nice to try and get some proper underwater photos with the GoPro, which turned out really well.

Bananaquit

Troupial

Bananaquit

Troupial

Bare-Eyed Pigeon

Yellow Oriole

Troupial

Green Sea Turtle

Fort Beekenburg & Surroundings

One of the old forts and a nice place to watch the sun go down.

Fort Beekenburg

Direkteursbaai

Jan Thiel & Sorsaka Park

Jan Thiel salt pans and a nearby small park giving the opportunity to photograph some birds and small reptiles.

Blue-Tailed Emerald

Brown-Throated Parakeet

American Flamingos at the Jan Thiel salt pans

Anole

Brown-Crested Flycatcher

Birding outing

As a birthday gift I got to go on a birding trip with a local bird guide. We toured across the island visiting several birding hot spots giving me some great photo opportunities of the Cara Cara's as well as a chance encounter with the Groove-Billed Ani!

White-Tailed Hawk

American Kestrel

Least Tern & Royal Terns

Northern Crested Caracara

Groove-Billed Ani

Gray Kingbird

Solitary Sandpiper

Laughing Gull

Common & Royal Terns

Brown Pelican

Playa Lagun

A short stop over at the lagoon we stayed at a decade ago.

Playa Kalki & Playa Grandi

Some more birds spotted at these beaches.

House Sparrow

Yellow Warbler

Rufous-Collared Sparrow

Christoffelpark

We did a nice long hike in the Christoffelpark walking to the ocean and back. On the way back we got a close encounter with a Cara Cara pecking away at a carcass of another bird.