Weekly Photo Challenge: Sambava Tomato Frog

Here’s a colorful inhabitant of the Osher Rainforest at the California Academy of Sciences. Larger version is available here.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Red Moon Jelly

At the Academy of Sciences, there’s a cool exhibit that features a dozen or so Moon Jellies in a cylinder. There’s a light shining into the water that changes color every few seconds…and so do the moon jellies. Here’s a close shot of some in red. Larger version can be viewed here.

Scarlet Macaw, Up Close And Personal

Paradise Village shows off their resident parrots every couple of days. You have to keep your distance most of the time, but you can pose with their scarlet macaw after the show. Normally the hotel staff takes your photo and sells you prints – I have one that needs to get framed, in fact – but they were gracious enough to let me get my own close-up shot. Large version available here.

Parrot Profile

There are about half a dozen parrots on display at Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Normally you can only see if then in their cages…unless you know when they’re taken out and having the cages cleaned. As long as you don’t get *too* close, they’re fine with some quick photos. This one was taken so close, you can see my reflection in the parrot’s eye! Large version available here.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Just After Sunset

When I was taking sunset photos in Nuevo Vallarta, I had to share a pier with several other sightseers. Once the sun vanished behind the hills in the distances, most people left. However, I stayed an extra half an hour to see how the weather would develop. I was rewarded by one of the most vivid and colorful night skies in recent memory. Large version available here.

Walk The Line

Nothing like a Sunday stroll…on a flower stalk. Large version available here.

Red-Lored Amazon Parrot

I found this lovely bird at the Paleaku Gardens Peace Sanctuary in Captain Cook, Hawaii. Large version available here.

Giant Honey Flower

Also known as the Melianthus major. I saw this strange but beautiful plant in a neighbor’s yard!

Red-Eyed Orange Lion

One of the Yau Kung Moon lion dancers. Taken during the SF Chinese New Year 2015 Festival in Chinatown.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Scale, Or: Bottlebrush

This week’s photo challenge is all about scaling, so I took this close-up of a bottlebrush plant. These are normally quite small, but they look amazing (if a bit bizarre) up close. For reference (and to mess with the perspective), there’s a car parked just out of focus.