Pigmy Seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti)

Moalboal (SW Cebu), Filipinas

This species was described not very long ago, in 1970. The Pigmy Seahorse is a poorly known fish that is in fact hard to spot because of its small size (this specimen measured about 15 mm) and its incredible camouflage, usually quite similar to the gorgonian it inhabits. Amongst the various specimens I did see, this was the only one with an orangish colouration, different from the typical pink pustulous striped body for this species.

Nikon D80 + Nikon 60mm f2.8 + 2 x Inon z-240 + Patima housing
iso 100, 1/200, f16

Horseshoe Whip Snake (Coluber hippocrepis)

Serra do Caramulo, Portugal

When photographing reptiles and amphibians, the use of close-up (macro) lenses is quite common. The use of wide angle lenses like the fisheye lens I used to capture this beautiful Horseshoe Whip Snake, is much less so. Besides the aesthetic qualities, which I personally enjoy, it has the possibility of showing the habitat where the animal lives.

Nikon D300 + Nikon 10.5mm f2.8 + 2 x Nikon SB-26
iso 400, 1/60, f9

Red Deer (Cervus elaphus)

Tejo Internacional, Portugal

A male and two females. If one the one hand an orderly hunting exploration has allowed for the recuperation of some hunted populations, such as the Red Deer one, on the other hand over-exploitation has often created unbalances between males and females – the hunting interest is mainly focused on males – causing the older males, large and with majestic antlers, can become rare.

Nikon D3s + Nikon 500mm f4 VR
iso 320, 1/320, f5

Common Wood Pigeons (Columba palumbus)

Tejo Internacional, Portugal

In the evening, thousands of Common Wood Pigeons gather in dormitories where they spend the night. This happens during autumn and winter, especially in the vast areas of meadows with Cork and Holly Oaks. They provide great shows of shadows on a worm background, allowing for rather unusual photographical options.

Nikon D3s + Nikon 500mm f4 VR
iso 200, 1/10, f8

Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Tejo Internacional, Portugal

After many years, animals occupy man-built spaces. In this shed made of shale slabs, once a pigpen for a rural family, a Red Fox looks for food. The abandon of fields is often favourable to wild species.

Nikon D300 + Nikon 105mm f2.8 VR + 3x Nikon SB-26 + Jama BIR2
iso 400, 1/250, f8

Stone Marten (Martes foina)

Tejo Internacional, Portugal

Nights are peopled by strange creatures that hunt in the bushes and woods. A Stone Marten sleeps during the day and when it gets dark goes looking for small birds, mice or even berries to eat. While not actually rare, it is seldom seen all the same, remaining totally unknown for most people.

Nikon D300 + Nikon 60mm f2.8 AFS + 2x Nikon SB-26 + Jama BIR2
iso 800, 1/250, f7.1

Red Kite (Milvus milvus)

Tejo Internacional, Portugal

Red Kites and other migrant birds arrive with the cold season. Mimicry is not exactly a defense or hunting strategy for these birds, even though this specimen appears to have resorted to camouflage while resting on a small shale slab.

Nikon D300 + Nikon 500mm f2.8 VR + Nikon TC14-E II 1.4x teleconverter
iso 200, 1/1000, f5.6

Lesser Purple Emperor (Apatura ilia)

Rio Tuela, PN Montesinho, Portugal

I looked for the Lesser Purple Emperor for some time and only found it last July. Aesthetically, I find this to be one of the most beautiful butterflies in our fauna, with violet hues on the upper sides of the wings, not visible from this angle. It occurs only in the north of the country, where towards the interior it is confined to the Natural Park of Montesinho.

Nikon D300 + Nikon 300mm f4

iso 800, 1/1600, f5.6, -1.7 Ev

Common Toad (Bufo bufo)

Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês 

In several western cultures, toads are seen as symbols of ugliness and evil incarnation, being the protagonists in numerous superstitions related to the night, death and witchcraft. This has won them a widespread loathing throughout their vast area of European distribution. In other cultural and geographic contexts, however, toads appear linked to the gift of rain and hence of renovation and abundance. Unmindful of both blessings and curses, toads come out of their shelters every night and wander long and wide in their slow stepping.

Nikon D3s + Nikon 14-24mm(14mm) f2.8 + 2x Nikon SB-26 + 2x Nikon SB-28

iso 1600, 1/125, f11

Note: This text was written by my friend Renato Neves – to whom thanks – who kindly accepted my challenge to prepare a caption for this photo.

Penha Garcia's mountain

Penha Garcia, Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal

I had not visited the mountain range of Penha Garcia for more than 15 years. The region, almost abandoned as agriculture ground, is currently dominated by Maritime Pines and Eucalyptuses. Big game is plentiful: Red Deers, Fallow Deers and recently introduced Mouflons. On their slopes, Griffon Vultures, Golden and Bonelli’s Eagles, Peregrines and Black Storks nest. Lynxes used to inhabit the area, but they did not resist the devastation of the Rabbit population.

Nikon D3s + Nikon 20mm f2.8 + 2x Nikon SB-26 + Lee Filter ND .9 (soft)

iso 200, 1/60, f16

Red-necked Nightjar (Caprimulgus ruficollis)

Tejo Internacional NP, Portugal

Rather peculiar and somewhat mysterious birds, Nightjars are creatures of the night that trust their extraordinary camouflage to go unnoticed by predators in daytime. I found this Red-Necked Nightjar one down, amidst Rockroses and Eucalyptuses, when it was preparing to go to sleep. Even at short distance it was not easy at all to detect it among the dry foliage.

