In early May I traveled to southern Chile for my first photo tour of the year: a sold out trip based in Patagonia. This was my first year leading the Pumas of Patagonia tour following a successful scouting visit in 2016. I was joined by six enthusiastic clients who were, of course, hoping to photograph pumas, but who were also open to anything else that popped up in front of our cameras.
And there was plenty to see! Despite some subpar weather (lots of wind, rain and even a bit of snow!), we had some great luck with non-feline wildlife, and found a few landscape photo opportunities along the way. And in case you’re wondering: yes, the pumas cooperated as well. First though, I’ve published a gallery of non-puma wildlife and landscape photos from the trip. You may view the full gallery here. A short preview is below.
The trip started off with a nice photo session with some Chilean flamingos.
The Fire-eyed diucon is one of many smaller birds we saw during the trip.
The culpeo is a canid that looks like a cross between a fox and a coyote. This one posed nicely for us amidst the autumn scenery.
We saw a number of Austral pygmy owls during the trip. This one posed nicely in front of some autumn foliage.
Autumn colors were near peak levels during the trip. It was fun experimenting with creative photo techniques. This shot was made by spinning the camera during a long exposure.
Guanacos are a common sight in southern Chile, often posing before the spectacular mountains.
The Black-chested buzzard-eagle is one of Patagonia’s larger birds of prey.
The large hairy armadillo was one of our chief wildlife targets, and this one posed nicely for us on the last day of the trip.
We finally had some clear weather on our final day, giving us some lovely views of the famous Towers of Paine.
View the full Patagonia 2017 Wildlife & Scenery gallery here. Stay tuned for puma photos from this trip, which I’ll share next week!
If you are interested in joining me on my next Patagonia photo tour, I expect to lead a trip in 2019. Click here for more information about that trip.
