Brazil Quest for the Jaguar By Todd Gustafson

Transcription

1 Brazil Quest for the Jaguar By Todd Gustafson Jaguar Nikon In my imagination, Brazil has always been a place of mystery and adventure. Pantanal jaguars Brazil jabiru stork...these are names that belonged in a different world than I live in. Here jungle rivers that flow into the Amazon are populated by caimans, giant otters, and anacondas. In the surrounding forest s shadowed depths lurked illusive jaguars. Macaws, storks, herons, toucans, and birds I couldn t even dream of flew overhead, perched in beautiful settings, and dove for fish in the piranha infested rivers. In my imagination all this would be possible to see if only I could find the time and get to exactly the right place in this vast wilderness. This September I found the time, the exact right place and flew from Chicago into the unknown. I will tell you right now that anything I have ever imagined paled in the reality of this photo safari to Brazil! Photo opportunities of animals, birds, insects, and reptiles were nothing short of spectacular I do a vast majority of my photography in East Africa and Central America and sometimes I feel that I get mentally locked into that environment. I know what to expect and if something new arises I am usually prepared for it on some level through past safari experience. Brazil taught me to remember the absolute awe of a new experience. New subjects, environments, and cultures are what make life interesting and should be viewed and embraced as a chance to expand your knowledge and photographic skills rather than a Great Unknown that should be avoided, whether consciously or unconsciously.

2 The main focus of the trip was to find and photograph jaguars. What we all discovered is there are countless great photo subjects OTHER than jaguars along the river. Hundreds of bird species live in the forest and marshes. Five brilliant blue Hyacinth Macaws actually flew out to our fast moving boat and glided 10 feet above us for a mile or so to satisfy their curiosity. The Bare-faced Curassows are common, as are the Cocoi Herons. Toco Toucan Nikon 600mm f4 lens Black-collared Hawk Nikon mm f4 lens The dynamic Toco Toucans were amazingly approachable while the Black-collared Hawks were not above snagging a free meal when freshly netted piranha were tossed their way. The piranhas are small so the birds struck at several fish before they are satisfied. This gave multiple chances to have our gear and technique under control.

3 As great as these other subjects were, let s face it, our main goal was to photograph jaguars. When the first jaguar was spotted jogging down a pristine jungle river beach, there was a feeling in the boat that the main event had arrived. We certainly didn t want to spook this beautiful cat so we took it slow. It seemed an eternity as we forged up river and got in the correct position to start photographing. When we finally got our lenses trained on the subject and acquired focus, she turned and walked into the jungle, never to be seen again. To say that we were disappointed would be an understatement. Well, if we all got every shot, we would all be on magazine covers. (Of course, if none of us got any shots, there wouldn t be any magazine covers). The next morning (and the rest of the trip) had jaguars! We ended up seeing 5 different jaguars with 11 sightings of them for an amazing 20 hours of jaguar photography. The great thing about this was the amount of activity each of the jaguars showed. You will note the obvious visual similarity to the African leopard. There are, however, many differences between these beautiful species. Two of the surprising differences were the jaguar s swimming prowess (they love to fish and hunt for caiman) and the size difference. Here in Brazil s Pantanal jaguars can reach 350 pounds, outweighing a big leopard by more than 100 pounds. Jaguars Nikon VR f4 lens The majority of our shooting was done from a 10 seat boat. With 5 photographers there was plenty of room to shoot. The two photographers in the front had 600 and 800 mm lenses on tripods. The two behind them shot handheld and 400mm lenses with teleconverters. I shot from the back using a handheld 600mm lens with teleconverters. The photo to the left is a set of five 600mm horizontal shots made into a vertical panoramic. The jungle setting and the root systems are as interesting as the main subject. Our guide and a boat driver completed the crew and through teamwork got everyone great chances at the huge variety of photo subjects.

4 It seemed that no matter where we were, in whatever habitat we were in, something amazing was waiting to be photographed. When a sleeping jaguar was found we opted to search for a more intriguing subject. What we found was a group of three giant otters fishing around our boat giving us frame filling, eye level shots. We returned to the jaguar in time to watch him stretch, yawn, get up, drink from the river, lie down on a log and catch a fish all twenty feet from our boat!! Giant Otter On another occasion we had a chance to photograph a family group of 15 giant otters, adults and babies! While hiking through the forest we found a troupe of five brown capuchin monkeys who played around the area for almost an hour. If the goal was to capture a forest species in its habitat, this subject and setting fit the bill. Brown capuchin monkeys In an open meadow there was a dead tree with a Crimson-crested Woodpecker nest in it. It was only a matter of time before the mother came back to the nest to feed the babies. While we waited we were able to photograph whistling heron, vermillion flycatcher, neotropic cormorant, kingfisher, and campo flicker. It never seemed to end.

5 Neotropic Cormorant Amazon Kingfisher The final jaguar boat trip topped all the other situations. On the riverbank, in an eye level jungle scene was a young female jaguar. As we photographed she turned her attention to the forest. We watched in awe as her mother walked out of the jungle and joined her. They hugged, intertwined their tails and groomed each other before taking a nap. Mother and Daughter In all instances the technology of digital photography allowed us to capture images that would have been next to impossible with film cameras. Hand holding a 1000mm lens in a boat and being able to capture so many different

6 subjects in such sharp detail at usable high ISO has forever changed the way I shoot wildlife. Couple that with the excitement of being in a beautiful and new habitat filled with dramatic, new subjects in spectacular settings and you have the recipe for my ideal photo trip. PS I don t want any of the following species to feel left out as they gave us equally dramatic chances for photography: Giant anteater, Capybara, Pantanal caiman, Hyacinth macaw, kingfishers, thousands of butterflies, cara cara, crabeating fox, buff-necked ibis, marsh and brocket deer, chestnut aracari, parrots, parakeets, capped heron, jabiru stork..i feel like it s the Academy Awards and music is telling me to cut the speech short. I can only put so many photos in this article so I strongly urge you to go to the web gallery For a complete view of what is available in a 10 day photo shoot There is also an HD video on You Tube from this safari. Todd Gustafson can be reached at (847) gustaphoto@aol.com Website gustafsonphotosafari.net/ Sulfur Butterflies on Mineral Deposit All photographs taken with Nikon D3 and 600 f4 lens and 1.7 tele- converter at minimum aperture unless otherwise noted