Kurt Buzard, Author at Travel To Eat

January 21, 2020 by Kurt Buzard Leave a Comment

Trinidad and Tobago Bees, Butterflies and Bugs

Metallic Blue-Green Sweat Bee (Augochloropsis trinitatis (Cockerell)) on Lantana. Asa Wright Nature Center, Trinidad

I am not an insect guy (entymologist) when it comes to photography but I am someone interested in ecosystems. I mention this because while I sometimes get good pictures of insects, I may not be as accurate as a true “bug guy” with identification, although I do try. In this post I present bees, butterflies and other insects that I saw in Trinidad. It turns out that the photographic equipment necessary for bird photography is equally good for entymology. In any case I obtained some beautiful photographs of bees, butterflies and dragonflies that I thought I would share in this post. The neotropics are an exceptional location for those interested in ecosystems and the links that connect us all with nature. While this collection might not be as long as some of my posts, the photographs are nonetheless beautiful and I hope pertinent to my readers. Augochloropsis is a genus of brilliant metallic, often blue-green, sweat bees in the family Halictidae. There are at least 140 described species in Augochloropsis. The genus Augochloropsis is restricted to the New World, and the vast majority of species of are found in the tropical and subtropical regions. Augochloropsis are classified as polylectic, a term which indicates that these species are broad generalists that collect pollen from multiple families of plants.

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January 17, 2020 by Kurt Buzard Leave a Comment

Better Bird Photography with Flash

No Flash vs Fill Flash with Bright Background

About a year ago I had a good fortune to attend a tour of Costa Rica with a small group of photographers who all used flash photography. While I had used flash for macro and portrait work, I had not up until that time, tried to use flash for bird photography. My fellow travelers were very generous with their time, patiently explaining their choices of equipment and various techniques for getting the best flash photography. I was impressed with the photographs they obtained on the trip and since that time I have acquired a similar setup tailored to my lighter micro 4/3 equipment. What I have learned is that while flash photography can yield impressive results, it requires a certain adaptation of of shooting preferences. Feeders and blinds with feeders are ideal, allowing positioning of bulky equipment in positions with the best light for optimal photography. Flash photography is less well adapted to spontaneous use in unknown locations such as trails and roadsides, although a flash with a monopod can be very useful. The advantages of flash can include fill light for awkward lighting situations or in harsh noon light, decreased noise, more vibrant colors and increased detail. As a very nice side benefit, flash can reduce ISO thus rendering a smaller sensor camera virtually equivalent to a camera with a larger sensor. I thought I would share what I have learned in in this post. Please note that all photographs can be enlarged as is true throughout my blog and I encourage you to enlarge each of the photos.

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January 4, 2020 by Kurt Buzard 1 Comment

Feeding Patterns of Bananaquits and Honeycreepers

Bananaquits (Coereba flaveola) on Hummingbird Feeder. Asa Wright Nature Center, Trinidad

Very few organisms consume nectar exclusively over their whole life cycle, either supplementing it with other sources, particularly insects (thus overlapping with insectivores) or only consuming it exclusively for a set period. Many species are nectar robbers or nectar thieves, performing no pollination services to a plant while still consuming nectar. Nectar-feeding is widespread among birds, but no species consumes nectar exclusively. Most combine it with insects for a mixed diet. Of particular interest are four lineages of specialized nectar consuming birds in the New World: the Hummingbirds (Trochilidae) and three members of the Tanager (Thraupidae) family; Bananaquits, Flowerpiercers and Honeycreepers. These groups have adapted to permit a nectar-central diet, showing higher activity of digestive enzymes which break down sugars, higher rates of absorption of sugars, and altered kidney function. Birds need the enzyme sucrase in their bodies, in order to digest the sucrose of nectar. And most simply don’t have enough. Scientists think birds that can readily digest sugar, like warblers, have an adaptive advantage. When they fly to the tropics for the colder months, they can tap into sources of sugar that other birds just can’t handle. That sweet tooth, it turns out, is important to their survival.

