These shorebirds call Central and North America home, but can also been seen in parts of South America, and the Galapagos Islands.
They’re famous for their ability to pry open mollusks with their long, heavy and powerful beaks.
This American Oystercatcher was spotted taking a nap at Punta Suarez on Espanola Island in the Galapagos Islands.
At first glance you might wonder if this is a squirrel or chipmunk, but despite it’s odd squirrel behaviour, the Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel is, as the name implies, not a chipmunk.
These little ground squirrels do act very much like a chipmunk however. They’re known to store a stash of food in their burrows to eat when they wake up after hibernating for winter, something more common to chipmunks. They also have a striped back, which confuses many people into thinking they must be a chipmunk.
The best way to tell this is a Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel is to notice that the stripes on the back do not appear on the cheeks and face of the animal. Chipmunks, on the other hand, will commonly have their stripes extend up to their eyes, nose and cheeks.
This Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel was photographed in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.
The impressive Green Iguana is one of the most popular lizards in the Americas.
Native to Central America and the northern part of South America, this lizard can grow as large as 1.5m! Brightly coloured and docile in nature, Green Iguanas, also called Common Iguanas, have become a popular pet in North America.
Unfortunately they’re not as easy to care for as many believe, as they require a special diet, consistent sun and high temperatures. This Green Iguana was photographed in it’s natural habitat in Honduras.
After spending a couple of weeks in Far East Russia (Think Siberia, but further east), one of the places that stood out above the rest was the Zhupanova River in Kamchatka.
Kamchatka is one of those rugged places with no road access to the rest of the country and cities and towns largely looking like they did back in the Soviet era.
Salmon fishing and hunting are common along this part of Kamchatka, yet the Zhupanova River boasted a huge array of wildlife and bird life, which attracted most of the people on my ship trip run by Heritage Expeditions.
In one short visit, I saw more than 20 Steller Sea Eagles, somewhere around 100 Largha Seals, a handful of Sea Otters and plenty of other bird species. With snow-capped active volcanoes in the background (some of them smoking) it was one of those surreal landscapes, the type of nature paradise that I prefer to seek out on my travels.
Nature rules here and I was lucky to visit an area that only sees handfuls of tourists every year. Even the local fishing town was happy to see some visitors for a change and welcomed us in for some fish and tea.
I even learned a little about birding in this part of Russia, after spotting the elusive Aleutian Tern. For someone who once disliked all birds except those that couldn’t fly, travelling to remote Russia with a boat of birders was an eye-opening experience. I dreamed about birds for a week after the trip and can now tell the difference between Tufted and Horned Puffins and also know that there is no such thing as a ‘Seagull’!
Malaysian Borneo is a wonderful wildlife destination, with mammals big and small. The forests of Borneo are under threat but still sustain decent populations of monkeys.
The most famous is the Orangutan, but the most odd-looking has to be this one, the Proboscis Monkey!
An endangered species, the Proboscis Monkey has a humorous look. Males are the ones with the extra long noses, which can extend down beyond their mouth.
