IAMA wildlife filmmaker. My videos have been featured on Nickelodeon and Discovery, and I spent most of the last ten years traveling around filming wildlife. AMA!

Nigel?

One day!

Smashing.

Crickey!

Erm, I mean, for the foundation!

Did anyone else think it was weird that even though Nigel was a global icon he always seemed on the edge of being fired?

Just because you're well liked by the public doesn't mean you're good at your job or liked by your bosses.

I guess so. Though it'd be hard to be a better show host than Nigel!

What are your top 3 places that you really enjoyed?

Easy.

Everglades National Park, for its sheer size and quantity of wildlife,

Peneda-Geres National Park in Portugal, because it's a beautiful, rugged landscape lined with streams and dry riverbeds to explore,

and Seahorse Key in the Nature Coast region of Florida, a little known island that holds the honor of being inhabited by the world's biggest, most docile, and most densely populated water moccasins (due to a special relationship with the migratory wading birds that nest there!).

gonna be honest…water moccasins don't sound that enjoyable…maybe its just me

Haha you don't know how cool they are!

When the wading birds nest on the island, they often accidentally drop fish intended for their chicks out of the nest. The water moccasins can't climb to eat the chicks, so they sit at the bottom of the tree and wait for the fish to drop down!

By sitting at the base of the tree, they deter predators that can climb, like raccoons, and get a free meal out of it!

I was fishing once last year at a small pond and right at the edge i saw what i believed to be a cotton mouth eating another snake (possibly another cotton mouth, they looked the same). It was very trippy looking because i couldn't tell where one snake began and the other ended. They were flopping around and stuff and it was just really trippy. Is this common behavior with moccasins?

I'd love to get a video of that!

Cottonmouths (and similar looking Banded Water Snakes) are known to be ophiophagious if the opportunity presents itself, but their preferred food source isn't other snakes.

The specific epithet (species name) for cottonmouths, piscivorus, actually translates to "fish-eater" in English

Interesting sidenote-- cottonmouths are pretty broad generalists, especially for snakes. They'll go for fish, frogs, small birds, other snakes, you name it.

I know people who have even seen them eat animals that they found already dead and half decomposed on the ground!

Tl;dr Normal- yes. Especially common- not so much

I live in Florida and never get a chance to go to your two favorite places. Time to make time for them. Thanks!

Yep!

Make sure to plan on an open house day if you go to seahorse, and check out the beach/seagrass bed area behind the island!

Would you consider going out with /u/unidan and filming a nature documentary where she narrates?

I would absolutely love to film a documentary with unidan!

What's the longest time you've had to wait for the wildlife you want to film to turn up?

Sometimes it doesn't at all!

When I was 16, I decided I wanted to find the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. There's a really good book, Ivorybill Hunters, written by an ornithologist at Auburn that convinced me they were still extant in a remote swamp in the Florida Panhandle.

I went out and spent weeks in the swamp, and, though I heard some distinctive sounds, and found what are most likely nest cavities made by ivorybills, I never found the bird.

I'm now leaning towards thinking it's extinct in the region, despite the contrary evidence, because of something interesting I noticed when I tried to film inside the nest cavities.

Behind the openings (which were too large to have been made by anything else really), the trees were hollow!

That would never do for a woodpecker nest, so here's my theory: The trees are cypresses, and they're ANCIENT. Upwards to a thousand years old. I think the birds carved out those holes before they were hollow, maybe centuries ago, and this small footprint on nature still lives on in their absence today.

Any techniques you have to ensure that you do not frighten or otherwise disturb the wildlife, or techniques to get the best footage?

Well, a lot of the time I actually catch the wildlife, but when I don't do that the secret is to find a comfortable spot where you think the animals will move towards and sit perfectly still.

I start filming before I get in position too, so I don't even have to make any motion or sound other than changing where it's pointing.

What's the craziest thing to ever happen to you while filming?

Hmm, well there are two, actually.

Two times I've sat too close to a bird (once an anhinga and once a cormorant), and they've struck at my eye!

Then the other semi crazy thing that's happened is when I was trying to film this alligator sunning itself, and it started feeling a little threatened! It hissed, then went in the water and splashed us for inadvertently cornering it!

Two things to note:

1) Whenever something bad happens with an animal, it's your fault (usually from getting too close!).

2) In the alligator video specifically, I'm slightly misleading about the ankles. While it is helpful that they can get their ankles out of the way when lunging, it's more of an adaptation for walking and streamlining their bodies in the water (I need to redo the narrate to make that more clear).

:)

Ever been to Costa Rica?

Not yet. I'm planning on going there in the next few years though!

I'm really looking forward to seeing all the frogs they have down there!

If you get a chance definitely try to get a look at a resplendent quetzal too!

Oh man, the birds you guys've got are amazing!

