The World Through Our Lens
Photography of birds, animals, landscape and places we have travel to around the world.
Way before Bob and I decided to go to New Zealand, I held close to my heart the idea of one day visiting Hobbiton. When we viewed the movie, The Hobbit, I fell in love with the whimsical Hobbit Holes that Bilbo Baggins and Frodo called home. The dome-shaped dwellings captured the imagination of my inner child, and the seemingly utopian bucolic lifestyle struck a chord with me. Read more
Despite our intentions of arriving at the Leaning Tower of Pisa early in the day, we found ourselves landing at the popular tourist destination alongside hundreds of fellow sightseers. This world-famous freestanding bell tower is considered one of the most remarkable architectural structures from medieval Europe and possibly the tallest bell tower in Europe. Read more
After spending a few days in London, England, taking in several of the well known sights, Bob and I, with our teenaged son, escaped to the peaceful countryside just outside of Salisbury. On a misty morning befitting a visit to the spiritually significant standing stones, we arrived to find Stonehenge hauntingly empty of anyone but ourselves. Read more
It is safe to say that Bob and I probably failed to get an exact count of all the different birds that we managed to see in San Blas, Mexico, but at least we were able to make positive identification of those species that crossed our paths, birds such as this Tri-coloured Heron. Read more
When Bob and I visited San Blas on the Pacific coast of Mexico, our objective was to see some of the endemic bird species as well as others that winter in that southern locale. We had seen a juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron in our hometown of Toronto a couple of years earlier. As we cruised through the mangrove jungle on our guided tour, closeup views of these rather elegant birds were fairly frequent. Read more
Bob and I had a long list of sights to see in New Zealand and first up was the gannet colony at Muriwai Regional Park just outside of Auckland. About an hour’s drive north of Lone Kauri Lodge where we were staying on the North Island, it made for the perfect day trip. Over 2,000 Australasian Gannets make up the colony at Muriwai, which is one of only three mainland gannet colonies in New Zealand. Read more
Bob and I were so excited as we set off from the pier on our mangrove swamp tour. With Chencho at the helm of our substantial launch, we were confident that many tropical birds would not allude detection. One species that caught our eye on several occasions was a Green Kingfisher, seen here perching at the edge of the San Cristobal mangrove estuary. Read more
Bob’s and my sense of adventure was high the day we set off from Rome into the rural region of Tuscany. After picking up our rental vehicle at the airport, beneath damp, grey skies, we negotiated the ring road out of Rome and soon found ourselves scooting along narrow country roads that would lead us to our farmhouse retreat at a winery near Gaiole. Read more
On the afternoon that Bob and I landed in Rome, Italy, we were in dire need of a stretch given the long hours of travel time from Toronto. Our accommodation, Hotel Manfredi, was centrally located in the Old Quarter so The Spanish Steps were less than ten minutes by foot from the hotel lobby. It seemed a likely destination given its close proximity. Read more