Tag: photo tour

Jaguar versus Giant Otters — Who Wins?

Jaguar versus giant otter

We were in the Pantanal of Brazil photographing jaguars, birds, and other critters in July of 2024. Our main target was jaguars since one can see more jaguars in Pantanal than any other place in the world.

On our last day, we encountered a jaguar that locals had named Nels. He’s a handsome fellow with a huge collar. The collar is because he was rescued from wildfires in a previous year, rehabbed, and then released into the wild.

We found Nels on the Rio Cuiaba near the Three Brothers Rivers. Nels was minding his own business but was hunting for a snack of a caiman or maybe a fat, juicy capybara.

We photographed and watched Nels for maybe 20-minutes and then heard this screeching sound off to the right. My guide, Raul Guarnizo, said the sound was great otters coming to attack the jaguar. Click for Giant Otter sounds.

Jaguar versus Giant Otters sounds like a kid’s futbol match. Let’s see how this plays out.

Jaguar versus Giant Otters

Here’s the jaguar named Nels minding his own business in the Pantanal of Brazil.
Jaguar Nels comes out into the open.
Giant otter sees the Jaguar and goes on the alert.
The giant otter starts bellowing. “I’m coming for you Jaguar! You’re in my territory, dude! Get out!” That’s what it sounded like to me. Here’s the reality, though. Click to hear giant otter sounds.
Giant otter makes the turn in the river and swims right toward the Jaguar. “I’m coming for you, Jaguar!!”
Jaguar Nels comes out in the open and looks around.
Giant otter comes up to the shore. “I’m coming for you, Mr. Jaguar!”
Giant otter yells, “I’ve got my buddy, Jaguar. We’re coming for you!!”
Giant otter and his buddy start popping up and down. “We see you, Mr. Jaguar!!” The entire time they are hollering. Click here to listen to Giant Otter chatter.
Jaguar Nels appears to say “Bring it on, Mr. Otter. I’m ready for you!!”
Giant otter seems to lose interest. One last, “I see you, Mr. Jaguar. Get out of here!”
Giant otter heads on down the river. He has more important things to do.

So that’s it! One defiant jaguar and two feisty giant otters.

What fun trying to figure out what’s going on in the animal world.

Thanks for reading! I appreciate your support. I hope you appreciate my humor.

Tanager & Other Birds — Ecuador Photo Tours

Tanagers are one of my favorite families of birds in the tropics.  They are colorful, rather large, somewhat slow, and plentiful.  The Ecuador birding field guide lists about 66 species with tanager in their name.  We didn’t photograph that many during our Strabo Photo Tour Collections trip in March but we got a lot.

 

Black-capped tanager; Tangara heinei; Ecuador; Mindo Valley
Black-capped tanager — Mindo Valley, Ecuador

Blue-capped tanager KAC9857
Blue-capped tanager in the Mindo Valley.  This was a new bird for me.

Blue-capped tanager KAC9864
Blue-capped tanager

Blue-winged mountain-tanager KAC9997
Blue-winged mountain-tanager

Golden tanager; Tangara arthus; Ecuador; San Tadeo; Mindo Valley
Golden tanager — Mindo Valley, Ecuador

Flame-faced tanager; Tangara parzudakii; Ecuador; San Tadeo; Mindo Valley
Flame-faced tanager — Mindo Valley. What a great name!

White-lined tanager KAC9389
White-lined tanager — See the white line?

We found a nice variety of birds along the way.  These are all from the Mindo Valley of Ecuador on the western slope of the Andes Mountains.

Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch, Buarremon brunneinucha,
Chestnut-capped brush-finch

Crimson-rumped toucanet KAC9716
Crimson-rumped toucanet

Crimson-rumped toucanet KAC9740
Crimson-rumped toucanet — here you can see the rump

Dusky Chlorospingus KAC0091
Dusky Chlorospingus — Love that name!

rufous-collared sparrow KAC0035
Rufous-collared sparrow — so common but so pretty.

Swainson's thrush KAC9427
Swainson’s thrush on wintering grounds.  It will be arriving in my area of Texas in mid-April on its way to breeding grounds in the north.

 

Here are a couple more hummingbirds from the last day of the trip.  The birds in Ecuador are amazing.

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My 2018-2019 photo tour schedule is on the Strabo Photo Tours site or on my website.