This summer, I went to a bird reserve island off of Mexico- Isla Contoy and they had real wild FLAMINGOS!!!! What amazed me is that the last 1/4 of their wings are black!! Is this a breeding phenominon? Does any birder know? The other think that struck me was how beautifully graceful they were when flying. neck, body and legs all in one horizontal line, with the wings flapping majestically- like an eagle in flight. No gawkiness there at all. A really fine experience for me, who has only seen zoo flamingos, and national geo tv specials. I took pictures with the kind of camera that gives hazy pics, where I can point -"see those specks?- they are wild flamingos"!!!
The flamingos were a bonus on a trip to swim with migrating whale sharks. I was disappointed by their approx 20' length. When National Geographic pictures had me expecting 50' lengths!!! It was really incredible to swim very close up with them- but touching was not allowed. Of course my camera (underwater) gave me grainy forms with white dots swimming by. Above water you can see that their mouths are actually the widest part of the body. No, it wasn't scary at all. Only slightly scary part was finding myself at one point all alone in the sea, watching the sunbeams penetrate down into the water. It wasn't too bad as I had a top notch life jacket and swim skins on and I could see land on the horizon. I heard stories about people left behind after I came home. (yes, the ocean makes me feel MUCH better).
Poor airstream-left at home-still stripped out
. Does the sea air really harm the outer skin?? Also, I heard by next year there will be a very fancy trailer park on the mayan riveria below Cancun. silver suz
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