Category Archives: Animals

TCSPCA Dog Show

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K.O. was a hit with his Gabbana sunglasses

What a wonderful afternoon with dogs of all shapes and sizes, potcakes and a mixture of breeds some large and some small. The fun started at 3 pm under the tent in Turtle Cove Marina. Categories for the competition were: Best Trick, Most Original Potcake, Dog Judges Would Most Like To Take Home, Looks Most Like Owner, Most Unusual Tail, Best Looking Female and Best Looking Male. There was a huge turn out of dogs and their owners as well as on lookers enjoying the day’s events.

Sweet Cookie was very timid as she took comfort in her owner's arms.

The judges are all ready to select the winners

 

I always look forward to Peggy's millinery stylings

Most Unusual Tail as both pup and owner strut their tail wags

Shadow doesn't seem to want to be ribboned

Oh so sweet......... One Eye Jack is a rescue and now has a caring family to love him

You can't resist such a beautiful face.......Jazz is an island potcake and you bet she gets lots of treats.

Jazz got top honours as she came in first place for the “Most Original Potcake” and second for “Best Looking Female”

Boca is an emotional support animal/therapy dog ready to help with healing those that are troubled

 

Heather Forbes of the Potcake Foundation was honoured for all her hard work in the dog and animal lovers community in the islands.

 

Donna Doran of Pampered Paws had some tough decisions to make as did all the judges

 

Mottlee and Mike in the "Looks Most Like Owner" categorie

 

Who paints a picture upside down.........amazing art work performance and show. The painting was then auctioned off.

 

Handsome Ben was the Top Dog in the TCSPCA dog show for 2012

What an amazing show and I’ll definitely be there next year.

Congratulations to all the winners and their two legged families. Well done to all the hard working volunteers that make this event such a hit every year……..YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!

Marta

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

 

 

 

 

 

Anole Lizard

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Hmm.......looks pretty good to a thirsty little anole lizard

A beautiful evening and time for cocktail hour overlooking the marina at Harbour Club Villas. An uninvited guest came to have a look but he’s been here before and I took photos of him then. He just loves to lick the moisture off the beer bottle. I’m thinking I will have to send these off to the Corona people as I think it would make a cute ad!

He wasn't afraid of me although he knew I was there.

Time for a nice cold beer, one with lots of moisture beads for this little guy to lick.

It's been so dry of late and I'm sure he enjoyed the drink.

Look at that stretch!

Hope everyone enjoyed these photos……I had fun taking them and just watching this little guy coming back time and time again to have a few licks of the beer bottle.

 

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Sand Bubbler Crab

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Look down and see the amazing art works at your feet

This fascinates me and I’m always looking down as I stroll along our Provo beaches. You’ll see those intricate balls of sand that form some wondrous patterns in the sand. I finally had to look this up and found out that it is all the works of a small crab……the Sand Bubbler Crab.

Sand bubbles created by the Sand Bubbler Crab

At low tide, the sand bubbler crabs emerge from their holes beneath the sand to gather microscopic food that the tide has brought in. They do this by collecting and sifting the sand, actually checking each grain, and rolling those parts that have nothing useful for them into little balls (sand bubbles) that they toss behind.

A little crab emerges from its burrow in the sand at low tide to search for food.

Sand bubbler crabs live in burrows in the sand, where they remain during high tide. When the tide is out, they come out on to the surface of the sand, and scour the sand for food, forming it into inflated pellets, which cover the sand and form some great designs.

Kinda looks like a palm tree to me!

Next time you are wandering on one of our beautiful beaches, take a look and see some of these intricate designs in the sand. A sand bubbler crab artist will be hiding near by just too shy to come out and take a bow!

 

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Octopus

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Mike's photos of Harbour Club's newest resident.........a Caribbean Octopus

By the time I had run down to the docks at our villas…Harbour Club Villas and Marina….the octopus had disappeared. I was disappointed to say the least but left my camera down there in case our son Mike saw it again. Well, yes……..he came out apparently changing colours and with at least two foot tentacles. Mike was able to get the following photos.

You can see the distinctive blue-green colours with occasional mottled-brown markings

The Caribbean reef octopus is usually a solitary and are able to quickly change colour using specialized cells in their skin known as chromatophores.

Trying to hide in under the ledge of the rocks underneath the floating docks at Harbour Club Villas and Marina

 

Close up of the octopus' bulbous head

The Caribbean Reef Octopus lives in hidden, rocky lairs that are difficult to locate. Their lairs are usually created in shallow warm waters.

