Pantanal Photo Tour: Our first days in the South Pantanal

When planning my first photography tour to the Pantanal of Brazil, I had a big decision to make: Should I do the trip strictly to the north, or should I include both north and south? The north of Pantanal is known for the jaguars, but I decided to include both regions for my guests. Since we were traveling a long distance, I felt it was worth seeing more of the area. As it turns out, that was the right decision!

We spent 5 days in the south, photographing a wide variety of wildlife and some amazing birds. I am really excited to share some of these images with you all. 

At our first lodge, we arrived late in the afternoon and were welcomed by Blue and yellow macaw. I had seen these birds in Peru, but only from a mile away. Here, they were flying around the grounds and nesting just feet from the reception area. It was a photographic treasure trove of opportunity. I was using my Canon R5 MKII with the RF 100-300mm lens (with a RF 2x extender) and capturing some really fun images.

Unlike the macaw in Costa Rica, these macaw were less skittish around people, so we could all get really close to them.  

I mean...VERY close!

It was so nice to be able to photograph nice portraits of them, with clean backgrounds.

Not more than 10 minutes after we started photographing the Blue and yellow macaw, we had some Hyacinth macaw join us. Getting portraits of the birds is nice, but getting them in flight is so much better!

I turned on the pre-continuous shooting feature of the Canon R5 MKII and started capturing some Nanday parakeet that were in the area. They birds are endemic to the area, which made it even more special to get photos of them. I saw their pretty green exterior colors as they sat on nearby branches, but had no idea how truly colorful they were until I was reviewing the images on my MacBook Pro. When they spread their wings open, even more colors are visible. Just wow!

I was uncharacteristically up early the next morning and decided to go out to see if the birds were active. This Blue and yellow macaw was flying back towards it's nest and I caught this moment with the early morning sunlight lighting the wings of the macaw. Day two of the trip and I already had a favorite photo from this region! 

After an early breakfast, we went out for our first drive, looking for the Giant anteaters. It was not long before we came across one of them. We exited the vehicle and walked through the tall grass to grab images of this large animal. 

After getting back in the vehicle and driving for just a couple of minutes, we came across another Giant anteater, and this one was in really short grass. This was the PERFECT environment for a portrait! We all got down low to the grass for some really nice images.

We hit a heatwave, and it was REALLY hot, so we went back to the lodge for a break and some lunch. Late in the afternoon, we went out for another drive to see what we could find. Our guide spotted a Burrowing owl on a stump. We raised our cameras to take some photos, and seconds later, a second owl appeared! It was a long ways away, but we all had long lenses and were able to capture nice photos of these two. I took this photo with the Canon R6 MKIII with the RF 100-500mm lens, zoomed all the way out to 500mm. Another favorite!

On the way back to the lodge, we spotted a couple of Crab-eating fox in the fields. 

We were capturing photos of the two of them as they walked through the fields, and then they came right towards our vehicle. This one came especially close and wanted to check us out.

The next morning, I encouraged everyone to wake up early, to catch the early morning sunlight on the birds. Everyone was having a blast capturing the birds in flight, which made me really happy.

They were so close to us that it made it easier to catch images like these.

Once again, I was using the pre-continuous shooting feature of the Canon camera to capture images of the birds as they took off from the branches. For those that had this feature on their cameras, I helped set that up for them.

Pre-continuous shooting allowed me to capture this photo as the Nanday parakeet took off from a nearby branch. 

This beautiful Toco toucan came and landed right in front of us. This is the largest species of toucan in the world.

After taking off, I quickly reframed and caught the toucan as it flew away.

There were other birds as well. This Buff-necked Ibis flew by in that same morning light.

There were plenty of Yellow armadillo in the area. We even had one that would visit us at breakfast time each morning.

The Pantanal has a species of bird called the Greater rhea. It looks a lot like an ostrich, but it is not. It is actually the largest flightless bird native to South America.

Throughout the trip, we saw countless Capybara. It was a 100 degree day, so they were smart enough to stay cool in the water.

I took this last shot just feet from my room. I heard these two Hyacinth macaw in the tree above me, and had to capture them in conversation.

Again, this was just the first 2 days of our trip, and we were all blown away with the images we had captured.

On the next trip to the Pantanal (most likely in 2028), I will likely include both regions and one other location for even more variety. BTW, I have already started a list of people who are interested in joining me on the next trip to the Pantanal. Let me know if you want me to add your name to that list. I expect it to sell out very quickly.

More to come from this awesome trip in the next couple of blog posts.

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