American Flamingo in a Bonaire salt pond (left).

A beautiful and elegant addition to my birding were the pink American Flamingoes that are resident in Bonaire, and now in Curacao as well. They feed on the brine shrimp in shallow lagoons, and the pink of their feathers is due to their diet of these shrimp. They do a dance we came to call the Flamingo Flamenco, raising and lowering one thin leg, then the other as they stir up the water to locate their meals.

In the San Blas Islands we were amazed at the number of Spotted Rays that leapt out of the water, sometimes as much as 6 or 7 feet high. Given that their mouths are underneath their bodies, we can't figure what they're doing jumping around like that. Perhaps they have a sense of fun???

To the left is an example of a page in the Guide to Birds of Panama that I borrowed for a day. I had seen a black bird with a yellow back and possible shoulder yellow. I had a few choices, but with further study, it was clear to be the Yellow-Rumped Cacique, a bird that was also found in Venezuela, and hence was in my Venezuela book. But it was nice to get confirmation from a Panama book as well.