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November 25, 2019 by Kurt Buzard 3 Comments

Hummingbirds, Butterflies and Flowers of Costa Rica

Nymphidium onaeum, a beautiful butterfly from Costa Rica

I have a few photographs that depict flowers found wild in Costa Rica (including the famous Hot Lips or Hookers Lips flower) some photos of butterflies and hummingbirds found on Porterweed and Lantana. One fine early morning on my most recent trip to Costa Rica, we visited a patch of wild Porterweed. This area was alive with small hummingbirds, maths and butterflies. In particular we saw the Rufous-Tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl), the Violet-Headed Hummingbird (Klais guimeti) and a variety of moths and butterflies. In my estimation, there are no greater nectar producing species than Lantana and Porterweed. Every morning in Las Vegas, I have 5 to 10 hummingbirds waiting to feed at my various lantana beds. With the preferences of hummingbirds in Costa Rica, I plan to plant several patches of Porterweed to enhance my garden. As for the rest of the post, beautiful orchids and unusual plants will hopefully excite and amaze you. As for the butterfly at the top of the post, I found this butterfly at Frog’s Geaven. Nymphidium is a genus in the butterfly family Riodinidae present only in the Neotropical ecozone. Some Nymphidium are obviously secondarily transformed by mimicry, otherwise the almost exclusive colors are brown and white either of which being now and then preponderant.

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November 19, 2019 by Kurt Buzard Leave a Comment

Gardens of the Hotel Bougainvillea in Costa Rica

Hotel Bougainvillea Garden. Costa Rica

The Hotel Bougainvillea is a relatively small, privately owned hotel in a suburb of San José in Santo Domingo near Santa Rosa in the Herdia province popular as a starting point for nature tours in Costa Rica. Part of the reason making this a popular choice is the affordable prices but the real selling point of the hotel is the 10 acre garden. It has been my experience that the most beautiful, varied and interesting gardens are created by a collector. While I never met the owner(s), this is truly a world class garden, with sculpture, mature local and special rare species from the surrounding countries and even an amazing rock collection. The rooms are typical of a Motel 6 but the restaurant is good, especially with local favorites and it has air conditioning. The Costa Rica National Gardening Association has given them an award as the best garden in Costa Rica. In this garden you can find small samples of the country’s crops, such as coffee, cocoa, bananas, pineapple and papaya. They have 22 types of bromeliads, 51 different orchids, 28 types of heliconia and 29 types of lilies among many other plants. Because it was winter, I only got to see a fraction of the garden in bloom but trust me, this is a garden you will want to visit.

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November 8, 2019 by Kurt Buzard Leave a Comment

Interesting Trees in Costa Rica

Pink Shower Tree (Cassia grandis). La Ensenada, Costa Rica

I thought I would add a post on the trees of Costa Rica since there are so many beautiful and unusual specimens. This trip, I visited during the winter or dry season, so many of the plants were without leaves or flowers. Nonetheless, there were many fascinating examples of trees that we in North America rarely get to see. I have roughly divided them into fruit trees, large trees and palm and palm-like trees. Cassia grandis, seen above, is one of several species called pink shower tree, and known as carao in Spanish. It is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to the neotropics, that grows up to 98 feet (30 m). The species is distributed from southern México, to Venezuela and Ecuador. It grows in forests and open fields at lower elevations, and is known to be planted as an ornamental. In at least Costa Rica, its pods are stewed into a molasses-like syrup, taken as a sweetener and for its nutritional and medicinal effects, called Jarabe (or Miel) de Carao.

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October 9, 2019 by Kurt Buzard Leave a Comment

Plants of the Cloud Forest of the Cordillera de Talamanca

High Mountain Cloud Forest in Costa Rica

Most of Costa Rica’s forests can be primarily classified into three groups; rainforests, cloud forests and topical dry forests. And while rainforests are the most common habitat, the cloud forests of Costa Rica are a magnificent sight to behold. Rainforests can be found in the southwest of the country as well as in the Atlantic lowlands, with towering trees and looping vines that create a magical wispy environment. Receiving a high annual rainfall, these dense forests are characterized by a wealth of plant and animal life. Rainforests are located at lower elevations, and as a result, they tend to be much warmer, especially during the dry season. Cloud forests, on the other hand, are usually located at much higher elevations, and are much cooler. This difference in temperature contributes to the mist and fog that is often visible in cloud forests, as the milder temperatures slow the evaporation process. However, despite being a little cooler than rainforests, cloud forests are very humid. Cloud forests generate water by capturing water from fog (surface clouds). Water condenses on the leaves and branches of cloud forest trees, epiphytes and lichen, drips to the forest floor, and enters streams. The tropical evergreen cloud forests on the slopes of the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica’s southern highlands is of vital importance both as a source of drinking and irrigation water to the main cities in the Valle Central and as a bastion of many endemic species. This is not meant to be a comprehensive survey of the plants in the cloud forest, concentrating instead on important and noteworthy plants in this ecosystem.

