On 19th February I set off from London for Peru, to spent two and a half months here. I am staying at a research station in the Amazon for two months. Part 1, on the Cusco region can be found here.
From Cusco I flew to Puerto Maldonado, and on the flight I got my first view of the Amazon rainforest - great swathes of green stretching into the distance, unfortunately interrupted by open areas - illegal mines, a huge problem in the Madre de Dios region. The next morning I was on a boat heading up the Madre de Dios river, watching macaws, tanagers and toucans. I couldn't wait to start photographing.
The next morning I was out before dawn to see what I could find. Overlooking the river from the station I could see the mist rising over the forest, and I spotted these 2 Cocoi Herons and a Capped Heron in the trees.
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| Herons in the mist |
Behind me I heard something big landing, and I turned around to see a gorgeous Blue-throated Piping-Guan perched in one of the palm trees. I saw these fairly frequently while I was there but they always seemed skittish, so this was the only photo I ever took of one.
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| Blue-throated Piping-Guan |
The research station I was staying at also had a canopy tower which stretched 60m up into the sky. I first went up it a week after I arrived, and despite the hard slog to get up there with heavy camera kit, it was completely worth it. The view was incredible, and on clear days I could even see the snow-capped peaks of the Andes! One of the birds I photographed was this White-throated Toucan.
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| White-throated Toucan |
One of the primates I saw regularly around the station buildings was the Saddleback Tamarin. They would appear at least a couple of times a week in a tree just outside my room. In this photo it is eating a katydid.
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| Saddleback Tamarin |
One evening I came across a troop of Peruvian Spider Monkeys feeding on these orange fruits. Luckily over the course of the next couple of weeks I saw them most days so was able to build up a nice range of images of them.
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| Peruvian Spider Monkey |
This was just in my first 3 weeks of my stay. I'll have another post on the next part soon!
-Oscar Dewhurst
Oscar Dewhurst is an 19 year-old wildlife photographer and birder based in London. He is currently on a gap year, and after he's finished 3 months of unbelievably boring work, he hopes to spend it photographing wildlife as much as possible. When not photographing obscure brown herons in reedbeds he enjoys failing to find something decent on his patch. His other interests include running around on a cricket pitch during the summer.http://www.oscardewhurstphotography.co.uk/
http://oscardewhurstphotography.blogspot.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/OscarDewhurst
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