For some time I have wanted to photograph long eared owls. Several failed attempts in this country led me to look abroad. The obvious choice was Serbia where there are huge numbers of these very difficult shy birds roost in the town centre of Kikinda. I went my my guide Dragan Simic who is a great birder to find these birds. We started in the small village of Centa then moved on to Kikinda. Th e owls were amazing, though still difficult to photograph as they hid in the tops of tall pine trees. I did manage some nice shots though
The central square had about 200 owls in it!!!! Extraordinary.
There was plenty of time to look around during the afternoons for my other target, the beautiful hen harrier. We found two males hunting on an old disused air force firing range!
As you can you, it was a huge open space, and the two male harriers hunt by gliding across the grass covering huge areas. Without being hidden in a hide, it was very challenging but I managed some great views and reasonable shots.
Its a gorgeous bird and not easy to find in the UK as they have been poisoned for years by game keepers!
No sooner had the amazing waxwings moved away than I found two birds in the woods really close to home. They are both birds I have never got decent views of ,never mind pictures so these shots were great. The first one to appear was the firecrest, a tiny little bundle with a flaming orange crest
What a bird, I was so excited, especially as for once,I had found him by identifying his call! He posed beautifully for me as he whizzed around looking for insects.
No sooner had I got shots of this one than I heard the calls of the even smaller goldcrest. In fact, the smallest bird in the UK! But what a little beauty!
The crest is golden!!! Surprise surprise. The bird weighs the same as a 20p coin, virtually nothing!
They were also very active on these freezing cold days looking for bugs. They have the grumpiest looking face when seen from the front! Love them!
Plans had changed somewhat in the autumn so travel was somewhat different.The first place that I spent an enjoyable couple of mornings was Snettisham in Norfolk. I have been there a couple of times in the pastto witness the amazing spectacle of the masses of waders flying in at high tide.This year the tide times were quite late so combined with good weather and newly built hides, I got to see the spectacle at its best!
The numbers of knot and other waders like black tailed godwits and oystercatchers is astonishing .
They fly in and roost in the scrapes.
It is great fun as there are so many photo opportunities with massed numbers of birds as well as individuals.
A knot above and a small group of oystercatchers flying in.
I also got to spend a little time on some of our more local birds, just like during lockdown! It was pretty good as the first of them was a bird that I have struggled to get any pictures of in the last few years, the short eared owl. I always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time! Not this year. As soon as I got word that there were birds locally I managed to go and get some shots. It was great fun having a good subject with good light to work with.
There were seven birds hunting in a fairly small area.
Watching glide over the marsh was great.
They would hover, then dive down onto their prey.
Not much chance if you are a vole!
A great few days.
The next group were the waxwings. These Scandinavian residents fly in to the UK during the winter to spend time away from the more severe climate. They can pop up anywhere ,usually where there are lots of berries to eat. I was in the surgery early one morning when the practice manager phoned me to say that there were a group of strange looking men with big cameras outside! I knew there must be something interesting about so popped out to see 6 waxwings in the tree no more that 50m away! It was great and ove rthe next few days, I certainly ‘filled my boots’ with waxwing pictures.
They are such attractive birds and looked very festive with the berries in shot
I put this shot on the Surrey birding site and it got over 1100 likes!!
I did get to do a little travelling. Lisbon for a few days was nice and I had a day out at Evoa where I chased a hen harrier around without ever getting close enough for good pictures. A marsh herrier obliged though.
As did some surprisingly colourful glosssy ibis
There were some odd birds such as the common waxbills that must originally have been captive but have clearly succeeded in settling
There were a few lovely black shouldered kites around. I have chased these guys in the past!!