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September 17, 2019 by Kurt Buzard Leave a Comment

Heliconia, Tropical Ginger, Bananas and Canna in Costa Rica

Heliconia is named after Mount Helicon, the seat of the Muses, nine goddesses of the arts and sciences in Greek mythology. These are known as lobster-claw, wild plantain, flowering banana, parrot flower, macaw flower and false bird-of-paradise. Heliconiaceae in the order Zingiberales, are among the showiest plants of the Neotropical rainforest and represent a spectacular co-evolutionary adaptive radiation with hummingbirds. Heliconia originated in the Late Eocene (39 million years ago), making it the oldest known clade of hummingbird-pollinated plants. Heliconia, the only genus of the family Heliconiaceae, has approximately 120 species in tropical America and the western Pacific. These large perennial herbs have brightly colored bracts and bear numerous flowers. Heliconia are typically pollinated by hummingbirds. Most of the 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku. Several species are widely cultivated as ornamentals, and a few are naturalized in Florida, Gambia, Thailand and Costa Rica. The plants have stout, reed-like stems and are related to Tropical Gingers, Bird of Paradise, Bananas and Canna Lilies, whose leaves are all similar. These are all grouped in the order Zingiberales, which includes many familiar plants, and are used as ornamental plants (Bird of Paradise flower, Heliconias, Prayer-Plant, Tropical Gingers), food crops (bananas, plantains, arrowroot), spices and traditional medicines (ginger, cardamom, turmeric, galangal and myoga). I saw a nice selection of these plants when I visited Costa Rica this year and thought it would make an interesting post.

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September 1, 2019 by Kurt Buzard Leave a Comment

Palm Tree Fruit

Mexican Fan Palm with Fruit (Washingtonia robusta). Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Over the past few years I have accumulated photos of fruit on palm trees and thought that I would bring them together into a single post. Members of the family Arecaceae, palm trees are an ancient and diverse group of trees that bear fruit containing one or multiple seeds. Surprisingly there are a lot of palms commonly harvested for their fruits, and some are hugely important to both local populations and economies throughout the world. Palms represent the third most important plant family with respect to human use. Numerous edible products are obtained from palms, including the familiar date palm fruits, coconut palm nuts, and various palm oils. Some less well-known edible palm products include palm “cabbage” or “heart-of-palm”, immature inflorescences/flowers and sap from mature inflorescences/flowers. It takes palms anywhere from three to 40 years, depending on the species, to flower for the first time. Palm trees have separate male and female flowers. Most of the time they are monoecious, with male and female flowers on the same plant, and sometimes, as in the date palm, the male and female flowers are on separate trees (dioecious).

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August 18, 2019 by Kurt Buzard Leave a Comment

History of Greek and Roman Sculpture at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum

Topkapı Palace Museum, Istanbul

The Topkapi Palace is the biggest and one of the most popular sites to visit in Istanbul. It was built in between 1466 and 1478 by the sultan Mehmet II on top of a hill in a small peninsula, dominating the Golden Horn to the north, the Sea of Marmara to the south, and the Bosphorus strait to the north east, with great views of the Asian side as well. The palace was the political center of the Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 19th centuries, until they built Dolmabahce Palace by the waterside. The palace was opened to the public as a museum in 1924 by the order of Ataturk. The Istanbul Archaeology Museum consists of three museums: the Archaeological Museum, the Museum of the Ancient Orient and the Tiled Pavilion Museum or Museum of Islamic Art. The three museums house over one million objects that represent almost all the eras and civilisations in world history. As part of the core collection, on the second floor, they have spectacular collection of Greco-Roman sculpture from the 6th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. Since almost all the important eras of sculpture in this time period were on display, I have compiled a history of Greek and Roman Sculpture.

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Trinidad and Tobago Bees, Butterflies and Bugs

Better Bird Photography with Flash

Feeding Patterns of Bananaquits and Honeycreepers

Hummingbirds, Butterflies and Flowers of Costa Rica

Gardens of the Hotel Bougainvillea in Costa Rica

Interesting Trees in Costa Rica

Heliconia, Tropical Ginger, Bananas and Canna in Costa Rica

Palm Tree Fruit

History of Greek and Roman Sculpture at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum

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