AN OCELOT AT SOUTHWILD SANTA TERESA WAS THE HIGHLIGHT of my Wild Images Brazil's Pantanal tour. At the hide (or rather open air theatre) of the same name we gathered after dark sitting on the small bandstand opposite a tangle of vines baited with piranha steaks. Happily it did not take too long for the hoped for cat to appear, creeping in furtively from the forest to our right. It took some time to pluck up courage to make its way to the food but when it did our local guide turned on the other two of the three floodlights lighting up the ‘stage’. This is certainly the most sophisticated set up of its kind I’ve seen so far and most folks were able to get reasonable high ISO photos at slow shutter speeds. I opted instead for flash synced at 1/250th second, ISO 1000 and an aperture of f/8, which captured a couple of nice eye-level portraits when the Ocelot stood in a position up on the vines that I was happy with. Interesting that my effective focal length was 280mm too. Generally 400mm is recommended but if you want some background at all then this is too long for me. The shorter and faster lens also aids shooting in the low light of the floodlight if you don’t want to use flash and burn out the cat’s eyes. Not all of the set up is photogenic so it is important to figure out where you want to shoot it, position yourself for that angle and hope that the Ocelot obliges, which lucky for me it did. The Ocelot show was so efficient that we were even back at Rio Claro for evening meal. I am very grateful to Southwild for their kind hospitality!
Viewing entries in
Mammals
Golden-crowned Sifakas at Tattersalli Camp, Daraina.
When researching a new destination there is always something special that catches my eye. In the case of Madagascar it was undoubtedly Golden-crowned Sifaka. It is the cover star of Nick Garbutt’s ‘Mammals of Madagascar’ and is regarded by some to be the most beautiful of all the lemurs. After watching them feeding quietly close by in the late afternoon in their dry deciduous forest home at Daraina in remote northeast Madagascar I can't disagree. They positively glowed in the last golden rays of sunshine coming through the bare tree canopy. A mother with baby clinging to her side carefully smelled the forest floor, selecting nuts to eat, only a couple of metres away from me while the rest of her family group of five foraged nearby. The rest of the day they could often be found higher in the canopy, eating leaves and resting but this late afternoon descent seemed to be part of their daily routine. Golden-crowned Sifaka is a small and delicate indrid lemur and its appeal is enhanced by the fact that it is critically endangered. Only discovered as recently as 1974 by Ian Tattersall, it was finally described in 1988 and more recent genetic studies have established it as a separate species from the Verreaux’s group of western Sifakas. In fact it may actually be more closely related to the Diademed group instead. It has an incredibly small range and occurs only in the vicinity of Daraina where it faces a number of threats, all of them associated with the activities of man. Forest clearance for agriculture and fuel as well as gold mining is the biggest threat but they have also been hunted periodically for bush meat, particularly during the economic chaos that ensued after the 2009 coup d’état. The recent influx of gold miners to the area has also damaged the forest itself, leaving deep pits everywhere, which undermine tree roots and ultimately kill them.
It is actually quite straightforward to see Golden-crowned Sifaka, they are common and easy to find in the forest patches around Daraina, although the road journey to get there, from whichever direction you approach, is something of an ordeal. In fact my friend Terry Chambers reminded me that it took longer to get from Antsirinana to Daraina by road than it did from Paris to Antananarivo! The road was not repaired after the last rainy season and is a nine hours bumpy ordeal each way from Antsirinana with not much to look at along the way in the rather degraded countryside. We didn’t see a single bird of any species for almost an hour after we set out from Antsirinana for instance. The Madagascar conservation NGO Fanamby has established an eco lodge at Daraina, Tattersalli Camp and although its wooden huts are very simple, it is clean and wonderfully located right on the edge of some really beautiful forest away from the gold digging areas. The sifaka (and also the merely endangered Crowned Lemur) can even be seen in the trees around the camp itself, including from the bathroom! The forest immediately adjacent to the camp had a couple of families of Golden-crowned Sifakas at the time of our visit and it also produced some interesting birds like spectacular Sickle-billed and Hook-billed Vangas. A large roost of Greater Vasa Parrots coming and going was another memorable sight (and sound). At night the forest comes to life and although we did not manage to find an Aye-aye this time, there were some signs of their feeding activity. Worryingly some dead Aye-ayes were found recently, by our guides, having been killed by locals who regard them as evil spirits and harbingers of death. We saw plenty of other lemurs, all of them unique to this area including Daraina Mouse Lemur, Daraina Sportive Lemur and the putative ‘Daraina’ Fork-marked Lemur.
I am hoping that this post will encourage you to make a wildlife pilgrimage to Daraina and maybe help persuade the local people that the lemurs and their forest home here are worth more alive than dead. The long journey is well worthwhile and was one of the highlights of my recent visit to Madagascar. You can either join my next Wild Images tour to Madagascar or contact the NGO Fanamby directly.
'I believe I can fly! A Golden-crowned Sifaka takes to the air.
Crowned Lemur, from the bathroom!
