When I first got back from Peru, I shared an image of this southern tamandua — a rare find to see one with dark fur. In this image, you can see him going in for his favorite meal, a line of termites extending down the trunk of the tree. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/6.3 at 1/400th of a second, Godox v860iii fill flash.
They have an advertising category at the Emmys (advertising is what I do when I’m not in the wild). I’ve yet to win an advertising Emmy. In fact, I’ve yet to win an Emmy of any kind. But thanks to the fine work by Jimmy Altman and Sean McKeever at Fox61, I’m now the subject of a New England Emmy-winning feature. So I thought… why not a repost.
We spotted this little bird deep in the jungle while we were canoeing through thick foliage. As the name might suggest, antshrikes feed on ants, sometimes following columns of army ants. They supplement their diet with lizards and berries. There are more than 230 species in the antbird family. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1600, f/5.6 at 1/30th of a second.
This was another new species for me on my recent trip to Peru — the bicolored-spined porcupine. Not much online about these guys. I suppose they have spines and they’re bicolored, which appears to check out. They are strictly nocturnal and arboreal, living almost entirely in trees. Nikon D500 with 500mm PF lens, ISO 500, f/5.6 at 1/160th of a second, Godox v860iii flash.
Here’s another one from the camera trap last week. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 20mm lens, ISO 500, f/14 at 1/250th of a second, Cognisys camera box, trail monitor and remote flash units.
I was pretty far from this sloth and it took awhile before noticing the baby clinging to the mother’s torso. After it rains, sloths like to climb high to dry off, but usually they’ll do so alone because it makes them vulnerable to predators like harpy eagles. The trees are cecropias, a favorite of three-toed sloths. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1600, f/5.6 at 1/4000th of a second.
We’ve seen a few bears walking around the backyard this year but it’s been relatively quiet at the camera trap. Over the last two nights, however, a mother and her cubs have taken a few photos of themselves. In this image, the Mom enters frame to greet one of her cubs. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 20mm lens, ISO 500, f/14 at 1/250th of a second, Cognisys camera box, trail monitor and remote flash units.
Potoos are really odd looking birds. But cool looking too in their own comical sort of way. They have big, bulbous yellow eyes that resemble colored ping pong balls. This guy was perched high in a tree, where they spend most of their time. They are nocturnal, but occasionally can be spotted sleeping on an open branch during the day. In this image, you can see the potoo’s right eye in profile as he looks toward the right side of the frame. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 500, f/5.6 at 1/160th of a second, Godox v860iii flash.
Here’s another look at the woolly monkey I photographed in Peru. There are two species and 5 subspecies of woolly monkey. I got many frame-filling shots of this guy, but I always seem to prefer the images when I go a bit wider and include the environment. You can see the use of that prehensile tail acting like a third arm as he swings through the forest. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1250, f/4 at 1/800th of a second.
A quick break from the Amazon for something considerably closer to home. I received my new Nikon Z8 mirrorless camera recently and finally got it out for some testing. This is my first foray into the world of mirrorless. I had held out for years because I didn’t want to switch from Nikon and they hadn’t offered anything compelling enough for me to switch to the new system from what I’ve been currently using. So far I love it and can’t wait to bring it to Africa in a few weeks. To use a cliche, it really is a game changer when it comes to functionality. As for the pic, I was hoping to photograph some birds when I spotted a beaver dam out of the corner of my eye. Sure enough there were two beavers swimming around. It was late in the day and I was shooting at auto ISO. This is at ISO 5600 — much higher than I usually shoot — and the noise levels were surprisingly low and the sharpness was great. I’ll have to head back to this location and see if I can finally get some beaver photos out of the water where you can see the tail. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 5600, f/5.6 at 1/800th of a second.