Wildlife Photography Blog

Caption: Young male lion (Panthera leo) lying on his haunches in early morning light, Mashatu Game Reserve, Botswana.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D; Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM; Focal Length: 400mm; Shutter speed: 1/160; Aperture: f/5.6; ISO: 400.

The above photo was taken in October last year while staying at Rock Camp in Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana’s Tuli Block. The young lion, with his mane starting to show, was still in his mother’s company. Next week I hope to be back in Mashatu, so it’ll be interesting to see how much he’s grown (no guarantees of course that we will see him again).

The photo was taken fairly early in the morning with some backlight, giving the image a monochrome look. I’ve been preparing some of my wildlife images for printing as greeting cards, so decided to play on this and turn the image into black and white with a very faint sepia tinge – below.

And here’s another greeting card experiment, also in black and white but with the cheetah’s eyes in color:

It’s been some time since I added new photos to my Wildlife Pictures Online Gallery, but have now included a gallery of nineteen Jackal Pictures, featuring mainly black-backed jackals but also with a few side-striped jackal photos.

Caption: Malachite Sunbird (Nectarinia famosa) in splendid iridiscent green plumage poses on a wild pomegranate (Burchellia bubalina), Curry’s Post, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D; Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM; Focal Length: 400mm; Shutter speed: 1/500; Aperture: f/5.6; ISO: 400.

In August this year I posted a couple of photos of a malachite sunbird in non-breeding or “eclipse” plumage, that in-between stage found in birds that do exhibit a distinct breeding plumage — see Malachite Sunbird on Aloe.

Since then I haven’t seen much of these birds, but today — while trying to photograph some other birds in the garden — I was rewarded when a malachite in its full breeding plumage posed briefly for me.

As can be seen, the sunbird is now entirely iridiscent green except for the blue-black wings and tail.

Caption: Black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas) gnaws on the remains of an impala carcass, Mashatu Game Reserve, Botswana.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D; Lens: Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM; Focal length: 400mm; Shutter speed: 1/500; Aperture: f/5.6; ISO 400

While out on an afternoon game drive in Mashatu Game Reserve, we saw a black-backed jackal some distance away, apparently burying some fresh animal bones under a small tree.

Our safari guide, Mollman, wasted no time in scanning the surrounding area through his binoculars, looking for the source of the bones. A few minutes later we drove off in the direction of the jackal, to be rewarded shortly afterwards by the sighting of a cheetah and her sub-adult cub.

Both the cheetah were resting in the shade, looking contented and well-fed. Not far from where they lay, we could see two jackals gnawing on the remains of an impala that the cheetah had previously brought down. Once the cheetah had eaten their fill, they’d moved off and abandoned the rest of the carcass, which was immediately claimed by the jackals.

The picture above shows the one jackal making the most of this free meal, provided courtesy of the cheetah and her cub. So another fruitful game drive, with good views of two cheetah plus feeding jackals, thanks to the expertise of our bush-wise safari guide.

If you’d like to know more about these members of the dog family (canidae), see our article, Black-backed Jackal Information.

The lovely photograph above grabbed top prize in the Professional Birds Category of the 2011 National Wildlife magazine’s photography competition. Captured by Dutch photographer Hennie van Heerden, the photo shows a Green-backed Heron hunting for fish in a flowing river at Mala Mala Game Reserve, South Africa.

By using a slow shutter speed while keeping the camera steady, Hennie cleverly portrays water flowing over the rocks in soft, beautifully muted colors, while keeping the heron sharp.

Hennie’s wildlife and nature photographs are outstanding — you can view more of her work and read about her rise to prominence as a wildlife photographer on her website, Hennie van Heerden.com

Hennie’s winning image was just one of nearly 27,000 entries in this year’s National Wildlife photography competition that covered the following categories: Connecting People and Nature, Backyard Habitats, Landscapes and Plant Life, Birds, Mammals and Other Wildlife, plus a popular new category, Baby Animals. In addition, there were three levels of photographers: professional, amateur, and youth.

Winning photographs in the various categories can be viewed in the slideshow below:

Thirty-three rhino horns have been found in a container aboard a ship in Hong Kong. The vessel had earlier departed from Cape Town, suggesting the haul was from some of the rhinos killed this year in South Africa.

The discovery of the horns, hidden in a container carrying scrap plastic, is a significant blow to rhino poaching syndicates. With more than 300 of the animals slaughtered in South Africa this year for their horns, it means nearly 10% of poachers’ ill-gotten gains will not reach the market of eager buyers in China and Vietnam.

The rhino horns, together with ivory chopsticks and bracelets found in the container, are estimated to be worth HK$ 17.4 million (about R18.17m or US$2.27m).

Caption: Porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) walking along bank of dry riverbed at dusk, Mashatu Game Reserve, Tuli Block, Botswana.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D; Lens: Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM; Focal length: 400mm; Shutter speed: 1/160; Aperture: f/5.6; ISO 400.

It was during an afternoon game drive in Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana’s Tuli Block that I saw my first porcupine in the wild. As Mollman, our safari guide, eased the Toyota down the steep bank into a dry riverbed, he spotted the porcupine emerging from its burrow (below).

Although it was late afternoon with the low sun casting shadows in parts of the riverbed, this sighting was certainly unusual as porcupines are strictly nocturnal and not normally seen during daylight.

The porcupine was not particularly phased by our presence and set off determinedly across the riverbed, its black-and-white quills backlit by the sun’s last rays (right). Once on the other side, it climbed the bank and quickly disappeared from sight in the adjacent bush.

Porcupine quills are popular symbols of the African bush, much-loved by designers for decorating brochures and websites pertaining to African safaris. For me it was exciting seeing the actual carrier of the quills — the real thing as it were.

One of the myths about porcupines is that they shoot their quills when attacked by predators. As with most non-predators, the porcupine’s immediate response when threatened is to flee. However, if cornered it defends itself agressively, initially trying to scare off the attacker by stamping its feet, rattling its quills and grunting.

If the attacker fails to take evasive action quickly enough, the porcupine will rush backwards or sideways at it and jab the needle-sharp quills deeply into the attacker.

For porcupines, sex can be a prickly issue, but they get round this quite successfully and pairs will, in fact, copulate frequently. Like humans, they don’t only mate for breeding.

See safari guide Roddy Smith’s article, Porcupines Must Mate with Care, for more on this intriguing rodent.