The highlight though was a beautiful small falcon, a merlin, that landed just near the road
At the end of April, we travelled to the USA for a very interesting trip. We started in Denver with a special treat. There is a museum in Denver that has a ‘Big Boy’ steam locomotive, the biggest ever made. I was given a model of this loco by my father for my 12th birthday so have always had a soft spot. It was a real treat to see this amazing monster of a machine
After enjoying the weekend in Denver, we met our guide, Kim Risen, an amazing birder and guide who really came up with the goods! Our first destination was the small town of Wray in Eastern Colorado. Here we met a rancher, on whose land we were to find the greater prairie chickens that was the first target. In the late afternoon, we headed out onto his land to the traditional lek where every year, male birds come to display to attract a female. And what a display….
The males have these amazing throat pouches which they inflate while bending forward and stomping their feet! Bizarre. The males all try to outdo their rivals and occasionally, fisticuffs break out!
We returned before dawn on the second morning to enjoy more of the same. After thee session we left, but were treated to a great horned owl in flight.
We then had a long drive to our second base, Walden. The weather was pretty awful when we arrived at the second lek, this time for the greater sage grouse. There was no sign of any birds and the forecast wasnt great. Next morning we went up to the lek, and happily there were some birds there, albeit at a distance. Luckily however, they eventually displayed much closer. I thought the prairie chickens were unusual, but these guys were another level. They are bigger birds and the males have the most extraordinary pouches that they inflate in the display.
The childish schoolboy in me struggled not to snigger at this sight!! The view from the rear was also impressive, though not as outlandish.
We left the sage grouse and moved on to our third and final member of the grouse family, the dusky grouse. Unlike the other two, this one does not display at a traditional lek, but anywhere in the forest where it lives. We travelled to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison river NP to find this bird.Again, the weather was pretty bad and we had no luck. There were some other nice birds around including a new warbler for me, the Virginia warbler.
Also an orange crowned warbler.
The scenery was pretty spectacular too.
As we approached the end of our time, we suddenly heard a male. It wasnt long before we tracked him down and he began his impressive display. More bizarre throat pouches and a bird clearly loaded with testosterone.
He performed for quite a while, even up in the trees.
We finally left and had one more lovely bird on the way out. A pinyon jay, stunning blue.
We headed back to Denver via the beautiful Colorado State Monument
Kim then dropped us back in Denver after a fantastic and totally successful first part of the trip. We we then flying to Jackson Hole to enjoy the second half in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National park.
We arrived on a slightly overcast but reasonable day. By next morning however, this was the scene, in May!
It snowed quite heavily turning the whole place back into winter, gorgeous.
The bison are always so impressive, but everything just looks great in the snow. These young lads were enjoying a little sparring
The birds also looked good in the snowy scenery. Here are a couple of Sandhill cranes coming into land.
By next morning the snow had stopped. We toured around enjoying some of the extraordinary geothermal features in this gigantic volcano.
The spectacular lower falls of the Yellowstone river is so impressive.
For wildlife the epicentre is probably Lamar valley in the NE of the park. It was quite a drive up there as we were based near Old Faithful. It was worth it though. I saw 6 grizzly bears, all at quite distance, fresh out of hibernation, black bears, elk, pronghorn antelope and coyotes.
Bison were very plentiful, many with their very cute youngsters.
I really wanted to see the wolves in the valley. I heard that they were denning, and had pups, but unfortunately they were a LONG way from the road. This picture shows the wolves at the den a little over a mile away! Taken with an 840mm lens and cropped. Still a huge thrill to see these fantastic animals.
Weather continued to be variable with another morning finding the park shrouded in fog.
Yellowstone is the most amazing place to visit, especially for photographers. If you like wildlife or landscapes, you just cant go wrong. Sadly, we had to move to our final destination, the Grand Tetons just south of Yellowstone. We were based in the slightly ridiculous but very fancy town of Jackson Hole, full of galleries and expensive restaurants, though very pleasant !
This part of the trip was perhaps more landscape focussed as there was definitely less wildlife around. We did see nice moose.
And some cute ground squirrels
The landscape was stunning with the beautiful mountains rising out of the western edge of the park.
This is a scene photographed SO many times by everyone of a Mormon barn, but you just have to do it!
