6/29/22 6/29/22

Photographing My Local Nesting Birds

Dear Friends,

I hope you have been having a nice spring and relishing the new life all around us here in the Northern Hemisphere. These past two springs, due to the pandemic, I have been traveling less than usual, and focusing my lenses on more local projects. One of those has been a filming project with Connecticut-based Coneflower Studios to document the lives of woodpeckers and their importance in the ecosystem. Did you know that woodpeckers create cavities that are used by over forty species of birds for nesting just in North America? While working on the film project, which is now going into post-production, I was also able to capture some still photos.

Stay tuned here, and I’ll let you know when the film is coming out. In the mean time, I’ve selected a few stills below to share. I had never spent much effort to observe or photograph the pileated woodpecker before this, but this impressive bird has now become one of my local favorites. Hope you enjoy the shots below!

The Ant Specialist

The pileated woodpecker, our largest woodpecker in North America (assuming the ivory-billed woodpecker is indeed extinct), is rather surprisingly, an ant specialist. Although the prey are small, they are abundant, and the pileated’s powerful size allows it to excavate deep into trees where its favorite carpenter ants make their large colonies. I’m lucky enough to have these birds occupying the woods right behind my house in Lexington, Massachusetts, and one day my daughter spotted this male working on a dead tree right from the house. I grabbed my camera and started photographing, gradually and very deliberately moving my tripod closer and closer. Within about 30 minutes, the bird was still busy excavating multiple holes in the same tree and feeding, and tolerated my presence close enough to get this shot with an 800 mm lens. I knew he was eating ants, but because the bird was using its long tongue to probe the tunnels, and bringing the ants directly into its mouth, I never saw him with an ant until this one moment, when he leaned back, and one ant that almost got away dangled from his beak!

The Cavity Nesters

Woodpeckers excavate cavities in dead trees for roosting and nesting, but they are not the only birds that use them. Abandoned woodpecker holes are used by many other species as well, so they play a particularly important role in the community of birds. All the images below were made not far from my home in Massachusetts.

When pileated woodpecker chicks reach a certain size, they stick their little heads out of their nest cavity and beg loudly when a parent approaches with food, making for a pretty entertaining scene.

I found a pair of bluebirds nesting in this small woodpecker hole in a dead white birch tree along the edge of a beaver pond. Here you see the male delivering a caterpillar to the chicks.

This pair of shots shows the changing of the guard as the two parents swap incubation duties at their nest. These tree swallows are nesting in a tree cavity that I hollowed out myself. I think birds take even more readily to nest boxes made out of hollow logs than the more typical ones made from boards.

Barred owls like these also often nest in tree cavities as well. This is not necessarily a woodpecker hole, but who knows, perhaps this rotted out hollow in the tree could have started from a large excavation by a Pileated Woodpecker many years ago!

Thanks for tuning in to my adventures, and stay tuned. Soon, I’m heading off to Borneo after a nearly three year break, and I’ll be sharing updates on my social channels!

Stay safe everyone, and be sure to get your dose of nature therapy!

Warmest regards,

Tim Laman

PS. We are partnering with the Aves Gallery to showcase some of my very large format, Limited Edition, Bird-of-Paradise prints at the Ketchum Art Festival, from July 8-10 in Sun Valley, Idaho. If you are curious about my Limited Edition Birds-of-Paradise prints, you can learn more HERE.

5/20/22 5/20/22

Special Recognition from the National Geographic Museum

Dear Friends,

Imagine my surprise and pleasure when I opened an email from National Geographic recently, and saw the banner below? An advertisement for the re-opening of their museum with an exhibit of “The Greatest Wildlife Photographs”, and my image “Birds-of-Paradise Sunrise” was the featured image! This image is one of my all time favorites from my long efforts pursuing the ultimate bird-of-paradise images, so it’s very satisfying to see it get some special recognition like this.

Featured image

Bird-of-Paradise Sunrise

BIRD PLANET Update

I’m excited to report that my new book BIRD PLANET is now off to the printers (it will be in stores October 4). I’m really happy with the way it has come together. It has been great to have a chance to review my entire archive to choose the most inspirational images from all over the world.

If you didn’t catch it already, I want to remind you that I am offering a signed copy of BIRD PLANET (personalized if you like) bundled with a 12-inch print for $100. I’ll only have 100 copies to sell in this way, and more than have are already sold, so you are welcome to per-order now if you would like to lock that in. Books will ship in October. Follow this link to see the offer for the Signed Edition of BIRD PLANET.

