More from Brazil

Swimming Brazilian Tapir, Cristalino River

 I've been home from Brazil now for several weeks, largely spent editing the thousands of shots I got over the course of a long trip. I've already posted a couple of my favorites, especially the Giant Armadillo which, although not a particularly creative image, is a groundbreaking picture of a rarely-seen species - one I was frankly thrilled to get.

During the trip, we spent 5 or 6 days at spectacular Cristalino Lodge in the southern Amazon where - despite the crippling heat - we had some wonderful wildlife sightings.  We were lucky enough to see two different Harpy Eagles, the largest new world raptor, the first I had seen in nearly 20 years. Our guide, who had been at Cristalino for almost a year, had never seen one at all until this week.  I didn't get any great pictures of the Harpies, unfortunately, but sometimes seeing is good enough...

I did manage, however, to get pictures of one of the four (!) lowland tapirs we saw in a single day along the shores of the Cristalino River.  This is my favorite shot, a portrait of a handsome adult swimming upstream, with a dangling green vine behind. It is always a pleasure to get a shot of a wild animal in which one senses that the photographer's presence has no effect on the animal's behavior. This guy hardly seemed to notice us, swam easily along the shore, and then disappeared into the forest, apparently unconcerned about us.  Magical.

Hyacinth Macaw emerges from nest, Pantanal

Hardly less magical than the tapir was the discovery of an active, and accessible,  Hyacinth Macaw nest  in the Pantanal.  Often these birds nest so high that a picture like this is impossible, but I was fortunate to have everything go my way: the nest was low, had a clear view from the ground, was in the shade (providing nice soft light) and had birds going in and out.  Our visit coincided with the beginning of the nesting season, and the birds were coming and going every few minutes, which made my job much easier than I had any right to expect!

Meanwhile, I leave this weekend for a two week expedition to Sulawesi in eastern Indonesia where I will be documenting the life history of the Maleo, an endangered megapode found only on this island and nowhere else in the world.  Wish me luck!

Nikon D3 with 300mm f2.8 lens and TC14x

Swallow your Pride, Ask a Guide

Tropical Screech Owls, Intervales State Park, Brazil

It is easy to overlook the value of local knowledge. However, local guides, or anyone who is familiar with a place which you are seeing for the first time, can save you time, money - and steer you towards things you might never have found on your own.  That's why I always seek out local advice whenever I am shooting in a new location.

In the tropical rainforest, this is especially important since this is an environment where every living thing is dedicated to hiding. Many people walking in a rainforest for the first time will swear that the forest is empty. The animals are hard to see, cryptically colored or strictly nocturnal. The fact is, tropical forests are busy places, but it often takes experienced eyes, and a knowledge of the location, to catch a glimpse of the stealthy creatures who live there.

Consider these tiny owls, for example. No, I did not stumble onto them by accident, roosting in a dense thicket of vines. I made a point of asking my local guide, in my halting Portuguese, if he had seen any owls roosting. I know enough that many owl species tend to roost in the same, safe location every day - once they've been found, they are likely to be seen again in the same place if left undisturbed.

I was glad I asked - my guide replied that there was a pair of screech owls roosting in the tree next to his house: he sees them almost every day. So finding this wonderful pair of owls – one red, the other gray – was just a matter of stopping by his house in the afternoon. There they were, right on schedule...

There was really one angle for a picture, through a tiny opening in the leaves. It was also very dark in the tangle of leaves, so a long exposure was required. But I managed a few pictures and then retreated, feeling  sure that my disturbance had been minimal. Then again, they were sitting within ten feet of a busy parking lot - so maybe they were probably used to a lot of people.

Nikon D300, 300mm f2.8 lens, 2 second exposure

Back from the Heat

Giant Armadillo emerging from Burrow, Pantanal, Brazil

Finally home from a month-long sojourn in Brazil, and to be honest, I'm glad to be out of the heat. It is heading into summer in the southern hemisphere and on the dusty plains of the Pantanal, it was over 100 every day with stifling humidity. Seattle, by contrast, is delightfully cool, breezy and HOME.

It was a complex trip, working in several different biomes including the Amazon, but our major concentration was the endangered species of the Pantanal. Although this fellow coming out of his burrow looks a bit like the common Texan 9-banded armadillo, this is actually a Giant Armadillo, one of the rarest and least-known large mammals in the Neotropics. I had never seen one before - and after I took this - I had STILL never seen one.  Welcome to the world of camera traps.

The photo was made with an elaborate camera trap system I employed every night at what appeared to be occupied burrows. This was the first image taken on the first of 9 consecutive nights, and it is still my favorite.  It is an intimate look at a very rare animal (this is one of the first-ever wild shots of this behavior) looking untroubled and at ease.

It is not obvious but these animals are big: over  3 feet in length and weighing upwards of 60  pounds. They sleep up to 18 hours a day and emerge only at night - facts which help explain why even people who have lived their entire lives in the Pantanal have never seen one.

As is often the case, a week spent trying to get pictures of these secretive animals was just long enough to teach me how hard it would be to really tell their story. But I did get some ideas, and with some equipment refinements, I hope to be able to get deeper into the project when I go back next year.

Until then, I will post some more images from Brazil in the coming week or two.

Nikon D300, 18-200mm lens, Camera-trap