There were some lovely birds such as this cinnamon teal, a very handsome duck.
And another pretty warbler, the yellow rumped warbler.
There is a refuge near town for the elk, but I actually got great views of the bighorn sheep there.
Impressive headgear!
The landscape was spectacular everywhere though
It included some famous photographic sites such as the Snake river bend, made famous by Ansel Adams. It has changed a bit since his famous image with trees now obscuring part of the river.
All to soon, it was time to go. An amazing trip, seeing and photographing stunning landscapes and wildlife. God Bless America!!
In March, We travelled to the Masai Mara in Kenya. I used to go the Mara in the past as often as possible, but the last couple of trips were ruined by the ‘crowds’ near the Mara river in migration season. It was awful, with people behaving like idiots, upsetting the animals. I decided not to return. This year however, I repented and decided to try, but this time in low season. We spent five days in Mara north, then 5 days in the Mara triangle, and it was fabulous!
Mara north was a real big cat feast. There was a pride of lions near our camp, and they had cubs. Manor from heaven! There were 2 litters, once 2-3months old, the other a month or so older.
They are so cute, and like most young animals, more active than the adults. The difficulty was that they spend most of the day in deep cover, so I only had short windows in the morning and evening to find and photograph them.
I took hundreds of pictures of them as they are so photogenic!
The best thing about Mara north compared to the national park is the ability to extend the day at both ends. Dawn can be stunning.
There were many great birds around as well, including some lovely kingfishers, one of my absolute favourite families.This is the African pygmy kingfisher. I had never seen one before!
Raptors are always present in good numbers too. This is an Augur buzzard.
And this one, a long crested eagle .
Although I love lions, there is something particularly special about leopards. One afternoon, the game drive was interrupted by a storm. This was great as the rain gives a special atmosphere, and I know that predators will often hunt in rain. I looked hard and soon found a small herd of impala that looked very anxious. Careful scrutinising of the surrounding bush revealed this young male lurking in cover.
He did hunt and tried his luck with a young zebra foal.
I was relieved when he failed, zebra foal… just too cute!
After his failure he wandered off . We followed and were then delighted when his mother appeared. They had some great interaction with many more hundred of photos taken.
She is clearly losing patience with him hanging around in her territory, but didnt actually push him away.
Amazing sighting and it just went on until night fell when they disappeared into the bush again.
Next morning , we found the lions again at a kill. Even the little ones were getting stuck in!
Another predator that I was looking for is the bat eared fox, and they also obliged .
All the predators need prey, and there were plenty of herbivores around. The Thomsons gazelle were numerous and many of the males getting stuck in!
After five amazing days, we moved a little south to the triangle. It was quite diferent in landscape, and rules! Still wonderful though. Classic Mara scenery.
More elephants and some big herds of herbivores out on the plains.
More predators however kept me very busy. The Marsh pride of lions are recovering from the terrible poisoning by the Masai a couple of years ago, but the leopards were again the stars. I saw two big males. The first in a classic leopard pose in a tree.
The other big male was in the next territory just a few kilometres away. The two have apparently had some good fights in the past!
There were also more amazing birds, many of which I had not seen in the past. These are Meyers parrots, adult and youngster.
Yellow throated longclaws are common.
Here is a black chested snake eagle with snake!
And a lovely white stork (no baby!!!)
A large group of hyaenas were tucking into a hippo kill.
Two lions had made the kill and eaten an enormous meal. They waddled to the nearest water hole to drink. Their belly looked more like a hippo then a lion.
Another target was a small cat called a serval. Photographers tend to not bother with midday photography as the light is very harsh. However, that is when I found my serval hunting.
Not great light, but was wonderful to see him hunting in the long grass.
It was a truly fantastic trip. Cant wait to go back!
I love big cats and have seen many around the world. There is however a very rare big cat in Europe, the Iberian lynx. This lovely cat is highly threatened as it is totally dependant on the rabbit population, which have plummeted in recent years. The numbers of lynx plumeted to a just a few hundred. A lot of work has been done to try and help this and numbers are slowly increasing.
