Most who visit the lowland tropical forest for the first time will be surprised to find that, despite popular documentaries, it appears rather empty. You can walk for hours in the green gloom and not find a single big animal. It makes it all the more rewarding when an encounter finally occurs.
Although you might think that humanity and our relentless expansion is to blame, this is not the case. Early explorers and biologists such as Alexander von Humboldt reported similar stories of waiting and searching long hours for their subjects.
The causes of this phenomenon are many. For example, a large proportion of the animals in the tropical rainforest live their lives in the higher levels of the treetops, where they easily escape our attention. It’s also the case that some species specialize so strongly for a particular type of food that they spread out over vast areas rather than congregating together in well-known spots.
The jungle thus resembles an expensive box of chocolate full of candies, each of which is represented by only one or two pieces. You might enjoy a piece or two each day, but it will be a while before you can indulge again.
If, like Forrest Gump, I were to stick with the box of chocolate metaphor, the rarest chocolates you can come across are apex predators. They have to be very scarce if the forest is to sustain them. In South America, the trio that rules the water, land, and air are the Anaconda, Jaguar, and Harpy Eagle.
Let me take you back to a time 13 years ago when I walked one of the rainforest paths in northeastern Ecuador. A borrowed Nikon D300 camera with a Nikon 105mm f/2.8 macro lens was hanging around my neck at the time. In fact, my own D300 had already involuntarily passed into someone else’s possession.
Mostly, I photographed the small animals of the forest floor or simply contented myself to observe the forest around me. Sometimes that, too, is a welcome change. In the forest understory, I was looking for army ants, but that day, I had no luck.
As I slowly made my way back to camp, suddenly there was the sound of massive wings. You don’t hear that sound very often in the rainforest. I turned to follow the sound, and what I saw nearly took my breath away. Not far from me, some fifteen, maybe twenty meters away, a huge raptor perched on a branch. A Crested Eagle!
It was sitting on a branch, looking at me with its piercing gaze and its prey, the Tiger Rat Snake, was hanging from its jaws. Adults of this snake can reach nearly three meters in length. The photo above shows that the eagle decapitated the snake, which is hanging from the branch.
Decapitating a snake sounds brutal, but it’s a fairly common behavior in raptors. One reason may be that decapitation guarantees that the prey is safely dead. Other studies claim that it makes it easier for the young to devour larger prey. So, it’s quite possible that the eagle in the photo is a male on his way to the nest with a snack for his chick.
More than that, I’ll never know, because after a few moments, the eagle took off again with its precious cargo. I was left in the forest, stunned by its majesty. Even after thirteen years since that encounter, the memory of that moment hasn’t faded, and I am still amazed I had time to capture the photograph I share with you above.
Back then, I regretted not having a longer lens on my camera, but today I am glad that I got the snake in the photo, too. In any case, just getting a photo of this bird is one of my highlights as a photographer. The bird identification guide that I use in the field says: “Any day with a Crested Eagle deserves a gold star.” I have nothing to add to that!
Hello LIbor,
thank you for sharing your experience! I am jealous, but in an admiring way.
I have walked rainforests for decades, wondering, like you, where all the animals might be.
One day I sat down next to a creek, very exhausted. Within a few minutes the first animals started to come by. I saw many different species, including several monkeys, even Gibbons that I had only heard from a distance before then.
We also camped in a tent in a national parc in Cameroun when a very shy herd of 160 elephants passed by.
The second way is to quietly walk forest roads. Big animals are amazingly lazy, and quite often take a road at least part of the trip for lack of obstacles.
That way I saw an elephant in Kenya, a giant ant eater in Guatemala and a black panther in Thailand. A biologist had looked for them almost three years, and had never seen one.
You’re absolutely right, Fridtjof. Sometimes the best recipe for finding is not searching. When I’m really desperate, I put the camera away. I put it in my backpack, or I don’t have it in reach at all. Then things start happening. A photographer is like a hunter. Although our motivation is very peaceful, the animals may be able to sense our excitement and prefer to avoid us. I wish you many beautiful sightings, Fridtjof.
The unplanned chance encounters can be so rewarding. Thanks for sharing and agreed, the entirety of the snake makes this image.
Thanks for your comment, Verm. That’s one of the things I enjoy (and sometimes find frustrating) about nature photography. You never quite know what the day is going to bring. I’m sure you feel the same way. Have a great day.
Nicely done.
Just checked – they aren’t venomous(!)
Bearing in mind that the snake, as a constrictor, can wrap itself around a tree (or whatever), and presumably doesn’t venture too far up, how does the eagle manage to grasp it and get away?
You’re right, John, that this species is not poisonous. But toxicity is far from something that would deter predators from consuming that particular species. Secretary Bird in Africa, for example. Constrictors such as pythons, anacondas and the like rest quite peacefully on a branch or the ground. It’s relatively easy for an eagle to pick them up if it can find them. Add to that a total of eight knife-like claws that pierce through the entrails and a beak that completes the work of destruction. Resistance usually doesn’t last long… if at all.
What incredible luck, to even see one,and that close is fanatastic. With wildlife of any sort you get what you are given,quite often not a lot! Well done.
Thank you, Allan. You’re right that nature gives its gifts in dribs and drabs. The best recipe to see/photograph something interesting is to study and spend enough time in the field. Every hour increases the chances of seeing something special. But there are lucky people who just need to get their nose out of the car. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them.