sunilsphotos

Sunil's Bird Photography

galapagos

Audubon Photography Awards Win

by 2 Comments

I’m thrilled with my win of the Fisher Prize in the 2023 Audubon Photography Awards. The winning photograph shows the interaction between a pelican in the water at night and the ghostly silhouette of a shark swimming up underneath it.

Brown Pelican and Galapagos Shark

From the APA description of the award:

 It recognizes the most creative approach in photographing birds—for example, highlighting an unexpected point of view—blended with technical expertise and an original composition. The Fisher prize pushes the traditional canons of bird photography to daring new heights, while never compromising strict ethical guidelines.

The image was created while on a family trip to the Galapagos last year. You can read more about that trip as a whole here.

Suffice to say, the cruise was photographically very productive, but the fun doesn’t stop when everyone goes to bed. At night, when the boat was anchored, the lights off the stern attracted many little fish. This in turn attracted several Galapagos Shark as well and a Brown Pelican. With my daughter acting as a spotter, I was able to photograph a few different interactions between the two species including this shot where the shark swims right under the pelican.

I have always been a huge proponent of shooting in very little light, and the latest technology makes it easier than before. That said, this was a very noisy shot at ISO-25600. Many props to the fine Canon R3 and denoising capabilities of Topaz Denoise AI for letting me pull this off.

The image will be in the Summer edition of Audubon Magazine.

Wildlife of the Galapagos

by Leave a Comment

I traveled with my family to Ecuador this summer – and while there spent a week in the Galapagos. The Galapagos islands are of course famous for some very unique flora and fauna. The islands are remote and harsh, but at the same time pristine and frankly, extraordinary. And they are a wildlife photographers dream!

Great Frigatebird

The only practical way to at least somewhat cover what the Galapagos has to offer (and somewhat is a very appropriate word to use here) is by boat. We traveled on the gorgeous Grand Majestic and these images chronicle what we saw at various stops along the way.

Our first day was spent on San Cristobal. We did some exploring of the island on foot before boarding the boat and saw our first marine iguanas. We also visited the Jacinto Gordillo Breeding Center where we were able to see our first Giant Tortoises.

On day two we visited North Seymour Island. This island is a bird watchers delight with nesting frigatebirds and Blue-footed boobies that can be observed at very close range. A lot of people think that a super telephoto is out of place on the Galapagos islands. I grabbed my 600/4 along nonetheless and was very glad I did.

Our second stop on day two was Black Turtle Cove on the north shore of Santa Cruz Island. No landing this time, but we were able to admire several turtles from our panga. Try catching a turtle as it surfaces for air to keep your skills sharp!

At night – the mooring lights attracted small fish, which attracted both Brown Pelican and Galapagos Shark! It was quite a late night.

Brown Pelican and Galapagos Shark

Day three began with us anchored near Bartolome Island – home to some great landscapes and Pinnacle Rock (if you’ve watched the movie Master and Commander you’ve seen this place).

On the way to our evening stop, we ran into a pod of pilot whales! The captain made sure we got a good look at them.

And the evening stop for the day was Puerto Egas beach on Santiago Island. This place offered opportunities to get up closer with some marine iguanas and Ruddy Turnstones (which didn’t seem to excite anyone else). An opportunity to get close is an opportunity to include some of the scenic Galapagos landscape in the photos. I put my ultra wide-angle to good use.

The end of the day from the boat was the first of many gorgeous sunsets.

Sunset/Santiago Island

Day four was spent on Isabela Island. If you’ve seen a map of the islands – this is the seahorse shaped one. Here we saw (and swam with) the endemic flightless cormorant.

And the golden land iguanas.

Sunset off the boat on day four reflected in the the cabin windows.

Sunset reflected on cabin windows

Day five was spent on Fernandina Island – where Espinosa Point was marine iguana central. Fernandina is the westernmost and youngest of the Galapagos islands. Since the volcanic activity here was very recent, there is little by the way of plant life. Other noteworthy sightings were a newly born sea lion pup, and a sea snail!

Day six was on Santiago Island where we visited Buccaneer Cove, Espumilla Beach and Sullivan Bay. The island is volcanic, with pools and caves carved from the lava shoreline. We got our first good looks at Nazca Boobies.

And some more photos..

We also spent some time watching the Blue-footed boobies diving. They are fast and difficult to photograph in the air.

Sunset/Day Six

Day seven – as we head to Santa Cruz, the sunrise was once again gorgeous. Enjoying a cup of coffee watching this is a great way to greet the day.

Frigatebird against the rising sun

Our morning stop was at Bachas Beach on Santa Cruz. This beach is covered in white coral sand, and it’s a major nesting site for Galapagos green turtles. There is also a lagoon just behind the sand which hosts flamingos.

And a few images from our last couple of days – including the Giant Tortoise from El Chato Tortoise Reserve in Santa Cruz, and the famous Kicker Rock where we were anchored on our last morning.

Our Galapagos cruise ended where it started – the dock at San Cristobal with the Sally Lightfoot Crabs.

Long exposure of Sally Lightfoot crabs holding on

As I said at the beginning of the post, the Galapagos are a wildlife photographers dream. The diversity of subjects also provides opportunity to use your longest and widest lenses and practice all the basic skills for photographing in tough light and all kinds of weather. Heartily recommended!