Kuusamo (Koskenkylä), Northern Ostrobothnia | Finland
Tags: Cygnus cygnus Europe Finland Koskenkylä Kuusamo Suomi Whooper Swan Northern Ostrobothnia
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Baia das Pedras, Southern Pantanal | Brazil
The Pantanal is home to four different armadillo species, ranging in size from the extremely elusive and very rarely seen giant armadillo which spends virtually all its life underground through to the small three-banded variety. Between these two species are the six-banded, which can be seen during the day, and the nine-banded which will generally only be seen at night by torchlight. Also called the Yellow Armadillo, the Six-banded Armadillo favours open ground where it lives in burrows. It will excavates everywhere if the ground is right, leaving some areas like minefields littered with mounds and holes. It’s solitary and although active by day is extremely difficult to see. If you are lucky enough to spot one they are usually lying in the entrance of their burrow and at the slightest sign of danger they will bolt back in. However, if you’re very patient, you may see one travelling between burrows or hunting for food. And, if you’re very lucky, you may just see one standing up in order to get a better view of its surroundings.
Tags: Baia das Pedras Brazil Euphractus sexcinctus Six-banded Armadillo South America Southern Pantanal Yellow Armadillo Mato Grosso do Sul
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South Luangwa, Zambia
This is my last Flickr post for a few weeks.
Despite putting a set of images on nearly every night since we’ve been back from Zambia I still haven’t added all the photos I wanted to my photostream and South Luangwa album. So I may need to add some more later in the year, particularly bird photos as I haven’t posted any raptor shots such as the Western-banded Snake-Eagle, African Fish-Eagle, African Hawk-Eagle or Yellow-billed Kite, or birds like the Grey Lourie, Green Woodhoopoe, Lilian’s Lovebird or African Green Pigeon. And neither did I get round to any of the passerines where I had nine new species. In fact, with 20+ leopard sightings and all the other animals, plus 65 bird species photographed, and 28 of them at final count being new species for me, it’s not surprising that I didn’t get everything covered!
But, as noted above, that’s it for now, so to close off I thought I’d put on something slightly different in the way of some night shots - all a bit experimental as they were with the aid of a spotlight rather than flash, so high ISO’s and silly low shutter speeds on a couple. I took quite a few, many were binned, but I thought a few were worth keeping - comments welcome.
I’ll catch up with everyone later, but in the meantime ‘happy togging’.
Tags: Africa IUCN Red List - Vulnerable Lion Panthera leo South Luangwa Zambia Luangwa Valley
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Lower Zambezi | Zambia
We've been up close with elephants on many occasions, but to encounter them when you're on a small boat out on the river is a very special experience indeed.
Tags: Africa Lower Zambezi African Elephant Zambia Bush Elephant Elephantidae IUCN Red List - Vulnerable Loxodonta africana Mammalia PROBOSCIDEA Savanna Elephant
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Kuusamo (Lämsänkylä), Northern Ostrobothnia | Finland
This little opportunist chap was spotted stealing bits of bait that had been left outside one of the hides we visited (to attract Ravens that would in turn hopefully bring in White-tailed Eagles - another story). He was a long way off and extremely fast, so I’m quite surprised to have even one properly in-focus shot of him as he made his dash back to safety. Running around out in the open with the possibility of a raven or eagle spotting you isn’t a good idea when you’re only a small little critter!
As I’m sure everyone knows, they normally have a rich orange-brown coat on their upper parts and the outside of their legs, but in winter in northern regions this coat becomes thicker and pure white apart from the tip of the tail, which remains black throughout the year - this is when they’re often referred to as Ermine.
Tags: Ermine Europe Finland Kuusamo Lämsänkylä Mustela erminea Stoat Suomi Winter coat Northern Ostrobothnia
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