Jonathan Couzens Wildlife Photography

23/03/2023

Nambu, an emerging tusker, some may argue he has emerged. A series of pics swipe to see, Nambu is being ridden by a cattle egret bird.

22/03/2023

A tower of Giraffe.

06/01/2023

Handsome fella Ravenscourt is.

31/12/2022

24/12/2022

Slinky leopard. In the secret life of Walter Mitty movie 2013 version, a grizzled wildlife photographer portrayed by a rugged Sean Penn states... " if I like a moment, for me, personally I don't like the distraction of a camera." He says this as he stares at a snow leopard and does not take a frame. I have not reached such enlightenment..... I do depress the shutter and enjoy the moment. Who says men cant multitask?

Edits done - Shot white balance set to cloudy (it was a storm dispersing the light) and passed through the Lo-fi filter on the gram.

10/11/2022

What a sighting this week on safari. This leopardess put on quite the show.

06/11/2022

Whilst whiling away some time at Lower Sabie awaiting guests, a safari vehicle for one of the leopard rich adjacent reserves parked next to me. I got to speak to the guide and tracker about the rosette dappled cat. I inquired for the largest animal they have seen hoisted in a tree by a leopard? A full-grown adult cow waterbuck. 160kg- 200kg (352 - 440 pounds) A male leopard can get up to 90kg but the typical weight is in the 60kg - 71kg range (132 - 156,2 pounds) (Kitchener 1991) Kruger male leopard do seem to be closer to 90kg. They have some tricks too. They understand instinctively the mechanical advantage the slope of the tree trunk gives. So if you fortunate to witness them hoisting keep your camera on the angle of tree trunk easiest to climb. They do disembowel their prey sometimes making it lighter, but what makes the above eye witness account incredible is this leopard had to bound up the tree with its meal in its mouth in haste as a lion crashed the party, no time for tricks. Which is the crux of why they do so? To keep their meal away from others like the hyena. In reserves that don't have high competitor densities they will eat on the ground, It is not unheard of for us to find a leopard eating on the ground, I have seen them stash kills under dense foliage, In Kruger (Bailey 1993) found they hoisted 84% of the kills. And they seem to prefer our impala, warthog and duiker but I have seen a cape buffalo calf hoisted and images of a young giraffe in a tree. The power they possess to do so is incredible and another reason to respect these animals. This is a leopard known as Euphorbia with his duiker kill that I took at the Sabi Sand about a year ago.

04/10/2022

Regal fella. A click from a few years ago.

14/09/2022

Vurhami pride youngsters doing what they do.

16/08/2022

Collared sunbird male unknowingly fighting himself, both survived after a spirited effort. Swipe to see the battle.