A man in Havana fed his bird on the street

In Havana this man was walking with his bird in a cage

He stopped, took his bird and fed him on street .....

Working on the rice field with oxen

In eastern Cuba you see here and there rice fields

In the video you can see how how they work on the rice field with oxen because there is no money for tractors

Dogs and birds were sold on the street in Havana

In the shoppingstreet Obispo in Havana we saw these dogs for sale

They were in tiny cages and one dog seemed to be deceased because we haven`t seen him moving

The birds were also with too many together in a cage

Terrible to see …

Cuban Hutia (tree rat) are hunted for food

Hutias are moderately large cavy-like rodents of the family Capromyidae that inhabit the Caribbean Islands

Most species have a head-and-body length that ranges from 21 to 46 cm (8.3 to 18.1 in) and weigh less than 2 kg (4.4 lb)

Most species are herbivorous, though some consume small animals

Instead of burrowing underground, they nest in trees or rock crevices

They are hunted for food in Cuba, where they are often cooked in a large pot with wild nuts and honey

At the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base however, there is an over population due to the lack of natural predators and an

abundant food source

Desmarest's hutias are referred to by those stationed at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base as banana rats

Banana rats are not named for their dietary preference, but because their feces look like small versions of the fruit

According to Blair Hedges of Penn State University the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base may be the Hutia's last home

A dead sheep on a bike in Eastern Cuba

In eastern Cuba, we saw this cyclist with a dead sheep

Turkey Vultures fighting along the public beach of Guardalavaca

These fightingTurkey Vultures we saw along the

public beach of Guardalavaca

The Turkey Vulture you see everywhere in Cuba 

The Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura), also known in some North American regions as the turkey buzzard (or just buzzard), and in some areas of the Caribbean as the John crow or carrion crow is the most widespread of the New World vultures

One of three species in the genus Cathartes, in the family Cathartidae, the Turkey Vulture ranges from southern Canada to

the southernmost tip of South America

It inhabits a variety of open and semi-open areas, including subtropical forests, shrublands, pastures, and deserts

A safari on the island Cayo Saetia

The island used to be the private holiday home of Fidel Castro

and family until 1994

On the flat island with mangroves is a few decades ago African wildlife such as zebras, different species of antelope, ostriches and buffalo introduced for hunting enthusiasts

Now it`s open for tourists and you can make a jeep safari and enjoy the animals and the uninhabited island and the beautiful beaches

Termite nest

There is only one hotel and a restaurant on the island 

Many oxen in eastern Cuba

In eastern Cuba, you still see a lot of oxen

They are used in the rice fields, to work on the land,

or as transport

This crab suddenly came along ...

While I was reading under a palm tree on the beach of Guardalavaca

this crab suddenly came along ...

Free range pigs in Cuba have a wonderful life

The pigs in Cuba have a wonderful life because they can walk freely and play in the mud as much as they want

When the pigs come out of the mud, don`t stand too close ....

The chickens in Cuba love coconut

The chickens and roosters in Cuba love coconut

After the coconut is drunk they open him 

The coconut is ground and then spread to chickens and roosters

The mill was cleaned by this chicken

We saw two Bee Hummingbirds (or Zunzuncito), the smallest living bird in the world

Click on photo to enlarge

During a walk in "Parque Nacional la Mensura" we were lucky enough to see this litter with two Bee Hummingbirds

The mother was absent so I could take some pictures but unfortunately only one picture was successful and a have a short movie

The Bee Hummingbird or Zunzuncito (Mellisuga helenae) is a species of hummingbird that is endemic to dense forests and woodland edges on the main island of Cuba

With a mass of approximately 0.056–0.071 oz and a length of 2.0–2.4 inch,

it`s the smallest living bird

The male has the green pileum and fiery red throat, iridescent gorget with elongated lateral plumes, bluish upper-parts, and the rest of the underparts mostly greyish white

