Early Bird Catches the ... Mouse ...

Waking up to another day of carnage on the patio recently I tried to throw the little mouse (RIP) over the edge of the property thinking something down there would enjoy it. Well when I went to throw it off the thing I carried it on it sort of fell right on the edge of the garden. Close enough..I knew it would be eaten by something.

The cats then thought they might .. or might not ... eat it so they played with it for a bit ... then as we were sitting inside later on Richard pointed outside and there, right in front of us, was a Turkey Vulture, he quickly ate the mouse... and then there was another and then a black vulture dropped in. Marcy had just that morning told me that Turkey Vultures have the keenest scent of any creature on earth ... and when they find something ... the lazy back vultures will follow. So these pics were through the window but they are not too bad.

Early Bird Catches the ... mouse

Notice his see through nose? They really are odd creatures!

Los 3 Amigos!

Quite spectacular in a weird kind of way isn't he?

So thats where the carnage will go in the future!

The weather has changed a bit here recently. The wind is not as cooling and there is more cloud coverage and so it is getting hotter etc. We are still having a wonderful time, it's quite relaxing. More posts coming soon. Just been lazy about writing them LOL

Oh and the mangos are ripening! YIPPEE!

Sue and the Sidekick

Living Fences

I almost forgot to share this post about the living fences here. I mentioned them in an earlier post.

So when we first arrived at Chitré airport and Ray picked us up we did some shopping and then headed here to Búcaro. Along the mountain route I noticed some men chopping branches off the trees along the road. I asked Ray about it since it looked like they were cutting them down completely starting with the branches and then I presumed the tree would be dead and they use it for firewood or something.
Ray explained the concept of the living fences here in Panama.

They take a certain type of tree and cut branchs off it, these branches are them stuck in the ground surrounding the fields and they quickly take root. These then become the "posts" for holding the wire and then the cattle cannot get out. This area here in Azuero Peninsula  had long been a cattle ranching area. The ranchers have taken a lot of the trees down in what used to be a dry jungle.

These are established fences that have been recently trimmed

 

In this one you see the new growth and some new "posts" ready to be inserted to replace old ones

These ones have not been trimmed this year (maybe longer) but they still look like young ones.

This one is new growth this year on a well established and maintained fence. 

Are they not beautiful? They also can provide shade to the cattle in the heat when they het longer. I honestly don't know what they survive on in this heat...everything looks so brown. The ranchers do bring hay out to them and water is brought out too if they don't have access.

Such beautiful animals.They didn't let me get too close.

The country side here is very brown right now. Rains are coming slowly. We had a little shower last night again. Of course that means more bugs! LOL

Today there was a very strange smell around the front of the house... like skunk. I asked Mita, who is here cleaning the house for us, what it was and if they have skunks here. (Funny trying to explain a skunk in another language). While this was going on I grabbed Colby who was outside just in case. Mita came to investigate the smell too and she thinks it was one of the wild mountain cats that are here. Marcy had told us about them...so now I am worried about all the cats in case there is one around. I also think if might have been a cockroach because after finding one the other day I read some info and they send out smells when threatened and Colby seemed very intent in the area I grabbed him from and was NOT A HAPPY CAT when I made him come inside LOL.

This was the cucaracha I found the other night. We were out on the patio and Diabilito started to chase something around the flower beds..I thought it was a lizard or gecko so I chased him off only to discover I had saved the life of the biggest cockroach EVAH!! LOL

I would say it was about 3 inches long. Quite beautiful!

These Giant Brazilian Cockroaches live in the undergrowth and eat decaying leaves etc. Quite harmless and do not come inside...which is just as well because who would look after the cats as we evacuated to Canada? LOL (Just kidding Marcy and Ray...we would take the cats with us lol)

More adventures coming soon...there is an Agricultural fair in Chitré and we are going with David and his lovely girlfriend Joli tomorrow.
We had a lovely lunch with them last on Sunday at Casa Iguana and this is a pic of them. I could listen to his stories all day. He certainly has led the life of an adventurer.

David and Joli ... such a lovely couple.

His Iguana babies are starting to hatch so I will hopefully get some photos of them soon..he has about 400 eggs!

Thanks for dropping by, sorry I have not posted in a few days. Lots more to share! Stay tuned!

Sue and her Sidekick

Angle is Everything ...

So today I learned a lesson about taking photos of Howler Monkeys ... the angle you shoot from is EVERYTHING!!! (**Warning...explicit photos coming up**)

We heard a group of them close by and I thought I had them pin pointed so we headed out in the truck to find them .. but they were gone already! However we tried another road and then suddenly I saw this one lone monkey hanging out in a tree ... literally hanging out .. I thought he was sick but he was just chilling ...

Angle is everything!

Checking us out too ...

I am thinking that he was a juvenile male who was booted out of his group ...and will have to fight to get a mate and start his own family one day?

Then later in the afternoon I heard the resident group that we always hear near the house, but they were REALLY loud. So I grabbed my camera and walked up the road. Sure enough right across the road was a group of them sitting in a nice open tree. I had lots of fun chatting back and forth with them.