I went to Andujar in southern Spain to a private estate within a national park where i sat in a small hide for 4 very long days.
It was really hard work as there was nothing to see from dawn to dusk! The only exception was a robin for about 10seconds. At the end of the fourth day, however, I heard some azure winged magpies making alarm calls, and then a few seconds later a young male lynx appeared on my left side.
It was really super to be so close to this special animal. He walked a few metres forward then turned.
He then sat and looked at the hide. It has a reflective window so he was probably checking out his reflection!
He then got up and walked away. Perhaps 30seconds after four days but definitely worth it!
I had a few hours to try and see of the other wildlife before returning home. There were some great birds. The Sardinian warbler was a bird I had never seen before, and was difficult to get as it stayed high in the trees. I did get a coupe of shots though.
Another little warbler that we do see in the UK is the chiff chaff, named after it’s characteristic song. Very cute!
The magpie that warned me about the lynx was the lovely azure winged magpie. These guys often fly in flocks and can be very noisy.
Although the lynx live on rabbits, there were some bigger herbivores around. This is the Iberian ibex. A great mountaineer.
The other major predator in the area is the spectacular golden eagle. There was a pair, near the area of the lynx. So impressive, though always very shy and difficult to photograph.
Where there are predators, you can usually find scavengers. Here is the black vulture.
In late September, we went to Southern Africa for a trip first organised before COVID and repeatedly rearranged and cancelled!
It was great to get there eventually. Our first destination was the lovely little reserve of Zimanga in South Africa. I initially went there in 2015 quite soon after it opened and loved it then. More hides have been built so I was excited to go back. In fact many of the best sightings were not from the hides, but out on game drives. The big cats were active and visible.
Early on morning just after leaving camp before sunrise we came upon these lions, looking quite eager to get some food!
The spotted cats were very good as well. Last time we went to Zimanga, there was a very chilled male cheetah, but now there were a number of younger animals some of which were right outside the lodge one lunchtime!
My favourite is always the leopards. They can be very tricky to find but again, our luck was in. This young female was gorgeous!
The hides produced many great views from close up and at eye level.
This is a crested guinea fowl, doing an Elvis impersonation!
Perhaps the most touching site was a family of giraffe filing past the body of an old giraffe who appeared to have died of natural causes. They passed individually,stopping and possibly paying their respects to a family member.
The best hide was the overnight one. Although no cats appeared, it was amazing having huge buffalo coming to drink just a few feet from me in the night.
From South Africa, we moved north to Botswana. We travelled to the Chobe river for 6 days where we were largely boat based enjoying the different perspective out photographing from the water level. There were masses of amazing elephants which we had spectacular views of.
They are fascinating and so photogenic.
The river is very well stocked with some very substantial crocodiles like this large male displaying.
There was also some great lion action with a large pride by the river. Early one morning, we watched as they tried to take down a buffalo. They failed.
They got the buffalo that night though!
There some fantastic birds as well. African fish eagles are amazing, and have a wonderful haunting call. This one grabbed a huge fish and couldn’t take off to teat safely away from the waters edge.
I love kingfishers and there were plenty around. Pied, malachite, giant and striated but my favourite was the small and secretive half collared kingfisher that proved quite a challenging subject.
Perhaps the best of all were the African skimmers. Watching and photographing these spectacular birds was so much fun as they whizz along the surface dipping their lower mandible in the water.
The birds nest on small sandy islands and seeing the chicks was also lovely.
There was an almost endless supply of wonderful scenes to photograph, but we then moved on to the amazing Okavango Delta
Here we saw more extraordinary big cat activity, including three resident pride males having a roaring contest with two new males in the area. Bit different to the usual lion action of watching them sleep!
There was also more leopard sightings such as this lovely one
Another exciting sight was my first roan antelope. I have never seen one before so getting a lovely view in great light was very special.