Its colour range is incredibly large; it can change from crimson to green, bumpy to smooth.

The Octopus is difficult to describe because it changes color and texture in order to blend into its surroundings. It can weigh around 3.3 lb or 1.5 kg.

It can move pretty fast but Mike got some amazing shots!

Beautiful colours and constantly changing !

It feeds on a wide array of animals including primarily crustaceans as well as small fish and bivalves. This octopus species often feeds by spreading its webbed arms to form a canopy to net its prey.

Thanks to my son Mike for these great photos of our new resident reef octopus and perhaps you’ll be able to see them for yourself when snorkeling or diving here in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

 

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.diving.tc

Rock Iguanas

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How lucky can a person be? Up close and personal with a Turks and Caicos Rock Iguana!

The Turks and Caicos Islands has approximately 50,000 rock iguanas. Their official name is Cyclura carinata and these iguanas are critically endangered and endemic (found nowhere else) to these islands. I was lucky enough to spend a fair amount of time and at least 300 photos later with the rock iguanas on one of the little cays.

I think he was posing for this photo.

The West Indian rock iguana is one of the smallest of the Cyclura species and measures less than 770 mm or 30 inches when fully grown. Its basic colour ranges from green to brownish grey and usually patterned with some darker markings.

Don't come any closer!! They are so very dinosaur-like and can be very intimidating when coming towards you.

The rock iguana has a ridge that runs from the top of the head to the tip of the tail. The males, have a very prominent ridge on the crown, and a large dewlap. This is a large flap of skin that hangs from the throat area and assists in temperature regulation. This beautiful creature is adorned with a crest of some 80 to 110 scales down the centre of the back, and rings of enlarged spiny scales around its tail.

Showing off its magnificent tail ......it really does look prehistoric!

The Turks and Caicos rock iguana lives in rocky areas and sandy habitats as sand is required for nesting. It lives and sleeps in shallow burrows dug in loose sand or under rocks. In the morning they will emerge from their burrows and
bask in the sun before going off to feed. At midday, when the sun is the hottest, they hide in the shade to avoid overheating.

A handsome ridge runs from the top of the head down to the tail

We have some 2,000 iguanas that are the only land creatures living on Little Water Cay. A boardwalk has been built throughout the island and our visitors can take a tour of the island by walking along the boardwalk. But please, do not step off the walkway.

The Atabeyra drops a group off to see the iguanas at Little Water Cay.

See you next time when you visit the rock iguanas at Little Water Cay.

 

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

 

West Caicos Beach All to Ourselves

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Shadow dancing on a deserted West Caicos beach

About two weeks ago and a smooth, calm sea found us heading for West Caicos. The boys dropped us off and left us to do a spot of fishing. It was an incredible sight to see this long stretch of deserted beach that had become much wider as Hurricane Irene swept in tons of sand. It was low tide and the water was shallow for a ways out. The waves had created ripples and sand bars and pools of water with shells and interesting bits of debris. We had the beach to ourselves with only a few pelicans that swooped in occasionally to land and shared it only with the pelicans as they dive bombed for fish. What glorious entertainment for the afternoon!

The husbands head off for some fishing and look at those ripples and as a small sand bar forms

Sand ripples formed by the wave action made for interesting patterns in the sand

There were so many bird tracks along the ripples of sand and I was fascinated with all the patterns.

A beautiful shell lies in one of the ripplesand there were lots of bird tracks in the sand

 

The brown pelicans were amusing to watch and photograph but were a little leery of my presence

Probably one of my favorite shells, the sunrise tellin shell lying at the edge of the water, made for a beautiful photo.

Me and my shadow, strolling down a beach avenue!! Just me and my shadow, all alone and feelin' good!!

 

What a glorious day and a wonderful afternoon. We’re going to return to West Caicos as soon as the weather clears………GO AWAY MARIA!!!!

 

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

 

Flamingo Sunsets

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Glorious sunset just after Hurricane Irene paid us a visit

Quite the two weeks since Hurricane Irene came calling! All’s well and we’ve been treated to fair, calm weather and some beautiful sunsets over the lake by Harbour Club Villas. The Flamingos are also back again in Flamingo Lake….they did the same thing after Hurricanes Ike and Hanna.

Beautiful flamingo stretching gracefully like a ballerina as it wades through the water.

 

Soft sunset fusion of pink shades over Harbour Club Villas as a flamingo wades the lake waters searching for crustaceons in the silty bottom.