So many cool colorations and behaviors!

when i went there i saw it twice in the same week by just following Japanese tourists when they sounded excited.

Hahaha that's a technique I'll have to try

You didn't happen to get any cool videos while you were down there did you?

How much of the time are you lonley and/or bored? -OR- are the animals, the freedom and the end result entirely fulfilling?

Well, I usually have other people with me while I'm going, so never really lonely.

I did take a trip this summer on my own down the Suwannee, but I ran into so many friendly people on the way that I wasn't truly alone.

The solitude is nice anyway.

Oh man, the boredom. It's not bad when I'm out in nature, but in the trip to get there can be SO monotonous!

Totally worth it in the end, though. :)

You went down the Suwannee without me this year? I hope you got better footage than during the hurricane two years back!

Welp, just this (I went a little crazy with extra channels for a while this summer)

Edit:

And then when I was guiding a kids' group down the next week we got hit by a tropical storm! My boss didn't even bother to check the weather report and I had to figure out a new stopping point for everyone until it passed!

What got you interested in wildlife filmmaking? I'm super jealous.

I've actually always wanted to from a young age, mostly from watching Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin on TV and having encouraging parents!

Who's the really cool guy that at the end of one of your video says "Hello Ladies"? He seems like the coolest person ever to step foot on this earth.

Pssh, distant second

Where did you most enjoy filming? And what did you film while there?

I most enjoy filming in the Choctawhatchee Swamp, and I've filmed giant trees, snakes, and various other reptiles while there

What type of vacuum do you take with you during your travels?

I feel like this is some kind of zen riddle

One question only........Can you take me with you on your next trip?

Come on!

im serious! like dead serious!!

What state do you live in (PM me)?

Is this a thing? I would love to experience this! Especially since I am wanting to become an independent filmmaker. I also love wildlife! I want to come, too!

Well, if you're in Florida there's a chance you can come with sometime.

Otherwise, I'd love it if you sent me a shot of any wildlife native to your area for a global collaboration video I'm working on!

How did you get started/employed? I too watched Corwin and Erwin all of my childhood and have always dreamed of being a wildlife cameraman/photographer. What are tips for someone looking to break into this profession? Will you please accept me as a pupil and train me in your ways?

Oh man, let me know when you find out!

Filmmaking is more of a lifestyle for me right now, I get paid very little.

I'm hoping that by racking up video experience through my YouTube channel and getting a degree in wildlife ecology/film I'll be able to do it for real money when I get out.

One thing I've been told after asking this exact question to producers and other filmmakers is that it's very important to make connections. Connections to filmmakers, connections to nature preserves and scientists, connections to just about everyone even tangentially related to the field.

Apparently that's where the real opportunities are.

PS nice username ottersocks!

That's absolutely true, it's all about who you know. I've been working in film/video for 5 or 6 years now and for the most part I get jobs through industry friends. building and maintaining relationships, is important. Even just having random people that I'l loosely connected with on FB has helped get me a gig in the past.

What kind of film/video do you do?

I have a company which makes cinematic wedding films, and I freelance as a DP for music videos, corporate videos and music/life doc stuff! I'm in Toronto area, whereabouts are you?

I'm down in Florida.

I'll hit you up if I'm in the area filming sometime!

Also, if you happen to have a nature/wildlife clip laying around, I'm making a collaboration video and would like to include it!

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Monkeys man. Monkeys and in America raccoons.

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Probably double parked too

As an aspiring filmmaker, I'd love to shoot some wildlife. I'm from Michigan, you coming here anytime soon to film? Redditors gotta stick together.

No plans to go to Michigan soon, but if you've got any clips of the animals, plants, or weather up there I'd love to use it in an upcoming collaboration video I'm making!

I don't think I've got any wildlife footage, but I've got a TON of footage of different kayaking trips I've gone on, both in Michigan and middle-of-nowhere Canada... Would that be something you'd be interested in?

Yeah! Give me like 30 seconds of anything nature-y!

Favorite animal to film

Definitely manatees.

Most animals, it's a struggle to keep them from running away.

Manatees, you have to keep backing up to keep the frame from becoming just a grey square of close up manatee skin; they usually try to scratch themselves on my camera or ask for belly rubs!

It's like a friendly truck!

Thanks for responding!

It's what I'm here for!

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PM me!

Also, if you've got a video of wildlife native to your area, send it to me and I'll include it in a global collaboration I'm doing!

Also, is that true that so called "wildlife documentary" are most of the time a "scene" where we bring for exemple goat in the same area than its predators. I mean that circumstances are cheated for the show ?

Hmm, people have done that before, but it's pretty frowned upon (this guy got quite a bit of fallout over it).

I'm not into that kind of thing, my goal is to bring people nature, so I'm never gonna try to stage any shots, that's cheating!