It was the lions that were the best , from a one day old cub to the big boys in charge!
We finally, very sadly had to leave this paradise, and ended our trip with a few days in Cape Town and Franchoek. Even here I managed to get some interesting shots , including an albino squirrel in a CT park!
The botanical gardens at Kirstenbosch revealed a superb Cape eagle owl with chicks.
The final subject which I found in the hotel grounds was the beautiful malachite sunbird.
It was a truly spectacular trip. I took over 40000 images, so what you see here is a tiny proportion. I would repeat this trip in a flash, it was tremendous!
In June, I finally managed to get to Uganda with the intention of photographing the chimps in Kibale forest. Arriving without any luggage (thanks Qatar airways!!!!) wasnt a great start, but as I soon as I arrived and met my great guide Alex,I knew it would be a great week.
The chimps were simply amazing. They are wonderful animals and I cant express the enjoyment I had watching them. The behaviour and expressions are so similar to humans with whom we share so much DNA, it’s astonishing.
The group was over 100 strong and led by a 33 year old male known as ‘Mfuze’ (or ‘orphan’). He appeared a confident and very relaxed leader of his group.
I had very close encounters with many of the groups males. The females with youngsters tend to be quite shy and stay away. Within this dense forest, being just a few metres away makes them invisible! One female was not fussed and it was great to see her with her baby
There were a few young ones who were quite curious and happy to pose.
Although most of the time, they all just loaf around, they will suddenly all rise and move off into the forest at quite a fast pace, making it quite challenging to keep up with them!
The group can be very noisy at times as well. When they start ‘shouting’ , it is amazing.
There were other fascinating primates in the forest. My favourite is the red tailed monkey. So cute!
Black and white colobus monkeys also visited the lodge area every evening.
The other monkey that I saw was the red colobus, a favourite prey of the chimps!
There wer plenty of interesting birds around as well. The best was this lovely pair of pin tailed wydahs, with the male desperately trying to impress the female.
The chimps were the main target however, and they really amazed me all the time I was with them. They are large heavy animals but very agile in the trees.
My favourite image shows Mfuze sitting quietly in the forest taking a moment to reflect on some matter of importance in his life.
In March we went back to India. This time it was much further south. The main target was the famous black panther living in Nagarhole national park, an animal I had wanted to see for several years but could not quite arrange a trip to look for it.
The whole thing started badly with a cancelled flight losing our first 24 hours of the trip. When we finally arrived in Bengaluru, there was no luggage. A lot more time was wasted, with another half day at Nagarhole gone. Our bags actually took 6 days to arrive thanks to the incompetent courier who didn’t bother to deliver them!
Nagarhole is a lovely national park. Like most in India, it is separated into different zones, so it became clear that at best I would only be able to go into the panther’s territory for half my remaining drives! Very frustrating, but understandable given the demand to see this wonderful animal. We stayed in a lovely lodge and there was lots of other great wildlife.
Birds in the lodge grounds such as this ashy prinia
And the Asian paradise flycatcher were gorgeous.
In the national park, there were a variety of old favourites, such as the many Asian elephants, amongst which were some quite impressive tuskers, as well as some new animals like the Malabar giant squirrel
The chance to see a tiger is always amazing, so we did enjoy a couple of reasonable sightings, including this female.
In spite of looking very hard, the panther remained elusive throughout, with no one seeing him. Other leopards did make an appearance , and like the tiger, are always breathtakingly beautiful.
And finally we got great sightings of a family of Indian wild dogs, or dhole. I have seen them before but always at a distance. These guys were very relaxed and allowed great views of the family.
Sadly, we left Nagarhole without seeing the panther and headed to our second destination, the tea plantations at Valparai. Here I wanted to see and photograph the rare and highly endangered lion tailed macaque. This spectacular monkey lives in the forest around Valparai, and we actually encountered a troop wandering through one of the local villages.
These monkeys are really spectacular, and like most primates, great fun to photograph.
