Behind the Bookmark

This year we start with a lovely vierw of Arenal volcano (Costa Rica) taken by Ian Slater. Many thanks to Richard Harvey for a picture from the Galapagos of a small lizard warming itself in a sea lion's whiskers. Liz Hoof took the railway track picture in Bolivia's altiplano.

Alexei Howell was in Costa Rica and says: “After growing up with many science books at school with the green tree frog on the cover, this was one creature I was hoping to see in CR. This picture happened after an impromptu visit to the frog pond before dusk after the rains came. There were at least 10-15 of them. This is just a simple iPhone shot, as I didn’t have my big camera on me at time.”

The cave with painted hands is in Argentine Patagonia, and June Williamson took this lovely picture when she was driven around by our friend Jeremy Wood.

Finally, Yo Davies took this picture of Ed on the 2022 Oxbridge alumni astronomy tour on the road to the Casleo observatory north of Mendoza, Argentina. Tour leaders always need a Plan B!

Nikki spotted the hyacinth macaws during her stay at Caiman Ecological Refuge, in the southern Pantanal, Brazil. At Caiman there is an ongoing hyacinth macaw project which studies the species, managing and monitoring both natural and artificial nests. The population has almost doubled in the monitored area since the project began in 1990.

Andy Plimack sent us many wonderful pictures of his travels, including this one of the Iguassu Falls. This view is from the Brazilian side looking towards Argentina, with the Devil's Throat fall out of sight to the left of the picture.

Sue visited a local home in the small community of Cuper Bajo in the hills above Chinchero in Peru's Sacred Valley. She saw a weaving demonstration and then hiked to Chinchero (6km) and then all the way back to the Explora hotel (9km).

Neil Symons sent us this lovely photo of Petrohué Falls in the Chilean Lake District, with Osorno volcano in the background. The Petrohué river drains lake Todos Los Santos (one of the lakes navigated during the famous Lake Crossing) before draining into the Pacific.

Rona Varney took this atmospheric image of a Victoria amazonica lily flower, taken on a pond near Karanambu ranch, in Guyana. It is white on its first night of flowering and pink on the second, and is pollinated by a beetle. The Victorians went mad for this fascinating plant, the largest waterlily in the world, with Chatsworth winning the race to get one to flower in England (in 1849).