I am trying this camera to see if it will be satisfactory in Africa next month and hope to get feedback on the photos.  This little critter was sitting on a rock at the edge of a little stream or estuary that runs under the bridge over which I walk on the way to the beach.  I thought he might be the Basilisk (Jesus Christ lizard) and waited to see if he would skitter across the water on his hind legs as they do, but he stayed fairly still; I looked him up in my book, and if I'd been patient enough, he probably would have performed the miracle of walking on the water; they really DO, but they are so fast that I have never been able to capture it on film.

The macaws were screeching and screaming at each other, dashing around the tree tops, and I tried to photograph them, but alas.  I suppose there are reasons that we are merely bystanders of the natural world...

Then, as I trudged in the heat down the dirt road, kicking the rocks and kicking up the dust as I went, I noticed my favorite fellows were out grazing, and I took this photo of a sweet faced bull.  See those horns?  His ears are those big, pink flappy things hanging out of the side of his head, making him look ridiculous; maybe that is the reason he was shy about the camera.

Finally, these fellows were at the beach, but I cannot for the life of me find them on my bird identification folder.  I doubt they are some esoteric species, but they DO have that peculiar black color on their breasts.

As I look at these photos, I'm really not terribly thrilled with any of them; do you suppose it is the camera, which has an 18X zoom lens and uses 14 mega pixels, whatever that means.  Advice?

Thanks.