All birds walk on their fingers, and the wrist is bent when the bird is upright. the ankle is actually the joint that is placed like a knee in birds; the knee is placed close to the body and the thigh is parallel to it for balance and extends when running. When drinking, the Rhea rests on her feet and scoops water in her beak, letting gravity take it down the hatch.


From Wiki: Rheas are distantly related to the African ostriches and Australia's emu (the largest and second-largest living ratites, respectively), with rheas placing just behind the emu in height and overall size. The numbers of the greater are decreasing as their habitats shrink. Both are considered near threatened by the IUCN.
Rheas are polygynandrous, with males courting between two and twelve females and females commonly mating with multiple dominant males during the breeding season. After mating, the male builds a nest where each female lays eggs. The nest is a simple scrape in the ground, lined with grass and leaves.[15] The male incubates from ten to sixty eggs. The male will use a decoy system and place some eggs outside the nest, then sacrifice these to predators so they do not attempt to get inside the nest. The male may use another subordinate male to incubate his eggs while he finds another group of females to start a second nest with. The chicks hatch within 36 hours of each other. Right before hatching, the chicks begin to whistle. The group of females, meanwhile, may move on and mate with other males. While caring for the young, the males will charge at any perceived threat approaching the chicks, including female rheas and humans. The young reach full adult size in about six months but do not breed until they reach two years of age

Tags:   Raphael Kopan Photography Nikkor 600 f4E VR Nikon Z9 Nature Birds wildlife Mato Grosso Brazil Poconé

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On our trip, we saw two of these amazing little predators. This one and his mate were heard calling at dusk. They responded to our call , and were quite animated so we stop calling immediately and just watched as they looked for an intruder, then retreated. a lifer for me. I discovered the second outside my motel room... will post next.

From Wiki: The ferruginous pygmy owl (Glaucidium brasilianum) is a small owl that breeds in south-central Arizona and southern Texas in the United States, south through Mexico and Central America, to South America into Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.

In Central America and South America, it is the most widely distributed pygmy owl and is probably one of the most numerous owl species in those areas. It is found in a wide range of semi-open wooded habitats.

Tags:   Poconé Mato Grosso Brazil Raphael Kopan Photography Nikkor 600 f4E VR MonoPod Pantanal Owl

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Well, if you have cats you know the drill. The female gets in heat but to ovulate, mating must take place, and it is mating in plural, not singular. If you are the dominant male you won't let her out of your sight for the entire three day period or her kittens will be sired by any of the suiters happy to take your place. We witness the first two days of the event (but only the periods spent at dusk, on a sandy beach near our footing hotel). I put together GIF from the many images I shot capturing the highlights, including a fiery end of play that had Lara and her killer mittens cutting Cobber. By the end of day two however harmony prevailed as you saw in the rendering posted earlier. Remember you can stop the movie at any point by clicking on it. Enjoy!

Tags:   Mating Jaguar Corumbá Mato Grosso do Sul Brazil Raphael Kopan Photography Nikkor 600 f4E VR Pantanal Cuiaba River

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Shopping for breakfast on the Rio Pixaim, Pantanal. Taken on a Awesome trip with Juan Carlos Vindas (Neotropic photo tours) www.neotropicphototours.com

Tags:   Raphael Kopan Photography Nikkor 600 f4E VR Pantanal Brazil Movie Hawk Flight Hunt

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Timelaps from 10pm to 11:30pm on May 10. Just before the clouds moved in we got a glimpse a a truly glowing sky. this is looking north, but the Aurora was visible to the west and east as well. we are at 39.1 N longitude, a long way south from the normal aurora viewing area. For comparison, Paris is at the 48 N, were the US/Canada border runs.

Tags:   Raphael Kopan Photography timelaps Nikon z9 10-20 Nikkor AF‑P DX Aurora :Aurora Borealis

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