Andy Rouse Photography

Now we had the Plate Billed Mountain Toucan earlier in the week and it is certainly one of our most wanted species, but there is also a huge variety of other toucan species... and it didn't feel right to leave any of them out so today we have a bumper batch of beautiful birds! Up first we have the Choco Toucan, now this one looks extremely similar to the Yellow Throated Toucan, but thankfully for me they sound totally different! We also have a variety of Aricaris - shown here is a pair of Collared Aricaris. And finally the little green job - the Crimson Rumped Toucanet. Of course I still haven't shown the Trogans, Woodpeckers, Tanagers, Barbets, Macaws - maybe I need a part 2!

Of course it goes without saying that if you fancy meeting these glorious birds for yourself then have a look on my website!

Time for a mega bird - the Andean Condor. This bird is quite simply immense. You truly cannot comprehend the size of this thing until it whistles by you. Its wingspan is about 3 metres or 10 ft, so find your nearest (average) doorway, and yep, it is considerably bigger than that! The condor is a type of vulture (New-World to be precise) and like other vultures it feeds primarily on carrion. Condors are one of the heaviest flying birds on the planet and they nest on massive vertical cliff faces at huge elevations - this one was cruising by us at around 12,000 ft! A truly mega bird and another one of our most wanted for our Ecuador trips.

Perhaps the cutest of our target species - this is the Booted Racket Tail - the racket tail bit is fairly self explanatory, the tail of the mature males is very long with two racket like feathers. And the booted bit - this refers to the little boots that the racket tail wears. Now there is a lot of arguing at the moment about species and sub-species and how many there are etc, but to keep things simple, some birds wear the orange boots and some wear the white boots! Both are equally beautiful and both equally cute!

Time for another star of our Ecuadorian Shows - and another from our most wanted list. This is a seriously cool bird, the Plate Billed Mountain Toucan! Now if you read about this bird you will see that it is classed as near threatened and that the populations of it are reasonably healthy... But like the C**k-of the-Rock, that doesn't mean that it is easy to find! You see the hillsides where these birds like to live are often incredibly inaccessible, and the foliage is dark and dense, so finding sites to visit with regular visiting Mountain Toucans is a real challenge. I've tried to show that with this image here, shooting through a narrow gap in the foliage - check out those colours! Even though these birds are tough to find and photograph we have Luis - our incredible fixer, guide, and friend that we work with out in Ecuador which really maximises our chances with species like this.

🚨 and in other news - here at Rouse HQ we have decided to relaunch our popular YouTube Series Wild Angle - so if you would like to go and check out all the previous episodes ready for the relaunch then head on over to YouTube where all episodes are available to watch right now!

Next up in our icons of Ecuador - we have... the Andean C**k of the Rock! On our trips we try to do both of these if we can and by both I simply mean the two colours variants. The red variety - seen here, is found on the Eastern slopes of the Andes, whilst the orange is found on the Western Slopes. Now my favourite is probably the red variety - but maybe that is simply because I have photographed it more often than the orange... Either way they are very interesting birds and anyone who visits an active lek is in for a treat - the noises that these birds make trying to outdo each other is incredible and visiting the lek is often a trip highlight! The bird shown here is doing his wing display to try to attract the female visiting the lek!

And if you would like to see a little video of a trip to a lek then please visit my YT channel on a very popular video hosting site!

Time for some colour and what better way to brighten things up than a whole week of Ecuadorian treats! Ecuador is one of my favourite destinations to visit and it's all down to the bird life. Ecuador has a huge number of birds and when we go there we really try to concentrate on getting the best images of all the iconic species! And we never, ever use flash.

So first up today - the sword-billed hummingbird, a frankly ludicrous bird with a sword for a bill. Though it looks like evolution got carried away, it is actually a perfect adaptation for the very deep flowers which most hummingbirds can't feed from.

Happy World Turtle Day! One of the highlights of any wildlife photographer is always a trip to the Galapagos - a place where the animals are in charge and there is a huge variety of species to see, not least the turtles! I show my favourite turtle image on here a fair bit (Topknot Turtle anyone?) but it's worth showing this one today. You see in order for turtles to make it to adulthood they must first survive hatching, and then the mad dash to the sea. It is a perilous time and only a very few make it to adulthood (1,1000 is the often quoted number). This image is from many years ago when I was on Ascension Island shooting a story for the MOD conservation magazine Sanctuary. As part of the shoot I was capturing these tiny turtles make it down the beach to the sea, an incredible experience. I often wonder of all the turtles we watched heading down to the water, how many made it beyond a few days.

A simple portrait of another classic Madagascan lemur species. This one is a golden sifaka and they are one of my favourites. They have this lovely orangey golden fur and are very smart looking - hope you like it 😀

Well great news today is that I have just won my 6th award in under 2 years! The latest, and one I am very very proud of, is to win the Animals Category in Asferico 2026. A major European competition, judged by fellow pros, it always has a very artistic feeling to it which makes me even more proud to win the category. Thanks to Luis and Suzie for all the hard work in helping me get this image, feels so good in this modern world with constant bad news to actually achieve something and continue to have my work recognised.
📸 Sony A1 MK2 and 300mm f2.8 with Flexshooter Pro head on Vanguard tripod
Sony Nordic Sony UK BBC Wildlife Magazine Nature Picture Library Asferico International Nature Photography Competition

Today is World Bee Day 🐝 — a day to celebrate and raise awareness of the vital role bees and other pollinators play in maintaining healthy ecosystems and biodiversity across our planet.

To celebrate, we’re launching a special WildBunch photo competition open to BOTH our paid AND free members!

So if you love wildlife, photography and the natural world, now is the perfect time to join the WildBunch community and get involved.

The theme? Bees, pollinators and the tiny creatures that keep our world alive.

The winning image will receive a signed Collector’s Edition of my tiger book PLUS a limited edition signed print. In addition we will make a £100 donation to the on your behalf.

Whether you are a beginner or experienced photographer, we’d love to see your creativity and passion for nature. All our competitions are for wild and free subjects and the winners are voted by our members.

Comment BEE below and we will send you the link to enter as a free member.

Good luck everyone… and remember, sometimes the smallest wildlife subjects can tell the biggest stories.