I'm back to sharing new Brazil photos this week... A rainforest canopy tower experience is a very cool way to see birds at eye level, but getting close mammals is uncommon. At this tower, I've had multiple monkey encounters, including endangered white-cheeked spiders this year. Very special!

This pair of Black-billed Magpies was harassing the Bald Eagle non-stop after it caught a fish. They would cheekily nip its tail feathers in hopes of distracting it to the point of giving up its meal. (Yellowstone 2016)

I'm taking a short break from new Brazil photos, at the very least to remind everyone that I do like variety. Here's something distinctly non-tropical: a Royle's pika photographed in the Himalayas during my 2015 India trip.

We didn't get out for many night walks in Brazil, but on one evening we did bring the macro gear along. Good thing, since we found this pair of caterpillars (Automeris?) huddled together in a defensive formation. See the full Brazil wildlife gallery here: bit.ly/Brazil2025Wi...

Definitely one of the more dynamic looking birds from my Brazil trip, the Orange-cheeked Parrot. If you haven't done so, you can check out the full #Birds collection from this trip in the archive: bit.ly/Brazil2025Bi...

I'm up well before the alarm this morning, so this will be me by mid-morning, I'd wager. (Almost as cute, too!)

I'm very fond of this scene and this moment. We only stopped to grab a group photo at the end of our time in the Amazon. Instead, we found a surprise caiman nursery (this is an adult) and a host of butterflies. There's so much hidden wildlife lurking on the edge of the Amazon's rivers...

Brazil 2025: When we arrived at our lodge deep in the Amazon, I was looking forward to seeing some new primate species, but it took a while before they finally revealed themselves. At last, I landed glimpses of spider and woolly monkeys, marmosets, and here, the dusky titi monkey.

Psst... new Brazil photos are online. I'll share more this week and beyond, but if you'd like to get a preview in the blog (or jump to the full galleries in the archive) the fun starts here: www.maxwaugh.com/2025/09/13/n...

Here are a few of the images from my 2026 Little Yellowstone calendar. This is part of the Classic calendar collection I brought back from last year, to go with the other 5 brand new calendars... 9 to choose from! You can preview and order all of the calendars over on my website.

Froggy Friday? Uh, sure.

The good news is that my latest Brazil images are just about ready for the photo archive. The bad news is that I have too many, as usual. A big reason is because I don't just publish "portfolio quality" work. Instead, I'd rather folks get to see cool things like the Pantanal coral snake... (1/2)

I've always given ornithologists mixed reviews when it comes to naming birds, but lepidopterists definitely know how to have fun. They're not afraid to just call something an "88/89" or "BD" butterfly. But then you have Starry Cracker, Stinky Oakleaf... and Saffron Playboy (a moth, btw). Awesome!

A family portrait from one of my earliest American badger encounters, in Yellowstone back in 2009.

"Hey, Bob." "Mornin', Frank."

Next year I'm adding a new Alaska bear experience. This one partners with Kate & Adam Rice (their photo), who have had great success with bears fishing for red salmon, so I'm reducing my markup on it. Aug. 16-22: Lodge-based, loads of bear action, and a Brooks Falls visit to boot. Only 1 spot left!

We've just passed 5K followers here, so it's time for another "reintroduction" thread. I've posted a few of these before, so I'll share things a bit differently this time. I started photographing wildlife 25 years ago, back in the film days. Back then, it was mainly road trips to Yellowstone.. (1/)

A red fox wanders the snowy expanse of the Lamar Valley... back when we actually had clean, snowy expanses like this. Since 2010 or so, I can recall only two winters when the norther range really had deep snow cover like this, and the sage brush wasn't visible everywhere.

Now that school's back in session, I have a lot more time to tackle work during the day. Here's proof: actual progress on my most recent collection of Brazil photos! The giant anteater has this weird combination of wizened eyes + a cute, dainty mouth, doesn't it?

First day of school today! Let's see if we can rouse our minnow and get him out the door in time...

A Great Frigatebird passes over our boat during an exploration of the Galapagos Islands. (2015)

This harbor seal was enjoying a bubble bath at the base of a small waterfall in the Great Bear Rainforest several years ago.

2025 - 2027 Photo Tour Update: I have a lot of different updates to my upcoming tour schedule. Some have sold out, others have recently vacated spots, and a couple new trips are officially added to the schedule!

My next trip (thankfully still a month-and-a-half away) will be to Borneo. This was one of the nice surprises from my last visit there, a lifer Barred Eagle-owl.

One of my favorite new #birds this year is the wee Parakeet Auklet, which I photographed for the first time in Alaska back in June.

