In 2017, my brother Mitch and I had the opportunity to stay in the Mala Mala Game Reserve in South Africa. As previously reported, this game reserve is the largest private Big Five game reserve in South Africa and comprises some 35,000 acres and also shares a 12-mile unfenced border with Krug...
Continue readingI saw my first Guira Cuckoo on the ground in the grasslands of Brazil in 2018. These cuckoos are frequent visitors to drier habitats, such as second-growth scrub, scrub savannahs and woodlands, pampas, pastures, fields and coastal dunes. They are very social birds and live in groups of 6 to 8 in...
The black skimmer is an instantly recognized bird that is best known for its remarkable beak, and its black and white underpants. These skimmers have long, deep, and flattened blade-like mandibles. The upper mandible is shorter than the lower mandible and all skimmers have short legs with webbed...
In 2017 I had the opportunity to visit the Mala Mala Game Reserve in South Africa. This reserve has been in existence since 1927 and is the largest private Big Five game reserve in South Africa. Comprising some 35,000 acres, Mala Mala shares a 12 mile unfenced border with the world-renown Kru...
Continue readingOn a recent trip to Costa Rica, I was introduced to an entirely new bird species for me, namely, the “king vulture.” This photographic workshop that I attended in Costa Rica was organized and hosted by Naturescapes.net, a specialized travel agency for photographers, and an invaluable resourc...
The snail kite is classified as “molluscivore” which is an animal that has a specialized diet of snails. Occasionally they also eat rodents, crayfish, crabs and turtles, but usually this is when snails are in short supply.
Continue readingI saw the boat-billed heron in August 2018 for the very first time while travelling along the riverbanks of the Cuiaba River.
I was in a boat equipped for photography in the Pantanal region of Brazil. My brother and I were travelling in the Pantanal on a photographic workshop organized and hos...
Continue readingThe tricolored heron, formerly known as the “Louisiana heron” in North America, is a small to medium-sized heron and is found in quiet, shallow waters. It is strikingly slender, with a long bill, neck, and legs and is often found wading belly-deep in coastal lagoons and freshwater ponds, lak...
In June 2018, I had the opportunity to visit Lac Le Jeune in the vicinity of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada to observe and photograph common loons. I attended an excellent photography workshop hosted by NatureScapes.net. The lake itself is pristine, very beautiful, and lies at an elevation...
Sandhill cranes are large birds with a wingspan of over 6′ and a body length of almost 4′. Their long legs and necks give them an almost dinosaurian appearance and they can routinely reach a weight of more than 10 pounds. Their common name refers to habitat like that at the Platte River, on...
The yellow-crowned night heron forages both during the day and at night. In most coastal areas, the tide can trump the time of day as most foraging occurs from 3 hours before high tide to 3 hours after. These birds are found year-round along the southern Atlantic coast but can also be found bree...
Squadrons of brown pelicans can routinely be seen flying together in v-shaped formation above the surf line along both the southern and western coasts of the United States. While there are seven species of pelicans, the brown pelican is the smallest and the only one that plunges from the air int...
The bald eagle has been the national emblem of the United States since June 20, 1782 when the Continental Congress adopted the design for the Great Seal of the United States depicting a bald eagle grasping 13 arrows and an olive branch with its talons. The bald eagle has been a spiritual symbol...
Looking like wide-eyed clowns, acorn woodpeckers live in large groups in oak woodlands. I saw my first one during a recent trip to Costa Rica in February this year. Their social lives are endlessly fascinating as they store literally thousands of acorns each year by jamming them into specially m...
As a nature photographer, I share the philosophy of Ofer Levy, who has written articles on this website, and spend time photographing subjects providing action or interesting behavior. The latter aspect is brilliantly exemplified by the courting activities of bowerbirds. In Part 1, I revealed...