The flooding has all but disappeared, clean up after the hurricane is all done, the bush has been cleared of debris and trimmed and new foliage is sprouting once again.

The wonder of nature.

 

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

Hummingbird Re-Cycles Nest

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A new hummingbird appeared and began adding a second storey to the old existing nest

Can you believe it?  A week ago, we were surprised to see that our old hummingbird nest in the cactus beside the walkway to our house, had grown taller. It wasn’t a few minutes later, that I heard her! A new hummingbird mama had seen the nest and decided to re-use and re-cycle the old nest. She was busily adding a second storey to the old nest to build it up a little more.

Here's the nest showing the new portion between the two stars.

The nest is totally about 1 3/4 inches and the addition is almost a half inch. Still pretty tiny all things considered. Mama has laid her second egg (yesterday) and is now sitting on the nest leaving periodically to feed.

Here's the nest from the back side showing all the fine strands of cobwebs used as "glue" to secure the nest.

 

I wanted to show you the new materials and fluff that has gone into recycling the top of the old nest.

 

A backside view of the Bahama Woodstar hummingbird sitting on a nest with two little eggs

 

Nesting hummingbird ... how sweet she is!

So here I go again!  I’ll keep taking more photos………….I can’t tell you how many I already have but there’s tons!!

 

Marta

 

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hummingbirds Getting Bigger Part 2

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The two baby Bahama Woodstar hummingbirds are squished into the tiny nest as they continue to grow.

The above photo was taken a month ago and as you can see, the little birds are growing very fast. The nest is glued and held together with cobwebs and this enables the babies to compact and stretch the nest to hold the both of them. Clever little birds they are and when they just get too big, they are ready to fly.

Please check the previous blogs.

 

From building the nest..http://myturksandcaicosblog.com/?p=2601

 

To laying the eggs…http://myturksandcaicosblog.com/?p=2616

 

To the chicks hatching…http://myturksandcaicosblog.com/?p=2699

 

The chicks getting bigger…http://myturksandcaicosblog.com/?p=2745

One little baby sits almost on top of the other.

At a different angle, the baby birds are definitely getting too big for the nest and sure enough the day after the photo, we missed one flying out of the nest

What excitement as we managed to catch the one baby leaving the nest and making his first flight. The other little one must have been hidden in the bushes and trees.

Here it is.....ready to fly off into the big world!

 

It's first flight was from the nest to a nearby Opuntia cactus where he perched for a few minutes

Here the baby hummingbird lifts off and flies up into our large bouganvillea

It has been such a joy to take all these photos from start to finish…………right from when we discovered the nest just being built to seeing the eggs hatch and the birds grow and fly away. Nature is so wonderful !!

 

Now just when I was getting used to leaving my camera behind…………..we have another event unfolding!!!!

 

Marta

 

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com

 

Tree Frogs in Our Cisterns

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Croaking frogs caught in our cisterns........noisy especially when trying to sleep!!

Croaking frogs caught in our cisterns........noisy especially when trying to sleep!!

We’ve been hearing frogs croaking at night and yes, two of them managed to get into the cistern under our house. Yesterday, we caught another one that had taken up residence in the cistern under Harbour Club’s gazebo at the pool.

We sent Mike down into the cistern today to capture the little frog........I'm hoping there isn't a mass of froglets down there!!!

Last night, we opened the trap door to the cistern while watching TV. We had read that frogs are attracted to light and we hoped the two frogs would emerge into the living room……umm, I wasn’t too keen on this idea with visions in my head of chasing a fast hopping frog around our living room. Well, Mike peeked around the recliner to find one of the frogs sitting on the trap door ledge which he quickly caught in our pool net.

Here's this mornings tree frog caught in the pool net.

Here's this mornings tree frog caught in the pool net.

We sent Mike down into our cistern this morning to catch the last remaining frog. He was well hidden up in the pipes but Mike managed to catch him.

Mike frees the small tree frog and we let him go into the bushes and shrubs by one of the villas.

Mike frees the small tree frog and we let him go into the bushes and shrubs by one of the villas.

Such pretty camouflage colorations on this little tree frog.

Such pretty camouflage colorations on this little tree frog.

Note the suction type pads which enable these frogs to glom onto cistern walls ?? etc

Note the suction type pads which enable these frogs to glom onto cistern walls ?? etc

I’m hoping there weren’t too many tadpoles down in the cistern waters…….we did add bleach this morning.

Marta

http://www.harbourclubvillas.com