Nikon D3s + Nikon 300mm f8
iso 800, 1/100, f10

Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus)

Tejo Internacional NP, Portugal

Not the most beautiful and attractive bird in our fauna, the Griffon Vulture is certainly a very photogenic species. When in a feeding frenzy – as in this case, where over 250 Vultures devour a deer’s corpse – they give us moments like this, when one of the birds, after having eaten, and with its head and neck splattered with blood, decides to inspect its whereabouts.

Nikon D3s + Nikon 500mm f4 VR
iso 800, 1/320, f5.6, -0.3 Ev

Plains Zebra (Equus quagga)

Kruger NP, Limpopo, South Africa

I like to try black-and-white for Nature photography, and if there is an animal for which such an option is particularly adequate, it is the Zebra, with its striped pattern of strongly contrasting black and white. This photo was taken on a sunny morning, in a path in Kruger’s National Park. Among the 15 to 20 Plains Zebras in this group, these three remained calm in the middle of the path I was following.

Nikon D80 + Nikon 300mm f4
iso 100, 1/400, f4

Common Chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon)

Cacela Velha, Ria Formosa NP, Algarve, Portugal

I roamed the Algarve these days, photographing the Common Chameleon. Although it is autumn already, the mild temperatures seem to please this species and I spotted several active specimens. Amongst other things, I aimed at photographing the animals feeding. I tried to introduce some dynamics to the moment when the Chameleon attacks the Grasshopper and for that purpose I worked with reasonably low velocities, balancing artificial light with some daylight. I also decided on backgrounds strongly out of focus, using a telephoto lens.

Nikon D3s + Nikon 300mm f4 + 4x Nikon SB-26
iso 640, 1/40, f10

African Elephant (Loxodonta africana)

Kruger NP, Limpopo, South Africa

I found these two large African Elephant males in the evening, as I was hurrying towards my bungalow. In Kruger Park there are about 12,000 Elephants, but these large males with long heavy tusks are not so readily seen. The photo was made using a 60 mm lens, which shows how close to me the animals actually were. Except for the large groups of females and their young, human presence is tolerated without apparent signs of stress.

Nikon D80 + Nikon 60mm f2.8 AFS

iso 200, 1/60, f4.5

Nikon D80 + Nikon 300mm f4

iso 200, 1/500, f4

Iberian Viper (Vipera seoanei)

Castro Laboreiro, Peneda-Gerês NP, Portugal

Only after more than 20 days of field work, along three different visits looking for the melanistic form of the rarest Viper occurring in Portugal, did I manage to find this specimen. The Iberian Viper occurs only in two small areas of the Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês – Castro Laboreiro and Pitões das Júnias – and in Paredes de Coura. At the Parque Nacional, it lives in valleys and high mountain morasses.

Nikon D300 + Nikon 10.5mm f2.8 + 2x Nikon SB-26
iso 200, 1/200, f11

Common Toad (Bufo bufo)

Castro Laboreiro, Peneda-Gerês NP, Portugal

Yesterday afternoon the sky was overcast with dense black clouds. A fog set on, leaving no more than ten to twenty metres visibility in some places. No rain, though. These were the weather conditions I needed – besides being on adequate grounds – to make a photo I had pondered for long. I wished to photograph a Common Toad walking, expressing the feeling of movement. For that purpose, I had to find a willing Toad, not an easy thing to do, since it is a nocturnal animal, although it may come out of its hiding place in damp dark evenings, such the present one.

Nikon D3s + Nikon 60mm f2.8 AFS + 2x Nikon SB-26 + Lee Neutral 0.6 ND (soft)

iso 3200, 1/8, f11, -0.7 Ev

Stag Bettle (Lucanus cervus)

Castro Laboreiro, Peneda-Gerês NP, Portugal

A couple of months ago, I was walking through an Oak thicket before sunrise and I found this Stag Beetle clinging to the bark of a large Oak. This was an encounter long wished for, so I stopped what I was doing – disassembling cameras, flashes, cells, tripods, etc., which I had left during the night, in an unsuccessful attempt at photographing nocturnal carnivores – and turned to this priceless being. When the sun came up, its rays penetrated the thick foliage above, providing the kind of soft light that greatly fascinates me.

Nikon D300 + Nikon 60mm f2.8 AFS

iso 200, 1/200, f5

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse (Pterocles alchata)

Tejo Internacional NP, Portugal

During recent months, this was one of the species I spent some time photographing. The Pin-tailed Sandgrouse is one of the rarest and most beautiful birds nidifying in Portugal. Lack of knowledge about the nidification of these Sandgrouses – rediscovered about a decade ago – in our country is mainly due to the extremely low number of couples (probably less than ten) and the fact that they inhabit a remote area, scarcely visited by ornithologists. This is certainly not the technically best image I captured, but I chose it to show both male and female, in a way that greatly pleases me.

Nikon D3s + Nikon 500mm f4 VR + Nikon TC-14E II (=700mm)

iso 500, 1/500, f5.6

White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)

Zambujeira do Mar, Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina NP

The White Stork is undoubtedly one of the species of birds that I most enjoy photographing. Besides the emotional aspects that could be expected for someone who worked with these birds for almost two decades, the White Stork has everything a photographer may wish for: it is common, trusting, very eclectic as to the habitats it frequents and the places where it builds nests, and photogenic. To photograph it in environments such as the ones, in the beautiful landscapes to be found in the south western coast of Alentejo and the Vicentino plateau, is a real pleasure.

Nikon D300 + Nikon 500mm f4 VR
iso 400, 1/800, f14