Posts in Category: animals
Bonus Pic for today: Black and White Colotuses Monkey
We did not see as many different species of primaries on this trip to Uganda as we did in 2019, but we saw way more individuals. The Black and White Colobuses, in particular, seemed to be everywhere we went. This was our first one, at the Entebbe Botanical Gardens on our second full day in Uganda. I really like the Colobuses…with their 70s fringes and mutton chops and that long tail. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus 1EV exposure compensation.
Bonus pic for today! White Rhino
Bonus pic for today! I promise that no little old ladies (or Rhinos) were harmed in the making of this photo 🙂 The lady is actually much closer to me than she is to the White Rhinoceros at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary in Uganda. It happens that this is the only shot I have of an adult Rhino with its head up. At Ziwa the business of Rhinos is eating and groaning and reproducing…with time out for raising young. That’s all they have to do, as they are guarded day and night by armed rangers. So in most photos the Rhinos are very busy with their heads down grazing in the tall grass. 🙂 Such is life in the protected species lane. Ziwa now has 30 of the 50 Rhinos that the Sanctuary can support, and they are looking forward to releasing their first White Rhinos back to the wild in just a few years. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Leopard!
Leopard: Murchinson Falls National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — There is a story about safari vehicle traffic jams and management of wildlife encounters around this photo, but patience and common sense paid off with a somewhat rare sighting of Leopard in the tall grass savanna of Murchinson Falls National Park. The safari vehicles were blocking the road between the Leopard and its prey, which was hung in a tree, so the Leopard was keeping well hidden in tall grass. Some effective negation on the part of driver/guide Moses, got all the vehicles moved out of the way so the cat could move…and we happened back by the spot just as it decided it was safe to do so. A very special encounter with a magnificent cat. Sony Rx10iv at 580mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/800th.
Monkey business…
Geoffroy’s Tamarind: Canopy Tower, Panama, July 2022 — I have posted a couple of photos of the families of Tamarinds that visit Canopy Tower daily for the banana treats. This one is to celebrate my 75th birthday today. 🙂 Monkey business indeed. I am actually in Amsterdam, at Schiphol Airport, to catch a flight to Uganda in a few hours. Birthday monkey business. Sony Rx10iv at 320mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .7EV exposure compensation.
Night Monkey!
Panamanian Night Monkey: Canopy Tower, Panama, July 2022 — On a good night, the Night Monkeys also come to the bananas the kitchen staff put out at the Canopy Tower. They will not come if the Kinkajou or Olinguito is there, as both are more aggressive (and larger as well). They are very active, so photography is difficult, and they don’t come every night, so these are my best shots. Sony Rx10iv at 573mm and 247mm equivalents. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frome noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Nominal exposures ISO 6400 =@ f4 @ 1/160th.
Kinkajou
Kinkajou: Canopy Tower, Panama, July 2022 — The kitchen staff at the Canopy Tower have a little pulley system that allows them to run bananas out to a tree at eye-level from the third floor dinning hall, just below the canopy. During the day they attract a couple of families of Geoffroy’s Tamarins…smallish monkeys of the rainforest. After dark they hope to attract Olinguitos and Night Monkeys, as well as the Kinkajou. The Kinkajou is somewhat related to raccoons, but with a long prehensile tail. I have mostly seen Kinkajous as reflections of the eyes high in the canopy of Honduras and Costa Rica, so it was a real treat to see them at eye-level in light of our powerful flashlights. Sony Rx10iv at 214mm equivalent (the tree is close). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Nominal exposure ISO 6400 # f4 @ 1/200th and 1/60th.
White-faced Capuchin (#2)
White-faced Capuchin Monkey: Panama Canal, Gamboa, Panama, July 2022 — We had a second encounter with a White-faced Capuchin…this one a juvenile, on a second island among the Monkey Islands of Lake Gatun. This one was curious enough to come right out to the ends of the branches overhanging our boat, where he (or she) interrupted foraging for long enough to have a good look at us. I was not even at full zoom for these shots. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 586-599mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 200 and 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
White-faced Capuchin
White-faced Capuchin Monkey: Panama Canal, Gamboa, Panama, July 2022 — While we took the tour boat on the Canal mostly to see birds, most people take a boat out of the marina at Gamboa to see monkeys. There are a few small islands just as the channel opens out into lake Gatun which are called, collectively, the Monkey Islands. On a good day, you can see three species of primates from a small boat. This is the White-faced Capuchin, with its impressive tail and expressive face. I am not certain just what the face expresses, but this is the typical Capuchin “look.” 🙂 Very serious. Perhaps a bit worried? We also saw the Mantled Howler, but we did not spend a lot of time looking for the Geoffory’s Tamarin on their island, since Tamarins are daily visitors to Canopy Tower where we were staying. I have to say, the views I got of Capuchins on the Canal were among the best I have ever gotten of this species. Sony Rx10iv at 447mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 640 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Proboscis Bat
Proboscis Bat: Panama Canal, Gamboa, Panama, July 2022 — I have seen Proboscis Bats from Honduras to Panama, and I probably saw them over the water at night on the Amazon in Peru. They live along streams and rivers all through the American tropics…and their unique roosting pattern…in a long line, nose to tail, down the underside of a branch over (or next to) water, makes them easy to identify. I have never been out with a river guide in Central America who does not have at least one roost to show off. 🙂 They are also sometimes called “Long-nosed Bats” but there are both Lessor and Greater (Mexican) Long-nosed Bats who already “own” that name. They do not have the interesting pattern of lines on the back that the Proboscis has, and are indeed both separate species. Sony Rx10iv at 207 and 600mm equivalents. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 1600 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Woolly Possum
Woolly Possum: Canopy Tower, Panama, July 2022 — My first night at the Canopy Tower, the guide asked if I would like to go out on a night drive after supper…and of course I said “:sure”. We boarded the Birdmobile, sitting the open back of the pick-up on benches, and headed down the Semaphore Hill road, shining big led spotlights into the trees overhead and on either side, looking for the glow of eyes looking back. Alex (our guide for the evening) spotted this Woolly Possum high in the canopy. The Sony’s multi-frame noise reduction works well with hand held lights and between Alex’s spot and my little, but very bright, tactical light, I managed a decent shot. Sony Rx10iv at 584mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 6400 @ f4 @ 1/125.