Flora and Fauna, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Photography of manicured lawns and tightly clipped hedges was not my interest so I would occasionally wander off through the hedges to see what wildlife might be in the more unkempt areas of the resort. Security staff and gardening staff never gave me any trouble but did keep an eye on me from time to time :-).
After looking around the resort for a day with my 300mm attached to the camera and getting into no serious trouble with security and grounds keepers, I was ready for another day with the 300mm.  In addition to the more elusive birds of the lagoon, there were a number of “tame” birds that I wanted to photograph so for them the 300mm was definitely overkill. Shooting with the 100mm lens got a bit less attention.
White-Cheeked Pintail (Anas bahamensis)
Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
Taken in the heavy shade of the lagoon with just a ray of light striking its head. A bit tough to photograph a black bird in deep shadow so I was thankful that it moved into the shaft of light for me.
I think it is a White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae). Very plentiful at the resort but not one that migrates to my part of the world so new to me.
A peacock all dressed up and nowhere to go. I am so used to seeing peacocks and peahens walking around zoos at ground level that I didn’t take much notice of them at first until one morning I came by and they weren’t on the ground but were perched up in the lower tree branches instead. They were only teasing me. I wasn’t carrying my camera at the time and I never saw them above ground after that.
Green Anole -I only saw a few of these little guys scurrying around during the visit and this was the only green one. I expected that I would see more so I’m assuming that the grooming and manicuring of the lawns and building areas kept the reptile population subdued.