'Daraina" Fork-marked Lemur is sure to be another separate species of lemur.
Late afternoon sun at Tattersalli Camp, Daraina.
Panning for gold at Daraina, a hard life attempting to find some fragments of poor quality precious metal.
American Badger, Colorado April 2017
'DID YOU SEE THE LUMP IN THAT FIELD? I think it was a mammal, maybe a marmot. I'm just going back to check' was the conversation somewhere between Rifle and Hayden on my recent Colorado tour. Well, to our delight, the lump turned out to be a badger, which was digging in the middle of a grassy field surrounded by Wyoming Ground Squirrels. Before too long it sat up with a ground squirrel in its jaws, which it then proceeded to shake violently for several minutes. Even though it is fairly common and widespread, it is rare enough to see a badger in the USA let alone some action like this. We hadn't seen one on our Colorado tour for over 12 years prior to this for instance. Needless to say, things did not end well for the poor ground squirrel, which forms the majority of the badger's diet in grassland areas.
Indian Skimmer sunset, Chambal River
WE HAD TWO CRUISES ON THE WONDERFUL CHAMBAL RIVER again this time and these were the most productive photo sessions of the whole tour with some of us taking well over 2,000 photos per day of numerous different subjects. The highlight of a cruise along the Chambal River is undoubtedly an encounter with the second largest crocodile in the world, the long-snouted Gharial (second only to the monstrous Saltwater Crocodile). We saw plenty of them including a few large-nosed males, amongst the more widespread Marsh Mugger crocodiles. The National Chambal Sanctuary was declared in 1978, mostly to protect this critically endangered, fish-eating crocodile. Named after the Nepalese word ‘ghara’ meaning earthenware pot, referring to the enlarged growth on the end of the snout of mature males, which can grow to six metres long and one tonne in weight. There are fewer than 400 breeding pairs left in its remaining range, a mere 2% of its former distribution, which used to include Pakistan, Burma and the Brahmaputra. A truly magnificent animal! We also had some really bonkers close encounters with a huge Marsh Mugger Crocodile, which thankfully decided not to join us in our boats.
Marsh Mugger, Chambal River
Gharials enjoying late afternoon sunshine, Chambal River
Another major attraction here is the endangered Ganges River Dolphin and the encounter we had this year was easily my best so far, with numerous semi-breaches and I even managed a (albeit record) shot of one this time. They seem to favour the same deep section of the river that I have seen them in year after year, downstream of a couple of river islands and upstream of a large meander, just as they are supposed to. These creatures face a range of threats from pollution to water development projects, hunting (Ganges and Brahmaputra) and entanglement in fishing gear but happily they continue to flourish in the Chambal River.
Another brief glimpse of a Ganges River Dolphin, Chambal River
A rich variety of wildlife can still be found on the Chambal, including pretty much all of the characteristic species of the large slow-flowing rivers of the Gangetic drainage system that were once found all over northern India. It is like stepping back in time and other relics included Red-naped Ibis, Comb Duck, Black-bellied and River Terns. Also here were: flotillas of Bar-headed Geese grazing on the weed in the river; Dalmatian and Great White Pelicans and the impressive Pallas’s Gull from Central Asia, Ruddy Shelduck, paired up and a couple of Golden Jackals on the prowl. We also photographed a pair of nesting Pied Kingfishers; a crazy Striated Heron perched on one of the abandoned pontoons that allowed approach to almost within touching distance plus a furtive Brown Crake along the nearby riverbank.
Great Thick-Knees, Chambal River
As the sun was setting on our evening cruise we finally caught up with another major target here, the amazing Indian Skimmer, with its ‘snapped-off’ shorter upper mandible, bouncy flight and even living up to its name with a little skimming. There was only a pair this time, however, we were relieved to see them at all once we knew skimmers had not been seen for around 10 days and lots of folks had gone home disappointed lately. Although the light was fading fast by now, they even arranged themselves in the reflections of the orange sun on the water – FANTASTIC STUFF!
Indian Skimmer, Chambal River
Once the thick morning mist had cleared our next cruise also afforded several opportunities to photograph some attractive River Lapwings (now a threatened bird of the Indian Subcontinent’s large slow-flowing rivers) and the peculiar Great Thick-knee. A 960km long tributary of the filthy River Yamuna, the Chambal River has evaded development and its inevitable pollution owing to the river being considered unholy! The river reputed to have been cursed by a princess as well as carried the blood of thousands of sacrificed cows, ironically saving it from the even worse fate that has befallen the other rivers around it. Our very pleasant lodge near the Chambal was as delightful as ever and a wonderful evening meal here was followed after dark by some Common Palm Civet photography in the lodge gardens. In daytime there are usually some interesting birds in the near vicinity and this year’s visit again resulted in some good photo opportunities of Spotted Owlet. We were sorry to head back north to the bright lights of Agra, then Delhi via the bizarre empty new Yamuna expressway and the next stop on our tour, the ‘Kipling Country’ of Madhya Pradesh state.
Striated Heron on an old pontoon, Chambal River