When my guide stopped the boat because he saw a rat, I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic. Then I saw this guy staring back at me and I had one of my favorite sightings from my week in the Peruvian Amazon. Not just any ordinary rat, but the yellow-crowned brush-tailed rat. So cool it gets two hyphens in its name. These guys tend to live in tree cavities, usually palms along the banks of rivers. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/125th of a second, Godox V860iii flash with Better Beamer extender.

You never know what you’re going to see on a night hike in the Amazon. And that goes for this yellow-throated woodpecker too who woke up to find a few humans standing outside his tree-cavity bedroom. Photographed in Loreto, Peru. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 500, f/8 at 1/200th of a second, Godox V860iii flash with Westcott soft box.

This guy goes by many names — orange spotted gecko, sun gecko, South American clawed gecko, spot-nosed gecko, Trinidad gecko, and bridled forest gecko (which seems to be the most common so I’ll go with it). This is the male of the species — females are more uniformly brown in color — and he couldn’t have been more than three to four inches long. Photographed in northern Peruvian Amazon. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 105mm macro lens, ISO 1600, f/5.6 at 1/40th of a second, Godox V860iii flash with Westcott soft box.

With about two minutes left in my trip to Peru, I finally saw the moustached tamarin. I only got one shot before it quickly bounded further into the forest. This guy obviously gets its name from the white mustache around the face (or moustache, as they spell it in the rest of the world). Their range spills over the border of Peru and into Amazonian Brazil and Bolivia. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1600, f/8 at 1/60th of a second, Godox V860iii fill flash with Better Beamer extender.

Here’s one of the many cool birds I saw last week in Peru — the wire-tailed manakin. This is the male and he was doing quite a dance on that branch, trying to attract a nearby female. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1600, f/5.6 at 1/15th of a second, Godox V860iii fill flash.

We saw several of these brightly colored, non-venomous snakes last week. Emerald tree boas typically grow to about 6 feet in length. They have very slow metabolisms and might only eat once a month. They prefer small rodents and sometimes birds, frogs or lizards. They’ll remain in one spot for up to a week, patiently waiting for an unsuspecting meal (and making it easy for photographers to photograph them). Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/125th of a second, Godox V860iii flash, off camera with Westcott soft box.

These colorful frogs live only in the Loreto region of the Peruvian Amazon and they don’t currently have a common name. It’s hard to imagine just how small they are. A fingernail is often given as a reference. Although a pinky nail on a rather small hand would be more accurate. They live inside bromeliad plants like this one here, often multiple frogs in one plant. Their upper parts are a brilliant yellow with black spots or stripes. The underside is a pale blue. I saw quite a few of this species. More posts to come. For this image, I used a wide angle macro lens to show more of the environment, rather than my traditional macro lens. Nikon D850 with Laowa 15mm wide angle macro lens, ISO 1600, 1/25th of a second, no f stop recorded with the Laowa lens, Godox V860iii fill flash.

As I mentioned yesterday, I was disappointed by not finding certain targeted species of monkeys and frogs while in Peru, but that was all made up for with this unexpected encounter with an ocelot. We were at the end of a night excursion by boat, searching the trees along the river banks for snakes, frogs, nocturnal birds and whatever else we could find. It was getting late and my guide let the driver know it was time to get back to the lodge. About halfway there, he suddenly motioned to stop and turn around. He had spotted the eyes of the ocelot deep into the forest. He proceeded to hop out of the boat and scrambled up the bank. I thought for sure, I’d never see the wild cat as it would undoubtedly disappear into the darkness. About five minutes later, my guide reappeared and excitedly called for me to follow him. I couldn’t believe that the ocelot was still there but sure enough, as soon as I got to the top of the bank there it was staring back at me through a window in the thick foliage. I was able to grab several shots before it slowly turned and vanished back into the rainforest. Ocelots are widespread from southern Arizona and Texas all the way into Argentina. That said, they are rarely seen and prefer to stay far from any human settlement. Most images of wild ocelots are caught on camera traps, or baited stations. It was a thrill to see one eye to eye in its natural habitat. If you notice on the ocelot’s right shoulder, he/she must have had an encounter with a porcupine and picked up some unwelcome accessories. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/125th of a second, Godox 860iii flash with Better Beamer attachment.

Just back today from a week in the Peruvian Amazon. Per usual with these trips, a great deal of disappointment (many targeted species of primates and frogs were more elusive than expected) as well as some amazing surprises (a face-to-face, late night encounter with one of the most secretive and sought after wild cats in the rainforest). But more on the latter later this week. The species I was most eager to see was the pygmy marmoset. And I saw a lot of them. This is the smallest monkey in the world. They’re about the size of a chipmunk, if that. They’ve been nicknamed finger monkeys or pocket monkeys because they easily fit into a human hand. They’re typically about five inches long, not including the eight inch tail. And they can be quite playful. This particular pygmy marmoset kept putting its head down on the tree branch while watching me snap a few photos. Much more on these guys in future posts, but for now, some much needed rest. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/80th of a second, -2 stops of fill flash with Godox V860iii.