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~ Selections from Tim Bird's travel photography archives

Six Images

Tag Archives: natural environment

Six images: Happy World Animals’ Day!

03 Tuesday Oct 2017

Posted by Tim Bird in Central America, Costa Rica, Finland, India, Mexico, namibia, nature, photography, Travel, travel photography, Uncategorized, wildlife

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

animals, Bandhavgarh, brown bears, conservation, Costa Rica, crocodiles, finland, India, kuhmo, Mexico, Monarch butterflies, namibia, natural environment, whales, wildlife, world animals' day

Who knew it? October 4 is World Animals’ Day! Time to feel the beast in you.

The official World Animal Day website states its aim as “To raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the globe. Building the celebration of World Animals’ Day unites the animal welfare movement, mobilising it into a global force to make the world a better place for all animals. It’s celebrated in different ways in every country, irrespective of nationality, religion, faith or political ideology. Through increased awareness and education we can create a world where animals are always recognised as sentient beings and full regard is always paid to their welfare.”

It seems like an event worth marking in photo form, so here are six photos from some of the unforgettable close encounters I’ve had with various wildlife in recent years. I’m not a wildlife photographer as such – I probably don’t have the required patience – but I have still been lucky enough to photograph animals in many special locations.

More observant readers will notice that there are in fact seven images here, not six. Sorry about that. It might happen again.

animals-1

Brown bears sound each other out in a summer storm in eastern Finland. There are a number of hides along the border between Finland and Russia where you can watch brown bears through the summer night. This time I was hosted by the Boreal Wildlife Centre near Kuhmo in Kainuu, right up on the northeast of Finland.

animals-0001

Crocodiles, Costa Rica. This shot is from a famous bridge on one of the main highways crossing the country and spanning the Tarcoles River. Like much wildlife in Costa Rica, the crocs are easy to spot, sometimes dozens of them, basking in the mud beneath the bridge.

animals-4380

Monarch butterflies, El Rosario, Angangueo, Mexico. This reserve is in the hills above the otherwise unexciting town of Angangueo, about four hours from Mexico City, to which millions of Monarch butterflies make their way each winter, migrating from the mountains of northwest America. I got to the forest before anyone else early in the morning and watched the wings of the insects warm and open as the sun rose. Truly extraordinary.

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Grey whale, Baja California, Mexico. I timed my trip to Mexico to be able to see both the butterflies (above) and the grey whales that congregate here to mate before heading back north. I can still barely believe that I saw these enormous animals. Rather than breaching, grey whales pop their heads above water and rotate their heads like periscopes. They are very curious and once they realised that myself and my two companions in a small boat were not a threat, they started to emerge, dozens of them in all directions. It was hard to know which way to look.

animals-7430

Cape fur seal, Cape Cross seal colony, Namibia. I left the group of journalists I was with for half a day to take a private trip up to Cape Cross, and I could smell the vast colony and hear their calls before I saw them, hundreds of them, spread across the rocks and spilling into the South Atlantic. The saddest thing was spotting the pups separated from their mothers and being instructed by the warden that it was against the rules to try to pair them up – nature must take its own course.

animals-7671

A green lizard, Tortuguero swamps, Costa Rica. Tortuguero is on a waterway running parallel to the Caribbean coast. All sorts of wildlife, including sloths, iguanas, snakes and brightly coloured tree frogs can be spotted on early morning boat ‘safaris’. A magical place.

animals-8357

A mother tiger and cubs, Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India. This little family, minus father, came strolling along the forest track by surprise, obligingly passing my jeep within just a couple of metres. My pulse shoots up when I look at these photos. My base was the very accommodating, friendly and knowledgeable Jungle Mantra Resort – recommended.

These images are the tip of my photographic iceberg, much of it stored on my website at www.timbirdphotography.com. Watch out for my Instagrams at @tim_bird_photo, Tweets at https://twitter.com/BirdTimothy and Facebook stuff at https://www.facebook.com/timbirdtravelphoto/

Thanks for dropping in. Please share and do visit again!

 

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Six Picks: the Estonian island of Hiiumaa

20 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by Tim Bird in Estonia, Travel, travel photography

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Tags

Baltic, Estonia, Hiiumaa, Kaptenite Villa, Kärdla, natural environment

A lamentably irregular photo blog, presenting half-dozen selections from my archives and/or recent travels. Find more at www.timbirdphotography.com

Apologies for absence. I haven’t been blogging for a while, but a long weekend of cycling and hiking on the lovely island of Hiiumaa off the Estonian Baltic coast has moved me to share some shots.

We reached Hiiumaa by bus from Tallinn, the capital. The bus ticket includes the hour-long ferry ride from Haapsalu on the mainland – itself worth an exploration, with its old wooden quarter, intimate local bars and castle. In the island ‘capital’ Kärdla, we stayed at the Kaptenite Villa (their website seems to be under maintenance currently, and it was formerly known as Villa Loona), a very hospitable guesthouse run by mother and daughter Maria and Sigrid, whose breakfasts lived up to their ‘luxurious’ billing. Highly recommended as a base for a visit.

Like its bigger and better known neighbour island Saaremaa, Hiiumaa was a ‘closed’ island during Estonia’s Soviet era, with military bases dotted around the coastline. This ‘closed’ status, which forbade visits by foreigners and most Estonians, means that the natural environment is especially well preserved.

My friends and I rented bicycles and braved the elements (Estonia in the spring can be cold and blustery). Here are a few highlights:

hiiumaa-0653

Tahkuna Lighthouse, one of several lighthouses on the island and the site of a memorial to the wreck of the MS Estonia in September 1994.

swaledale-0605

The entrance to a military museum near Tahkuna is marked by a Soviet tank with flowers placed in its barrel.

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The shingle spit at Sääre tirp, with millpond calm to the east and angry seas to the west.

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Barrel chalet accommodation in the community of Kassari.

hiiumaa-0449

Grazing sheep at Orjaku

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Wild spring flowers – cowslips and forget-me-nots – in a meadow close to Kärdla, Hiiumaa’s main town.

I strongly recommend a visit to Hiiumaa. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoyed this brief introduction to an Estonian treasure. Welcome back, and please share, shout, tweet, hoot and Google Plus as much as you like – but please give credit where it’s due and remember copyright is MINE, ALL MINE!

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