You looking at me?

This was apparently the leader of the gang ... 

I loved how he just hung out like this, staring at me

KING OF THE JUNGLE!!!

I was talking to him here lol

That look!!!

It was a good monkey day! LOL
I also got some nice humming bird pics today

This guy has taken over the whole garden. He is never far away.

Can you see the pollen on his beak?

Turkey Vultures fly over every day.

I also got too much sun today while taking photos of the monkeys across the road so I am going to go slather myself in cream now.

Thanks for stopping by

Sue and her side kick

A little excursion on the property.

We had quite the rainfall the other day (and now have lots of new bugs to show for it).
So yesterday we went around the property to check the roads had not had any mud slides or rock falls. Some of the roads are new and until they "settle" this can happen when it rains.
We also planned on going to the beach for more clean up there.

So off we went, I of course took my camera, never leave the house without it. It has been very quiet in the last few days with regards to monkeys so was not expecting to see any.

We went off in the truck and took a road we don't usually take .. OK we got a bit lost. But what a nice lost it was! I heard some birds so we turned off the engine and I got out and waited a while. It was in a shady area and I just waited and listened. Sure enough I heard something and located it and snapped some pictures. Sometimes I just aim at the subject and snap a load of pics and hope for the best!
I was able to add some new birds to my growing list!

Masked Tityra

Back view of the Male Striped Cuckoo

and then he sweetly turned around and raised his crown! <3

I got two more birds in my lens but they were very poor images and I think not new birds for me. The Male Barred Antshrike and the TK.

So we moved on after waiting around for a bit longer. I will go back to that spot though as there was lots of activity. While we were there we heard the Howler Monkeys and I was praying they would be near the road. Sure enough as we turned the corner there they were in a big tree by the road. It looked like they were eating the new buds.

Male Howler Monkey (LOL)

So excited to see a baby near its Mum. You can see mum's tail for size comparison!

Peek-a-Boo!

Mum then carried it off to the other side of the tree

Just standing guard

I like this one as I got the light on his face.

While we were taking pictures of the monkeys I also got a few new birds too.

Striped Throat Hermit Hummingbird. Richard spotted this one and I could not believe how good the image turned out as he was way high up in the tree tops.

I had taken a picture of a Male Lance Tailed Manakin the other day but it was really bad. This one is a bit better as you can see the blue on his wings. I have to keep trying...need a better shot of this beautiful bird. You can see his long lance tail!!

We stopped a few times along the road but didn't find any more birds. I did see what I thought was an empty wasp nest .. then when I got home and blew it up I realized it was very active! UM...apparently there are African Killer Bees here ... but they don't harm you unless you threaten their nest ... I won't go near this again..not sure what kind they are LOL

Thanks for stopping by! Lots of nature pics ... road trips planned for next week!

Sue and her Side Kick

Life in the Jungle ...

It's kill or be killed...basically. LOL
With five cats there is something on the patio for me just about every morning.
This morning I fed the outdoor kittens and they all seemed happy ... then Mamacita walked behind my chair and proceed to finished munching the mouse I had not seen that she had started on prior to me feeding them. Lovely!
Then...all relaxing again and suddenly Diabilito walks across the grass with a baby iguana in his mouth. I thought it was dead so I let nature take its course. Next thing I know he is in the flower bed chasing something .. the baby iguana had been playing possum and as soon as he put it down that baby took off like a bat outta hell. Man was Diabilito vexed! LOL.  Iguana 1 / Cat 0

Serial Killer ... or not....

This morning I sat and watched a big storm roll in ...thunder clapping and all. Of course the power went out so we had to start the generator. We run it for a few hours on and then a few off. Tonight we still have no power so we are running it for three hours and then we will turn it off over night and hopefully they will get the power back on again before the morning. We are noticing a significant increase in the number of bugs flying around. Probably due to the heavy rain this morning. I don't like flying bugs...just saying'

So since we had to stay around the house today to monitor the power etc I watched some videos on bird photography and walked around the area and got some nice evening pictures. Getting a bit better and starting to understand the camera settings.
Here are some of my fave from today

Yesterday evening we went down to see David and buy some fish from him. Im not sure what type of fish it was but it was delicious. Sort of like snapper. We had it for dinner this evening.

Lets hope the power is back on tomorrow so we can go on the adventure we have planned. But there is always another day too.

Thanks for dropping in!

Sue and her killer cats.

A couple of calm days ...

We have enjoyed a nice quiet weekend with not too many tragedies on the patio!

So when we first arrived and went around the property with Marcy and Ray we also went to a beach at the other side. Its so beautiful but the area where we came onto the beach seemed to be a catch all for ocean debris. I knew we would go back and pick up the garbage and take it to the dump. Yesterday we went there.

Within about 5 minutes we picked up all this.

