Outdoor Photographer Puma Article

Join Jeff Parker for his Pumas & Peaks of Patagonia Photo Tour
I am stoked to share the great news! The April 2018 issue of Outdoor Photographer features my image of a puma from Patagonia on the cover. It also includes the article I wrote about the Pumas of Patagonia, along with a host of additional images.…
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No Border Wall at Santa Ana NWR!

No border wall at Santa Ana NWR!
I am strongly against the construction of the do-nothing border wall, particularly in the few remaining natural areas of the Lower Rio Grande Valley such as Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.  Mary O put on her journalist hat and interviewed me about the subject.…
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Bat Viewing in Texas

Bat viewing in Texas heats up in the summer, especially in August. Bats live on every continent except Antarctica. Of the 1,000 or so unique species worldwide, 70% eat insects. In Texas, we have 32 species of bats statewide. (Learn about 10 of them here.)…
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It’s about the Experience…

I know you’ve seen the shots. The mountain lion leaping from one red rock to another. The close-up of the beautiful, fluffy wolf. The stunning snow leopard slinking through the snow. I can virtually guarantee these are shots of game farm animals.…
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National Wildlife Refuges ~ America’s Better Idea

Bosque del Apache Photo Tour
The National Parks have famously been called “America’s best idea.” I have visited many of our National Parks and they ARE awesome. However, I tend to think that our National Wildlife Refuges are “America’s Better Idea.” Our National Parks were created for their scenic beauty or historical significance.…
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7 Tips for Backyard Bird Photography

Photography Play Day
These 7 tips for backyard bird photography will help you make better images of the winged critters that frequent your yard. When doing backyard bird photography there are many things to take into consideration. One, of course, is having the right photography equipment.…
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Beauty of Bosque del Apache NWR

My wife, Mary O. Parker, and I have been thinking of the beauty of Bosque del Apache NWF. This is about the time of year when Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge begins to come fully to life. That got my wife Mary to reminiscing about the tours and visits we enjoy there.…
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Year of the Cat

Pumas & Peaks of Patagonia photo tour with Jeff Parker/Explore in Focus™
It seems that instead of “birders,” Mary and I have become “catters.” In the last 12 months, we have seen five species of big cats in the wild and I got a glimpse of a smaller one—Geoffroy’s cat—during the Patagonia trip in April.…
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Sea Turtles and Such

Sea Turtle Hatchlings Run for Water at North Padre Island National Sea Shore, Texas
I thought since mid-summer is the time for sea-turtle releases along the Texas Gulf, this would make a timely blog post. As many of you know, Mary and I have a book coming out titled, “Explore Texas ~ A Nature Travel Guide” through Texas A&M University Press.…
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Pumas in Patagonia

Jeff Parker's photo tour of Pumas of Patagonia.
“There he is!” whispers my wife Mary O. We’re near Torres del Paine National Park, Chile sitting in a van in the cold rain. Mary O. has just spotted a large male puma making his way down the hill to the guanaco kill we’ve been watching for the last hour.…
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Best Nature Destinations near El Paso

I’ve been working steady getting images ready for the book that Mary and I are doing for Texas A&M University Press. It’s tentatively titled “Explore Texas — A Nature Travel Guide” and will be out in spring 2016. I thought I’d share some of the best nature destinations near El Paso that we’ve featured in the book.…
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The Whooping Cranes Return!

The “Whoopers” have returned to the Texas coast and will be with us until early-spring, prompting me to write a little about these big birds that I love so much. Whooping Cranes (Grus americana) once bred over much of the United States, but, by the early 20th century, none could be found breeding here.…
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Go Native! ~ Texas Native Plant Week

October 19-25 is Texas Native Plant week 2014. This got me thinking about Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and Monk Parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) in particular. Why those two species? Just last week I returned from leading a photo tour in the Brazilian Pantanal–—a wonderful wildlife experience that I will write about some more another time—–and both species were plentiful there.…
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Photographing Snakes in the Wild

Now that the weather is warming up, as a wildlife photographer you’ll possibly encounter snakes. So why not enjoy photographing snakes in the wild? Odds are high that most snakes you encounter are not venomous. In fact, the vast majority of snakes in the world are NOT.…
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Whooping Crane Photo Tour ~ Trip Report 2014

We were blessed with good weather for the 2014 Whooping Crane tour. With an ice storm Friday morning and another the next Tuesday we really lucked out even if it was a bit chilly on Saturday morning. This year’s group was interesting in that 3 of the 5 participants were retired Air Force pilots.…
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Raptor Photography Tips

Now that winter has arrived, I figured this would be a good time to post these Raptor Photography Tips so that those of you who don’t subscribe to my newsletter can take advantage of them, too. The word “raptor” comes from the Latin “rapere,” which means “to snatch, take, or carry off.”…
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Vermejo Park Ranch Elk & Aspen ~ 2013 Trip Report

Eight photographers joined me for the sold-out 2013 Vermejo Park Ranch Elk & Aspen Photo Tour, the first-ever event of its kind at this historic New-Mexican ranch. Participants enjoyed many opportunities to create incredible wildlife shots and images of the sublime beauty of the Vermejo Park Ranch landscape.…
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Hummingbird Photo Workshop ~ 2013 Report

The 2013 Hummingbird Photography Workshop is a wrap and a great one at that! We had a good number of hummingbirds and a great group of enthusiastic participants. Two stations set-up for multiple flash allowed participants a chance to create some great “freeze all the motion” hummingbird photographs.…
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Costa Rica ~ Photographing the Frogs

I’ve been busily going through the images created on our recently-completed Costa Rica Photo Tour. One of the surprises of the tour was just how much fun I had photographing Costa Rican frogs! It seems everything is more exuberant and colorful in the tropics, especially them.…
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