We were conducting bird surveys around Alter do Chão, monitoring and photographing local species as part of a project examining the effects of deforestation.
The idea was to look beyond the numbers.
You might count two thousand birds in an area and think everything was wonderful. But what if most of them belonged to just a couple of species?
What really mattered was the diversity of birdlife, not simply how many birds were flying about.
So there I was, busy photographing different species, when something rather less feathered caught my attention.
An iguana.
He was making his way up a wall, apparently completely unconcerned about the row of anti-bird spikes along the top.
Eventually, he reached the top and settled down, looking rather pleased with himself.
And there he was, surrounded by spikes, sporting a rather impressive collection of his own.
I couldn’t help imagining him looking at the wall and thinking:
“Spikes? You call those spikes? Have a look at THESE!”
Sometimes, even when you’re concentrating on an important conservation project, nature has a wonderful way of providing a little entertainment.
And I’m certainly not going to ignore an iguana showing off his hardware!
Behind the Photograph · A Wilder Eye