Tim Laman

| Wildlife Photojournalist

Wildlife Diaries

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Cape York Peninsula

The Parrots and The Termite Mounds

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Dear Friends,

Between spending time outside photographing winter birds here in New England, I’ve been in my studio working through my archives gathering old favorites and discovering unpublished gems for a potential book project on my bird photography from around the world.  This week, I was “virtually” in Australia, reliving a series of expeditions to the remote Cape York Peninsula where some years ago, our team from National Geographic and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology worked to document some of the rarest and most endangered species found in this wilderness.  One of the standouts was the Golden-shouldered Parrot, an endangered species with only about 300 breeding pairs remaining.  I was able to photograph them in their unique habitat dotted with giant termite mounds.  I hope you enjoy the images and behind-the-scenes video below.  It is always my hope that by sharing the stories of endangered species, we can increase awareness and have a positive impact on their future.

THE LANDING – GOLDEN-SHOULDERED PARROT

A male Golden-shouldered Parrot comes in for a landing at the entrance to its nest cavity in the side of a tall termite mound.  This highly specialized bird has a very limited range in this unique forested grassland habitat, where it digs its burrow into the termite mound in the early wet season when rains soften the tower.  The termite tower is actually the cooling system for the termite nest below, and the birds also benefit from the termite’s engineering that keeps the nest chamber at around 28-30 degrees C throughout the day.  To capture this image and the ones below without disturbing the birds, I set up a blind a safe distance away before sunrise, and used a BIG lens.  I’ve included a time-lapse video below so you can see my setup!

THE LANDING is not yet in our Fine Art online gallery, but let us know if anyone is interested in a print and we can make it happen! Let Rachel know at Studio@TimLaman.com.

[Read more…] about The Parrots and The Termite Mounds

New Species Discovered In Lost World

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If you missed Tim’s article in Australian Geographic you can now read it online.  In the Cape York Peninsula of Australia, the boulder fields are a spectacular sight.  Tim and biologist Conrad Hoskin traveled by helicopter to discover new species during their expedition.  You can read the article on Australian Geographic’s webpage – Cape Melville’s Lost World.

The boulder fields and rainforest of the Cape Melville Range, with Araucaria trees rising above the rest of the forest. Cape Melville Range, Cape Melville National Park, Cape York Peninsula

“Three Days, Three Wild Finds” in Harvard Gazette

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A new species of Leaf-tailed Gecko sits on a tree trunk in the patches of rainforest on the top of the boulder fields of the Cape Melville Range. Cape Melville Range, Cape Melville National Park, Cape York Peninsula

Harvard University published a story on Tim’s recent discoveries of new species in Cape Melville, Australia.  This was part of his Cape York expedition where they were dropped off by a helicopter to the rainforest in the mountains made of boulders.  Tim is an associate of Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology after receiving his Ph.D. in Biology from the prestigious university.  View the entire story on the Harvard Gazette’s website.

“Lost World” Reveals New Species

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Pockets of rainforest dot the boulderfields of the Cape Melville Range. Cape Melville Range, Cape Melville National Park, Cape York Peninsula, Australia

In March, Tim went to the Cape Melville Range in Australia with Conrad Hoskin from James Cook University and discovered new species of amphibian and reptiles.  This was part of an expedition traversing the Cape York Peninsula of Northeastern Australia.  As you can see from the picture above, the mountain range is covered with huge boulders that make the area almost impassable.  The only way in was by being dropped off by helicopter onto one of the boulders the size of a house, which didn’t work the first time.  You can read the full story by National Geographic News.

Herpetologist Conrad Hoskin holds a brand new species of Leaf-tailed Gecko (Saltuarius eximius) shortly after his discovery in the pockets of rainforest in the boulder fields of the Cape Melville Range. Cape Melville Range, Cape Melville National Park, Cape York Peninsula
A new species of Boulder Frog (Cophixalus petrophilus) found among the boulders of the Cape Melville Range. Cape Melville Range, Cape Melville National Park, Cape York Peninsula

Return to Cape York Peninsula in the “Wet”

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I am on my way home from a three-week trip to Australia’s Cape York Peninsula on assignment for National Geographic magazine.  Believe it or not, there are still places in the world without easy internet access and this was one of them.  Now that I am back in contact, I will share some new images from the trip here and via my Instagram feed over the next week or so.

This ongoing project for Nat Geo has the goal of documenting the landscapes and unique biodiversity of this remote part of Northeastern Queensland.  Last year I made two expeditions here in the dry season, and I now returned to cover what it looks like in the wet season, which looks dramatically different in places.

Above is an example shot from a low flying helicopter:  This is Piccaninny Plains Wildlife Sanctuary, where I photographed the parched dry landscape in September.   Now the same area is dotted with potholes full of water while storm clouds with more water loom above.

You can look back at my Instagram feed to see earlier shots from Cape York in the dry season, and stay tuned for some more new photos over the coming days……