As a little sneak preview, here are a few shots from the book. In selecting the images, my aim was to capture the diversity and beauty of birds, and inspire people to care for their habitats, and thus habitat for all wildlife and a healthier planet for all of us.

Whooper Swans Awake, Lake Kussharo, Hokkaido, Japan

Cobalt-winged Parakeets at Clay Lick, Amazon Rainforest, Ecuador

These and other images from the book are also available now in my special BIRD PLANET COLLECTION gallery.

Thanks for tuning in as always!

Stay safe everyone, and be sure to get your dose of nature therapy. It’s a beautiful time of year!

Warmest regards,

Tim Laman

PS. For all you ORANGUTAN fans, I think you will enjoy a segment I shot of the early life of a baby orangutan for the new Netflix series “Wild Babies”, which is now streaming. And to learn more about orangutans and the conservation work I’m involved with, please visit www.SaveWildOrangutans.org.

7/29/21 7/29/21

Dreaming of Africa

I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel! Where are you dreaming of traveling to? I have many places on my list. It may be a little while yet, but the first place I will head back to internationally will definitely be Borneo, to continue coverage of the orangutans and biodiversity of Gunung Palung National Park. But many other places are also calling, and the wonders of East Africa are certainly among them. I have many fond memories of my safaris there, and hope to go back soon. In the mean time, we have been working on expanding my Limited Edition collection in my fine art gallery, and I’m excited to announce the addition of the image below.

The Vulture Tree

One hot, hazy afternoon in the Serengeti in 2018, we were driving around in our vehicle, but it wasn’t exactly the time of day when I expected to make an outstanding wildlife image. But then we spotted this lone Ruppel’s vulture, perched in this old dead tree, which was a beautiful piece of sculpture in itself. The vulture had its wings spread partially, in a posture that likely was helping get some airflow over his body to help it cool off. I carefully directed our driver to get us into a position where the branches formed the best framing around the vulture. The hazy afternoon light added the atmosphere and the slightly ocher color palette. The resulting image ended up being one of my Limited Edition prints.

A Few Other Favorites from Africa

Here are a few other favorites from Africa that are in my Limited Edition Collection:

A herd of wildebeest cross the Mara River during their annual migration. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

A wildebeest makes a wild leap as the herd of thousands surge across the Mara River during their annual migration. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

BaoThe sun rises behind a baobab tree on the African savanna. Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.

11/6/20 11/6/20

A Moment of Nature's Beauty: The "Bird-of-Paradise Sunrise"

Dear Friends,

To celebrate the launching of my Limited Editions prints, I’d like to share a behind the scenes video about how I made what is perhaps my most famous image, the Bird-of-Paradise Sunrise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ll0DbSjLE&feature=youtu.be

This video from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, featuring my colleague Ed Scholes and me, tells the story behind this shot.

Featured Photo: Bird-of-Paradise Sunrise

There have been rare moments in a long career in the field, when the image I had pre-visualized in my head came to life, and in fact exceeded my expectations (which are pretty darn high by the way). This is one of those moments. At least a week of effort went into planning and executing this shot. Every day I climbed, in the pitch black before dawn, first the tree where the bird had been coming to display. There I rigged a remote controlled camera camouflaged with a leaf wrapper. After I rigged the camera, I descended and climbed a second, neighboring tree while it was still dark, and perched in a little blind with my laptop, connected by cable across the canopy to the camera. When the male arrived that morning, it was before sunrise. But he stayed, calling and displaying, and when the sun popped out and lit up the bird and the mist in the canopy, I saw the scene come to life on my screen and I made this image. When you are in the field and in the heat of the moment, you often aren’t sure exactly what you have. But this time I really knew at that moment I had captured a very special image. I can still remember how my heart raced. This image has been a double page in National Geographic, and it has won top honors in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, but I am most proud of the role it has played in helping to elevate Birds-of-Paradise as the ambassadors for conservation of rainforest of the New Guinea region.

Limited Edition Prints are Now Available

The first group of 14 images in my new Limited Editions series are now up on my website and available to view and order. Please have a look.

