Belizean wildlife

Wild creatures from around the palm gardens...

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TerdalFarm
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Belizean wildlife

Post by TerdalFarm » Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:50 am

Here is a what I was doing last month:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Uc ... directlink
Sorry, but I am not sure what kind of palm that is in the background.



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Post by lucky1 » Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:28 am

OMG, Erik you've either got one heck of a zoom lens or you were awfully close to that jaguar.

As a zoologist you must be saddened by the decrease in their numbers due to deforestation and other population pressures as well as poaching by the whatcha-may-callit guys for their hides.

I read a very-quick item this morning about--somewhere--officials rounding up zebras to feed to starving lions.
I couldn't even bring myself to click on the link. :cry:

Barb
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My photography skills

Post by TerdalFarm » Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:44 am

Barb,
I was in Oklahoma when I took that photo. :lol:
I use motion-activated cameras with an infrared flash (invisible to animals & Xateros!).
Placing that camera took hours. First, it was a long horse ride into the jungle.
Second, I strapped it on a tree. Then I got on all fours and walked back and forth like a jaguar to make sure it was aimed right.
I trained a local Maya man to retrieve the memory cards for me. He then emails the best photos to me.
I'll be back soon (less than a month!) to retrieve all the photos and decide if I need to move cameras.
This time I'm bringing my wife. She suffered so much in January that she really deserves a vacation. After I get the wildlife work done I'll take her to the beach where she can sun and I can sit under a coconut and sip rum.
--Erik

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Post by lucky1 » Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:31 pm

I was in Oklahoma when I took that photo.
...about the right distance from a jaguar

Does the camera ever "capture" some of the xateros... :twisted:

Is Belize always your work area, or does your employer send you to, say, the Mediterranean? or Hawaii perhaps? :wink:
she really deserves a vacation
Good man.

Barb
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hardyjim
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Post by hardyjim » Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:50 am

Great picture!


I saw a one of those in the parking lot at Wal-mart last night,pretty cool.
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Post by TerdalFarm » Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:55 pm

Jim, the Jaguars in the parking lot are pretty. TaTa motors of India owns 'em now. (They had been Fords up until then.) Maybe they'll be renamed leopards?
Barb, I have only got a few Xatero photos. They are always fun to get. A friend of mine got a photo of a Belizean soldier on patrol for the Xateros hamming it up for the camera which was downright hilarious.
As for where work sends me, I choose to go the same place over and over so I can build relationships with people. For most trips (9/10), it is my own money. Often I think I'd like to spend vacations someplace new, but for work reasons, I feel I need to go maintain those connections. My Maya friends aren't online. I need to actually hang out with them in their fields.
My wife and I have family in Europe so we visit there when we can afford to. Not often--we are still paying off our 2008 trip to Holland. --Erik

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Post by lucky1 » Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:49 pm

I suppose your cameras wouldn't last very long if the government "received" those xateros pics... :?
But it doesn't sound like the officials are interested in stopping the poachers anyway.

Sounds like you've got the best of both worlds, Erik. Great place to work...and vacation.
Is malaria a risk in Belize?
I expect not, but had to ask.

Barb
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Malaria

Post by TerdalFarm » Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:09 pm

I had a bad case of malaria when I was doing work in Nigeria a long time ago. :(
The form in Belize is less serious. I have not contracted it there yet. The worse sickness I've caught in Belize is typhoid fever, which I had also had in Nigeria. :(
I guess I'm not promoting the tourism industry as well as I should be. Really, it is a great place!
--Erik
Last edited by TerdalFarm on Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by lucky1 » Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:32 pm

typhoid? OMG!

Since you travel there regularly do you need more frequent vaccinations?
Or just the "one will do" as most tourists receive?

Some time ago, watched an interesting program on malaria in Africa.
While it's still serious, health officials are finding that some people can carry it and not become sick.
Scientists have said perhaps a very small population is building up antibodies/immunity to it, which hopefully then is passed to offspring.
Unfortunately, AIDS is a bigger problem there than malaria now.

Barb
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Post by TerdalFarm » Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:50 pm

AIDS is a much more serious health issue in Belize than malaria, IMHO. 2nd highest rate (after Haiti) by some estimates.
Easier to avoid catching, in my limited experience. :wink:
--Erik

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Post by lucky1 » Sat Feb 13, 2010 8:13 am

Easier to avoid catching
It certainly is!
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BILL MA
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Post by BILL MA » Sat Feb 13, 2010 9:47 am

For some reason the link is not working for me Erik can you post it again.

One of the most irritating things I've ever heard was the sound of chainsaw chopping down tree's in the rain forest in Costa Rica :evil:

Bill

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Post by TerdalFarm » Sat Feb 13, 2010 9:54 am

Bill, sorry!
After sharing the photos online, open to everyone, I got worried that I was telling poachers where jaguars were.
I'll try to embed a photo right here. Surely poachers don't prowl palm enthusiast forums!
--Erik

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Post by BILL MA » Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:33 pm

I completely understand, GOOD CALL!

Bill

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Post by hardyjim » Sat Feb 13, 2010 1:47 pm

O.K.
Erik,you figured out what kind of Jaguar that was,weird thing is a cougar got inside it.
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Post by TerdalFarm » Sat Feb 13, 2010 1:54 pm

Now that they're a Tata product, the maker of the Nano, I expect to see luxury "margays" prowling the streets.
Sorry, that is a felid joke, not a palm joke. :lol:
--Erik
P.S. a margay is to a jaguar as a Rhapidophyllum is to a Jubea.

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Post by hardyjim » Sat Feb 13, 2010 1:57 pm

.....and a Cougar is to a dirty old man as a........
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Post by TerdalFarm » Sat Feb 13, 2010 1:59 pm

I resemble that remark. :oops:

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hardyjim
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Post by hardyjim » Sat Feb 13, 2010 3:47 pm

Your married so your clean.
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TerdalFarm
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Post by TerdalFarm » Sat Feb 13, 2010 4:39 pm

Happily so.
I clean up after her horses (manure!) and she makes space for palms in the house every winter.

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Post by hardyjim » Sun Feb 14, 2010 10:29 am

True love -with benefits!
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