5 minute beach pick up

There were water bottles, flip flops, a high heeled shoe .. oil bottles, toothbrush, bucket bits,  and bits... Bits of plastic that when I went to pick them up they dissolved in my hand into tiny pieces...just at the stage that they become a real danger to the environment. It made me very sad.
We loaded it all up and this morning took it to the dump. The only choice here is .. the ocean or the dump. I chose the dump. :-(

Picked up some big containers too

This morning we went to the dump on our way to Chitré for grocery shopping and a couple of errands.

I did add another bird to my photo collection ... black headed vulture 😏

The dump made me sad. The only thing I am having a hard time with here is the lack of recycling. EVERYTHING goes to the dump. I cannot dwell on it too much or it is overwhelming. One thing that I did see there was very shocking ... red garbage bags with bio hazard signs on them ... Im presuming just discarded hospital garb and nothing "serious". I think when I get home I have to write a letter to the Emilio Semipros the Minister of the Environment here. Surely there are plans in the works to change things? One can hope.

We had a great drive to Chitré using the Waze app on our iPhone. (Everyone uses it here) Marcy told us about it and downloaded it for us and added all the destinations we might need under "favourites" so driving would be easier here.

We stopped to get gas in Tonosí and while at the gas station asked the guy how to get to the road to Chitré using the mountain route. He pointed and said go over three bridges and take the next left. That was not what Waze had entered but we knew that we had come the way he indicated with Ray on day 1 so took his advise and it worked. We arrived into Chitré and the first stop was the UPS store to pick up a package for Marcy that had arrived. I was hoping it was a huge lens for her camera but it was just a small little box so I didn't rip it open LOL

Driving in the towns is different, no indicators and you just move in to get ahead and always be prepared that the person on the corner will pull out in front of you.

Next stop was the electronics store. Last night when I tried to upload my new pictures...the gadget I use didn't work. I was freaking. But Marcy to the rescue again from half way around the world. Contacted her local friends to find out where I might find one. They suggest the Auvimax the electronics store. The guy at the UPS store put it into Waze for us and Bingo..we are back in business and all for the cost of about $6! SCORE!
The blog will continue.

We then had lunch at the same hotel we had had breakfast with Ray on day 1...and it was right beside the grocery store. Had an amazing lunch. Richard had a Clubhouse SandWISH (thats how it was written in the menu..and it was HUGE..Ray you should order this next time), and I had a quinoa  salad that was really amazing.

YUMMY! That sauce on the side was SPICYYYYYY!

So, all the groceries were done, time to head home. We input Búcaro into Waze and headed off. Suddenly it said to turn right...but we were pretty sure we had come straight into town ..but we decided that we should see where the road less travelled would take us.

It was a less well paved road shall we say. Thank goodness the truck is a comfortable ride. At one point it was a gravel road! But we passed through so many pretty little villages and towns. Because of the roads it took a bit longer to get home but eventually we did. Unloaded the truck and put all the groceries away. Richard told me there was a big grasshopper bug on the lounge chair on the patio so I pulled out my macro lens. Isn't he cute?

Hey there cutie!

Richard shooed him away then so the predators (aka Kitties) did not get him for dinner. I need to use my Macro more. Its not quite as sharp as it should be.

One more humming bird shot for you ...

Sapphire throated Hummingbird

I also took this picture of the cutest little spider sitting on the table....

Why so sad looking little guy?

Today Marcy said it is a jumping spider ... ARGH!!! LOL

Time for a drink, It's been a really long day! But always an adventure! Oh we bought balls for the cats..they are batting them around the room now LOL

Thanks for visiting!!

Sue and her side kick.

Another uneventful day in Panama ... NOT!

So today was laundry day and using up what was in the fridge day. Made some hummus and coleslaw  and salads.

Did my little daily art in my journal ... very relaxing.

Time for a beer on the patio. I checked my messages and was listening to a voice mail from David down the road and suddenly Richard says... "HON" and is pointing to the horizon ...the point where the garden dips down a steep bank into the veggie garden. I am paying attention to what David is saying on his message and half heartedly look to where he is pointing ... and there is some very subtle movement along the horizon line ... and I'm thinking...what is that... a row of big bugs? a row of  baby quail maybe? OH NO ... its  a BIG ASS SNAKE slithering along the horizon ...its black and greeny cream colours. I drop the phone and grab my camera ...because I am not wrangling this guy..he is about 4 feet long!! In the back of my head is Marcy's voice saying they have NEVER had a venomous  snake sighting on their property ... so it's OK to sneak up while he is stopped and take pics right?
(The cats were all sound asleep thank god!)

Hello there ... 

about 4 feet long we think

Oblivious thanks goodness!

Forget that beer...I need a stiff drink!! LOL

Mr Rat Snake is now gone and is somewhere in the veggie garden. We have the number to call if we see him again since he could hard the cats. Ahmed will arrange him and relocate him.

So much for a quiet day of housekeeping today....

As I sit and write this we are surrounded by noisy Mealy Parrots ... what  an adventure!

Jungle Sue and Tarzan