The male is smaller than the female

The female is green above, whitish below with white tips to

the outer tail feathers

Compared to other small hummingbirds, which often have a slender appearance, the Bee Hummingbird looks rounded and chunky

Female bee hummingbirds are bluish green with a pale gray underside

The tips of their tailfeathers have white spots

Breeding males have a reddish to pink head, chin, and throat

The female lays only two eggs at a time

As the smallest bird in the world, it is no larger than a big insect and, as its name suggests, is scarcely larger than a bee

Like all hummingbirds, it is a swift, strong flier

It also can hover over one spot like a helicopter

The bee hummingbird beats its wings an estimated 80 times per second, so fast that the wings look like a blur to human eyes

The brilliant, iridescent colors of the bee hummingbird's feathers make the bird seem like a tiny jewel

The iridescence is not always noticeable, but depends on the angle at which a person looks at the bird

The bird's slender, pointed bill is adapted for probing deep into flowers

The bee hummingbird feeds mainly on nectar, and an occasional insect or spider, by moving its tongue rapidly in

and out of its mouth

A hummingbird in the flower of a mango tree

In the process of feeding, the bird picks up pollen on its bill and head

When it flies from flower to flower, it transfers the pollen

In this way, it plays an important role in plant reproduction

In the space of one day the bee hummingbird may visit 1,500 flowers

Using bits of cobwebs, bark, and lichen, the female bee hummingbird builds a cup-shaped nest that is only about 1 inch in diameter

Nests have been built on single clothespins

She lines the nest with soft plant fibers

In this nest she lays her eggs, which are no bigger than peas

She alone incubates the eggs and raises the young

In Cuba, you often see a termite nest

This termite nest we saw in Baracoa 

While termites are commonly known, they are

also called "white ants"

Termites mostly feed on dead plant material, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, soil, or animal dung

About 10% of the estimated 4,000 species are economically significant as pests that can cause serious structural damage to buildings, crops or plantation forests

Termites are major detritivores, particularly in the subtropical and tropical regions, and their recycling of wood and other plant matter is of considerable ecological importance

As eusocial insects, termites live in colonies that, at maturity, number from several hundred to several million individuals

Topes de Collantes

Termites communicate during a variety of behavioral

activities with signals

Colonies use decentralised, self-organisedsystems of activity guided by swarm intelligence which exploit food sources and environments unavailable to any single insect acting alone

A typical colony contains nymphs (semimature young), workers, soldiers, and reproductive individuals of both sexes, sometimes containing several egg-laying queens

Cayoa Saetia

A hummingbird in action

I managed to get a few pictures of a hummingbird in action

This hummingbird I saw in eastern Cuba in the nature

Parque Nacional La Mensura

The hummingbird can linger silently through the very rapid wing beat in the air (15 to 80 beats per second, depending on the size of the bird)

Due to the rapid wing beat the hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards, and they can even fly straight up and straight down

The hummingbird flies to the flower of a mango tree

Here he sucks the nectar from the flower

If you look closely you can see him in the flower

(on the right side of the picture)

Here you see him rest on the upper branch

Polymita: World's most beautiful land snail in Baracoa

Polymita, is a genus of large, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Helminthoglyptidae

These snails are endemic to Cuba

In Cuba are many lizards

In Cuba are many lizards and several different types

This lizard was sitting quietly in the sun 

Lizards are cold-blooded and they like to take a sun bath to warm up so they can move much faster

Lizards eat mainly insects and other arthropods

Larger species sometimes eat vertebrates or plants

For humans lizards play an important role as scavengers of various pests such as house crickets, grasshoppers and cockroaches

This lizard had a lovely curly tail

The dogs in Havana have to work for a living

This crazy dachshunds we saw in Calle Obispo in front

of Hotel Ambos Mundos

To earn money the Cubans now also use their dogs

For an additional fee you could take take pictures of the dogs

The dogs looked quite funny with those hats and painted nails

but I feel sorry for them

We saw several owners earned income with their dogs