Brazil was definitely all about the birds. And of all the birds I photographed, the white woodpecker was definitely one of my favorites. There was just something about this white and black bird with the yellow eye patch that commanded attention.  In addition to simply being cool looking, the white woodpecker is beneficial to farmers as it eats the irapua bee, a pest of citrus growers.

It was the end of the dry season so I didn’t do much in the way of landscapes when I was in Brazil, but I was intrigued by the termite mounds that seemed to be everywhere. This one was taken first thing in the morning just outside the lodge I was staying at in the Pantanal.

It was the end of the day and we were in a boat exploring a small tributary of Brazil’s Pantanal. I always try to get these types of pictures at this time of day when the light is low and reflecting the colors of the landscape off the surface of the water. This is the same yacare caiman, shot three different times a few seconds apart. As we slowly floated past, green leaves were reflected in the water, followed by red clay shoreline, and finally some yellow foliage. As for the caiman, over 10 million of the yacare species are estimated to live in the Pantanal, making them what is believed to be the largest population of crocodilians on earth. More on these guys in a future post.

One of the highlights of the Brazil trip was seeing three baby white-tufted-ear marmosets. Marmosets are small to begin with and these three were babies so they were even smaller (about the size of the average squirrel, if that). I never did see the adults but was able to get quite a few photos of the little guys before they disappeared back into the forest. After looking at the photos, I realized that they were sticking their tongues out in about half of the shots.

The toco toucan is the largest toucan in the world. They grow to be about 26 inches in length, over a third of which is the bill. They use the tip of the bill to toss berries and other food into the air before catching it in their mouth. Each morning, two toco toucans would come looking for breakfast in a tree just outside the lodge I was staying at in the Pantanal.

This is a maned wolf from the Piaui State of northeastern Brazil. It is the tallest wild canid in the world standing over 3 feet tall at the shoulder. Due to its red fur and fox-like face and ears, it is often called a fox on stilts. This particular wolf came sniffing around our camp the previous two nights but I was hoping to photograph it in existing light without flash. Maned wolves are mostly nocturnal but will forage in the morning and late afternoon and finally on the third night it came by early enough that I was able to get a bunch of shots before dusk.

One of the mammals from the Pantanal that I did have a lot of luck with were the giant river otters. They seemed to be everywhere, as did their much smaller cousins, the neotropical river otters. Here are just two of the many photos that I took (more to come). In the top shot, a couple of giant river otters share a catfish. In the bottom photo, I wanted to show just how large and muscular they can be (up to 6 feet in length and 100 pounds). Because of their massive size, they’ve been nicknamed “river wolf” and “water dog.”

After 37 hours of cars, taxis, buses and planes, I arrived home from Brazil tonight. The trip wasn’t quite what I had hoped for — problems with the itinerary, tour company, guides, etc., but mainly I just didn’t have my usual luck spotting wildlife. That being said, I did see this fine looking jaguar. But then again, a full five days of the two weeks were dedicated to spotting South America’s largest cat and I fully expected to see at least one. After several days on the river, however, I was beginning to lose hope. Other guests would arrive back at the lodge excited about how they spent two and a half hours watching a single young jag as it lounged on the beach, swam in the river, pounced on imaginary prey, etc. Somehow, my boat kept on missing these opportunities even though my guide was outfitted with a radio that was supposed to be used to alert us if any of the other boats had a sighting. I guess my boat’s radio wasn’t working. This series of near misses went on for several days until we finally saw this animal walking along a small cliff at the water’s edge. The trees, vines and roots were so thick, however, that it was difficult to get a shot in the open — especially with the mixed lighting of shade and bright sun. The jaguar kept on appearing and then disappearing but finally came to this open patch of full shade and looked out at us on the river. It actually seemed for a moment that it might come down the cliff to either take a drink of water or cross the river, but then thought better about it and disappeared back into the forest. Over the next two hours I would see three other jaguars, but all fairly quick glimpses (I was, however, able to get a few additional shots and an okay look of one in the open walking across the beach, which I’ll post on another day). Right now, though, time for some sleep.