The Mara River Leap, Wildebeest herd crossing the Mara River, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Male Blue Bird of Paradise foraging.
Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonicus) awaking at dawn on the mist covered Setsuri River, Hokkaido, Japan.IUCN Red List: Endangered Species

11/2/20 11/2/20

Wildlife Diaries 15

My large format LIMITED EDITION prints are now available for subscribers only. Please email studio@timlaman.comto receive a private website link and have a look. No obligation of course!

Dear Friends,

If you have never been to the rainforest of Southeast Asia, and heard the loud wing-beats of Rhinoceros Hornbills flying over the canopy, I highly recommend a journey after we get through this pandemic. In the mean time, I thought I’d share my image and story with you below.

Rhinoceros Hornbill

On my very first day in the rain forest of Borneo, back in 1987, the first spectacular rain forest bird that I got a glimpse of was a Rhinoceros Hornbill. I was on the ground, the bird was high in the canopy, and I could barely see it with my binoculars. I remember thinking how some day I wanted to find a way to photograph this amazing bird up at its level. Well, years past, I learned how to climb giant rain forest trees with ropes, and spent scores of days in the canopy. My first article in National Geographic was about the rain forest canopy in Borneo, and featured a Rhinoceros Hornbill as the opening shot. So I’ve had a special relationship with this bird for decades. It is still one of my favorite birds to photograph, a true icon of the lowland forests Borneo and Southeast Asia. I captured this moment in Thailand in 2018, from yet another blind hidden in the canopy of an adjacent tree overlooking a fig tree absolutely loaded with fruit. This moment came when the hornbill stuck its head up through some branches, and was looking around for the ripest fig to pluck.

“Soft Launch” of my Limited Edition Prints

We are currently having a “soft launch” of my new line of Limited Edition Prints, including Rhinoceros Hornbill, exclusively for you, my newsletter subscribers. We are ready to share a private web link with you to the site, featuring the first set of 14 prints I am offering, including several Birds-of-Paradise and other wildlife and landscape images that are highlights of my long career in the field. Please email studio@timlaman.com and we will send you a private link to so you can have some time to check it out before it becomes publicly available.

Here are a few other images that are in the Limited Editions Gallery:

Thanks for your support, and stay safe everyone!
Tim

PS: Below is a glimpse of what my new Limited Editions will look like. They will be available in 48 inch or 60 inch sizes, printed on archival recycled aluminum, and framed in a wood float frame. Tim with "Bird-of-Paradise Sunrise" 48 inch metal print. Edition 1 of 20.

11/2/20 11/2/20

The Mara River Leap

A handful of you were with me that day in August 2018 when I captured the image below. For those who weren’t, I hope that some day you have a chance to witness this spectacle yourself! In the mean time, please enjoy this brief account of how the image came together.

The Mara River Leap

There are certain iconic wildlife spectacles around the world that I think probably all wildlife photographers and wildlife enthusiasts would like to see in their lifetimes. The Serengeti wildebeest migration was certainly one of those for me, and in particular, the crossing of the Mara River was something I wanted to witness for myself. It was August 2018 when I had the opportunity. We were hanging back, waiting as the animals massed on the crest of the bank. Then suddenly they surged. It was chaos. They poured down the cliffs and into the river. I knew that the challenge was to extract a moment from this wild scene. I was shooting as fast as I could, but looking for patterns. I saw a little ledge part way down the bank that some animals were launching from, becoming briefly separated from the background, and I framed just that section of the scene for a time. Soon, it was all over. Thousands of wildebeest had crossed the river in a matter of minutes. The dust still hung in the air, but I knew that this time, I had been in the right place at the right time, and captured something special.

New Monthly Giveaway
Starting this week, I have decided to give back by having a monthly drawing for my newsletter subscribers. Every month we will choose something different to give away. This month it is an authentic signed 8x10 print of the Red Bird-of-Paradise. Next month it could be a signed book, poster, or print. You don't have to do anything, you're automatically entered. Just letting you know!

This newsletter represents an official “soft launch” of my new line of Limited Edition Prints, including The Mara River Leap, exclusively for you, my newsletter subscribers. We will be ready to launch the new Limited Editions Gallery on my website next week, featuring the first set of 16 prints I am offering, including several Birds-of-Paradise and other wildlife and landscape images that are highlights of my long career in the field. In the mean time, please email us at studio@timlaman.com if you are interested in receiving a private link to the website so you can have a few days to check it out before it becomes publicly available. Click the button below to learn more about my Limited Editions.

About Tim Laman's New Limited Editions

Thanks for your support, and stay safe everyone!
Tim