The residence we stayed in was in the middle of a tea plantation and I was amazed at the amount of wildlife living around and in the plantations. There were Indian gaur, the world’s largest wild cattle seen on a number of occasions.
We even saw another family of wild dogs between the tea bushes!
Birds in the area were spectacular. The great hornbill has always been a favourite of mine. We found a nest which was occupied so the adults were coming and going bringing in food.
We were awoken very early every morning by the amazing Malabar whistling thrush, whose whistle was exactly like a person whistling a tune. Very amusing.
The biggest surprise of the whole trip however came one evening when we were driving back. We saw a number of people on the side of the road. They seemed to be looking at something in the plantation, and someone said it was a bear. We got of the car to have a look, and suddenly realised that there in front of us in the evening gloom was a black panther! I was amazed. I got two quick shots of it, before it turned and ran off into the bushes. There was a huge commotion with all the tea workers wanting to see the image on my camera. Turns out no one had ever photographed a panther in that area before.
It proved to be a great end to wonderful trip. The panther pictures were not great but finally seeing Bagheera from the Jungle book after all those years was amazing.
In February, I finally managed to get to Ecuador. This was another trip previously postponed due to COVID so it was a massive relief when we got off the plane in Quito to start this wonderful adventure.
From the initial base in the hills outside Quito, we went visited a variety of sites with a staggering number of amazing birds. I was fairly open to seeing whatever we came across, but there were certain species that I really wanted to see. The first and probably most important for me was a bird that I have wanted to see since my childhood. Back in the sixties, Brooke Bond tea used to give small ‘picture cards’ on different themes. I was an avid collector and one of my favourites was the ‘Tropical birds’ collection. The bird on the front cover was the extraordinary Andean cock of the rock. This spectacular bird with its brilliant colour and bizarre crest caught my imagination, so seeing it at a lek site was absolutely wonderful.
Another fantastic bird on my hot list was also soon found in the hills of the Choco region west of Quito. This was a toucan which is one of my favourite families. This is the plate billed mountain toucan. Such gorgeous colours!
Funnily enough, there was another bird in the same area sharing some of those colours, smaller than the toucan, but just as spectacular. This is the toucan barbet.
One of my favourite sites that I visited twice was Zuro Lama. Here I also saw one of the many hummingbirds that I was hoping to photograph. This bizarre design is another of natures miracles of adaptation.
The sword billed hummingbird is almost ridiculous, but when you see the flowers it feeds from, then it is such an obvious and brilliant solution!
Zuro lama is also a great place for other birds including two antpittas and a lovely green and black fruiteater.
We travelled around the area visiting many other areas, and seeing a huge range of birds including many other hummingbirds, and colourful tanagers. This period ended with us moving east over the Andes on the Papallacta pass at an elevation of over 3000m. At the top , we saw another lovely hummer, the rainbow bearded thornbill.
On the other side of the pass, we travelled down to the Amazon basin. Specifically, the Rio Napo and Yasuni national park. Although much of the wildlife was high up in the canopy, there were a number of canopy observation towers which gave me great, but slightly dizzying views 50m up in the air!The rainforest is soooo beautiful.
From here a number of monkeys and birds were more easily seen. This is a red howler 40m up near the top of a tree.
The wildlife at ground level was very special as well. Giant river otters were around and great fun to watch.
I finally saw an anaconda, the world biggest snake. This one had recently eaten something judging by the substantial swelling in it’s body!
The best of the monkeys we encountered were the highly endangered golden mantled tamarind. These small fast cute little monkeys were great fun and actually came to the lodge one afternoon while foraging.
After a week in in the Napo River area, it was back up to Tandayapa for a little high speed flash to capture some more amazing hummingbirds like this booted racket tail.
At the end of three fantastic weeks, I got a bit of a shock when I tested positive for COVID. Still have no idea where I got it as I had virtually no contact with anyone except my guide! It made getting home a little trickier, but it was still a wonderful experience. I would love to go back!
philipmarazzi 