Costa Rica’s Central American squirrel monkeys remain the cutest monkeys I’ve photographed. Probably. Thing is, I’ve seen a few smaller species (tamarins and marmosets), and the closer you look at those, the more they resemble little gremlins. It’s hard for me to get past that.

A North American river otter munches on a cutthroat trout. From a series of 20-year-old Yellowstone images I reprocessed last year for my photo archive.

It's African Wild Dog Day, so I'm sharing photos of this handsome and gregarious (AND endangered) species across my social media feeds. You guys get a video, from one of the more memorable wild dog encounters I've ever had, in Lower Zambezi National Park. Volume UP for this one!

No, I'm not quite ready for winter weather. Nonetheless, this was a magical scene from my January visit to Yellowstone.

During last month's Brazil adventure, we saw quite a few Southern Screamers. This is undoubtedly the chonkiest bird we saw (and look at the size of those legs!), so it's sometimes surprising to see them take to the air with little trouble.

I was really looking forward to enjoying the final weeks of Seattle summer, now that my big trips are finally out of the way. But if I don't kick this jetlag soon, this will be me during daylight hours for the foreseeable future...

I've returned home and now find myself with loads of tour-related paperwork to catch up on. This includes investigating a request for private guiding in Yellowstone this winter. (1/2)

I’m about to hop on a 14+ hour flight to get home, so how about a bonus South Africa post before the journey begins. This is the same male leopard I shared from a couple mornings ago, as he patrolled the banks of the Sand River… outside of his territory. A bold dude.

“How will you ever be able to crunch bones if you don’t brush your teeth?” We had a great time photographing evening action at a spotted hyena den a few days ago. I’ve begun the long trek home and hope to have more photos to share from this adventure soon!

I’m already sad that our time at MalaMala is coming to an end. This place is so magical, and I’m lucky to have had so many opportunities to share the experience with guests over the years. Next year, we’ll introduce our son to the leopards here! Here’s a patrolling male, scent marking this morning.

We’re winding down my latest African safari with some unusual and downright rare sightings. Lots to share when I get home (get a spoilery peek at my Stories if you’re following on IG/FB). These Bateleurs are quite common, but they sure looked nice in the morning light a couple days back.

I did my best to capture photos of tourists on safari this morning, but all the darned animals kept photobombing.

I’m not saying that my wife and son shake their heads when I struggle to get out of bed each morning. But something about this scene felt strangely familiar. (Seen a couple hours ago here in South Africa.)

One of my favorite African birds is the diminutive Three-banded Plover. We had some lovely close views during yesterday’s morning session at the lagoon. We’ve now arrived in the Greater Kruger, where I expect we’ll be cranking up the game drive experience… hopefully to eleven.

How about a mammal sighting from one of the hides here in South Africa? Yesterday we had several nyala come in for a drink during our afternoon session.

Traditionally I don’t have the mindset for hide photography. I’d much rather be out exploring. However, kicking off this trip at a location with several hides has given me a chance to get much better views of some species I might otherwise have trouble photographing, like the tiny Blue Waxbill.

My South Africa adventure has begun! No time to get over jet lag: we went right into one of the overnight hides here. Though a lot of extra rain is keeping animals away from the traditional watering holes, we were fortunate to have some rhinos stop by earlier. Now 2am… back to sleep for a bit.

It’s not as though I had a face full of bristly branches, but I was resting about as well as this snow leopard on my first (~14 hour) flight. Which is to say, not very well. Here’s hoping that it’s tired me out so much, I’ll instantly convert to South Africa Time by sleeping through Flight #2.

Okay, deep breath. Kicking off my next series of flights today. I hope to share some goodies from Africa this coming week. In the meantime, here's a random Northern Flicker.

The final spot on my 2026 Guyana tour was just claimed. I'm excited to share this under-the-radar destination with folks. For a small country, it sure boasts an impressive variety of species. The Black Curassow is one of many, many fascinating birds we hope to encounter.

Throughout my years of rainforest exploration, we've commonly found proboscis bats perched along riverbanks, usually on tree trunks (once a boulder). However, I've never seen them hanging on to a horizontal perch like this. Seems like a lot of extra effort! (Photographed in the Brazilian Amazon.)

Apparently we've agreed to host an all-day play date today, in lieu of a rainy day at camp. I'm sure I'm up for this.

Forgive me if I'm looking just a *little* unkempt this morning.

This might have been a record length of time for me to *not* post Yellowstone content on a social media platform. A reminder that my 2026 Yellowstone calendar—plus 8 other '26 wall calendars—are still on sale for a couple more weeks before the price goes up.

Next stop: South Africa! Following a week's rest, thankfully. Looking forward to seeing the dwarf mongooses and all the other cute sausages we may encounter...