I sat quietly in the bushes and waited while this giant anteater slowly moved in my direction. They have a good sense of smell but are practically blind so with the wind blowing in my direction, I was able to get extremely close without the anteater knowing I was even there. I snapped a few quick headshots before it continued on its way. This gives a good look at that long snout that it uses to lap up all those ants. Photographed in Guyana earlier this year.Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second.

Great curassows were regular visitors to the backyard of the jungle lodge I was staying at in Guyana. They usually showed up early in the morning and then again at the end of the day just before getting dark. This is the male. Females are more of a reddish color and lack the yellow beak. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 24-70mm lens (at 24mm) ISO 8000, f/5.6 at 1/320th of a second.

We were on our way to the airport when a brilliant flash of color caught our eye. There were four or five red and green macaws roosting in a dead tree trunk, squawking away as they jockeyed for position. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 140, f/5.6 at 1/320th of a second.

A giant anteater heads home after a night of foraging on Guyana’s Rupunini savanna. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 450, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second.

Coatis can be locally common throughout their range, but always exciting to come across one… or two, or twenty on a hike through the forest. I found this skittish coati in the dry forest of Guyana’s Rupununi region. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 5600, f/5.6 at 1/500th of a second.

While in Guyana earlier this year, burrowing owls kept me busy while searching for giant anteaters. Always nice to capture that first light as it seeps in and paints the landscape. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second.

While out searching for giant anteaters on the Rupununi savanna grasslands of Guyana, I ran into quite a few of these fork-tailed flycatchers. You can obviously see where it gets its name. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 72, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second.

This one is from my Guyana trip back in February. Quite a spectacle to see flocks of scarlet ibis heading home to roost at the end of the day in the Georgetown harbor. I used a slow shutter and panned with the ibis to blur out the background. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1100, f/5.6 at 1/100th of a second.

Thought I’d take a break from all the Africa pics and get back to the rest of the world. Here’s another of the giant anteaters I photographed back in late January. It was a hazy morning (no doubt exacerbated by all fires in the area at the time) when we came upon this mother with a baby on her back, doing what anteaters do and checking all the nearby trees for breakfast before taking a nap for the rest of the day. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 3600, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second.

Here’s another shot of the giant anteater we found walking beneath the rising sun. This species is solitary, and the only times you see two together is when a mother has a pup, when mating, or when males challenge each other over territory. They can grow to 7 and a half feet in length and weigh up to 110 pounds — quite a sight lumbering across the savanna. They also live in rainforests and are adaptable to multiple habitats. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 130mm) ISO 140, f/2.8 at 1/250th of a second.