Wendy's Wilds & Wags

travel: Scotland 2024

Seals on Skye: A Wild Day at Dunvegan Castle

Discover the enchanting world of Dunvegan Castle through a wildlife photographer's lens. See the seals and birds that call Dunvegan home.

Isle of Skye: Unexpected Adventures & Rainy Shenanigans

Rain or shine, the Isle of Skye captivates. Though a power outage shrouded Eilean Donan Castle in mystery and we had a rainy hike, sometimes the best adventures on Skye are the unplanned ones.

travel: Scotland 2024

Cairngorms Capers: A Badger Bonanza at the Speyside Badger Hide

Discover the magic of the Scottish night in the Cairngorms! This blog post details an unforgettable night-time adventure filled with badger encounters, dazzling birds, and more. Learn tips for your visit and discover the magic of the Scottish night.

travel: Scotland 2024

Forget the Monster, Look at the Birds! A quick visit to Urquhart Castle

Calling all birdwatchers & Loch Ness enthusiasts! Loch Ness unfolds before you from Urquhart Castle. Spot majestic birds & soak up epic views. Is Nessie lurking beneath the surface?

travel: Scotland 2024

Encountering the Cairngorms Reindeer Herd

While in the Scottish Highlands one of our priority destinations was the Cairngorm Reindeer Center. The Reindeer Center releases tickets 30 days ahead of the date. We set a calendar reminder and got ours as soon as we could. After check-in at the Reindeer Center, we drove to a different

Lets Go Birding in Scotland's Cairngorm National Forest

In March as the shape of my Scotland trip was coming together, I began researching what wildlife is must see while at each of our stops. In the Cairngorms, I knew I wanted to see the Red Grouse and Scottish Crossbill. I started to contact a few birding tour guides

travel: Scotland 2024

Ness Walk Wildlife: Who Might You Meet on the River?

Stroll with me on the Ness River Walk taking in the birds and dogs that are prevalent there in June.

travel: Central America 2024

Travel Itinerary: 14 days in Panama and Costa Rica

A 14 day itinerary for visiting Panama and Costa Rica.

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 12-14: Tamarindo

Photos from a few days in Tamardino, Costa Rica with sunsets, birds, dogs, and cats.

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 14: Tamarindo Estuary Tour

Photos and description of the Estuary tour in Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 13: Palo Verde Boat Tour

After leaving Monteverde, we stayed in Tamarindo for a few days. Tamarindo is a coastal beach town. My complexion and the beach are enemies and while researching Costa Rica prior to the trip I'd read that Palo Verde is an amazing place to see birds. During some downtime

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 12: Hotel Belmar Bird Tour

On our final day in Monteverde, we planned a morning bird tour with Hotel Belmar. The tour would take us to Savia, the hotel's private reserve as well as other areas depending on our preference of bird. Our guide, Daniel, came to meet with us the evening before

Spring Bird Walk at Nyquist-Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary

An overview and photos of the Spring 2024 WVLT Bird Walk through Nyquist-Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 11: Hummingbird Cafe

While we were touring Selvatura, I talked about the hummingbirds of the area with our tour guide Roy. He told me about a hummingbird café outside of the entrance of Monteverde Biological Reserve. It is free to enter and they have hummingbird feeders. He said he could talk with our

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 11: Selvatura Butterfly Garden

Our day in Selvatura was very full. After touring the hanging bridges and visiting the sloth sanctuary we went into the butterfly garden. The butterfly garden is actually in the same building as the sloth sanctuary, divided by a wall. We used an interior door to cross over into butterflyland.

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 11: Selvatura Sloths!

The first part of our tour at Selvatura took us on the hanging bridges (covered here). Part two took us to the Selvatura Sloth Sanctuary. When planning the trip, the sloth sanctuary was insurance against my fear that we wouldn't see sloths in the wild. While we did

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 11: Selvatura Hanging Bridges

Our exploration of the cloud forest continued on day 11 of our trip with a tour that took us into Selvatura Park to walk across the hanging bridges, visit the sloth sanctuary, and the butterfly garden. I'll segment this tour into three posts because otherwise it will be

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 10: Monteverde Night Tour

We took a night tour* in Monteverde with the hopes of seeing some nocturnal inhabitants of the cloud forest. We opted for a private tour, so our group of 5 was assigned to a single tour guide. I believe the limit on group size with this refuge is 8 people.

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 10: Monteverde Chocolate & Coffee!

On our first full day in Monteverde we took a morning Don Juan Chocolate and Coffee Tasting Tour*. During the morning tour we learned about the processes of making coffee, chocolate, and even pressing sugar cane in the traditional Costa Rican way. In the chocolate section of the tour we

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Days 9-11 - Monteverde, Costa Rica

Photos of birds and mammals from around Hotel Belmar in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Includes Lesson's Motmot, Hummingbirds, Coati

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 8 - Quepos, Costa Rica

Our final stop before the cruise that began in Panama City completed was at Quepos, Costa Rica. Here we'd signed up for the " Concierge Collection: Rainforest Extravaganza" excursion. There was fairly limited information about the excursion, so we didn't know what to expect. We

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 7 - Sloths at Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica

Still on the cruise, our first stop in Costa Rica was a Puerto Jimenez. We took Zodiacs over to the rocky beach where we caught a bus to go on our “Concierge Collection, Sloth Walking Trails” excursion. This excursion took us to La Perica Sloth Garden. La Perica is a

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 6 - Isla Parida Snorkeling (and a hermit crab)

Our final stop during the cruise was at Isla Parida, a small uninhabited island. We took the “Island Hopping with Snorkel” excursion and then had a BBQ lunch on the beach. Our snorkel boat was a Panga boat, so we had to throw ourselves over the side. Our guides pointed

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 5 - Cruising Near Panama

The fifth day of our trip was a sea day. I’ve never gotten sea sick before, but on this trip I did. I think its because the ship was relatively small and given that our room only had port holes, it was hard to keep an eye on the

travel: Central America 2024

Travel: Panama & Costa Rica Day 4 - Miraflores Locks & Panama City (and birds)

On the third day of our cruise from Colón, Panama to Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica we returned again to Panama City. We took an excursion called “Balboa, Panama City & Miraflores Locks” offered by Windstar. It was neat to see the locks from on land, but I wouldn’t recommend