What kind of equipment do you use?

I currently mostly make videos just for my Youtube (which is where they occasionally get picked up by TV networks), so nothing huge right now, just a Gopro, a VPC WH1, and the camera on my DROID (which can shoot as high quality as Youtube will accept right now, anyway!).

ok

Alright!

Do you come here often? :)

To Reddit?

Way more often than is probably healthy (like everyone else here)!

Question: What is one thing you've seen in nature that truly shocked you?

Also: I live in New Zealand but all my animal footage is of my cats :(

Hmm, I've never really been shocked by anything I've seen in nature, per se, but I was really surprised a few months ago when I found a crab spider crawling over the wings of an uninjured butterfly, spinning a web as it went and slowly snaring it!

Edit: Also, that's ok!

Even if you get a clip of like a pretty outdoor area, or a picture of a leaf or something, it might still go nicely in the video!

i am a marine science major in Perth, Australia and i am keenly interested in getting into the nature film scene/industry. do you have any advice or wisdom to impart to myself and like minded others seeking to get into the industry? or any resources that you found helpful in your progress?

Question 2: what would be some of the best/difficult/challenging filming techniques you have used?

I answered your PM of the first question (and elsewhere here for people who wanna see it answered).

Question 2: The most challenging film technique I've used is a pole camera that goes up ~30 ft to look inside nest cavities of woodpeckers. Any little movement down at my end causes a huge swing at the top with the camera, and I often have to use this from a boat!

Unfortunately I don't have a shot from that ready yet, it's in a project I'm still working on.

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The scariest thing I've encountered.

Well, I got kidnapped in Portugal, so that was pretty scary!

I read this whole thing in a Nigel Thornberry voice.. glad Reddit think like me.. or I think like Reddit. Balls.

SMASHING!

Hey, thanks for doing this AMA! I'm a student in my last year of university studying Film & Tv, I would love to be a wildlife documentary maker one day; do you have any advice for someone trying to get into the wildlife side of the industry?

Hey!

I'm actually almost in the same place as you; I make a lot of documentaries but I'm still in college and on the outside of the industry right now.

I've been told by basically everyone I've asked who's in the industry that it's all about connections, so any chance you get to work with a wildlife program/something even tangentially connected to nature documentaries can help you break in.

Sorry I don't have a better answer yet!

What's the most dangerous animal you've been in the presence of?

Mosquitoes!

Really, everything else you can follow some rules and be fine (mostly just give it space!).

Mosquitoes in the area of Florida I spend most of my time carry West Nile and there's no repelling 'em!

I honestly think that's a fair price to pay for what you do.

Me too

No videos, but I do have these photos of me with a Titan Stick Insect (at about 30cm long, it certainly lived up to its name) I found in my backyard in Cairns, Australia. There's also a Bush Stone-curlew living in my front yard, I'll try to get a video of it tomorrow, but since they don't move much it might not be terribly interesting (they do make a neat hiss/growl if you get too close, though). In the mean time, here's a recording I made of the eerie sounds they make at night.

This is awesome!

I'd totally like to use these.

I love the curlew sounds!

Australia is so cool, I need to go there sometime soon!

Sure, feel free to use them in your video. And if you're planning to see the great barrier reef, probably best to do it soon; with global warming and the current government's view of environmental protection, there probably won't be much left in 10 years.

:(

I know.

Hopefully the private sector'll pull us out, but I dunno. It's such a terrible loss.

Edit:

Thanks for the clips!

Hey, I managed to get that video of the curlews (sorry about the shakiness, couldn't get too close without frightening them so had to use the zoom).

I also found a video of a wader bird catching fish I took a year or two back at the Cairns esplanade (on my old camera, so not the best quality), and while I was digging through my old stuff I remembered that when I was living in London I'd visited the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.

It's an old cemetery located right in the heart of the east end that was turned into a nature reserve in 2000, allowing the old graves to be overgrown, which makes for some pretty stunning imagery. I made an album (full res) of some of the better photos I took (there's a few duplicates with different lighting/white balance settings), feel free to use (or not use) as much of this as you like.

Sweet!

I'll message you when I get it put together!

Oh man, I thought you were talking about ocean acidification.

This is much worse.

How do I get your job?

I consider myself a filmmaker because I make a lot of documentaries, but I'm still in college and don't get paid yet (other than Youtube ad revenue).

So, I can't help much with this one.

The thing I've been told is to gain as much experience as possible (through filming on your own or with a job/internship in a local production company) and to gain as many connections within the industry as you can (which the job can help with).

The other thing I'm doing is going to college to become an expert in what I'd like to make TV documentaries about, in my case Wildlife Ecology.

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It hasn't!

I don't use as nice cameras as I'd like, yet, as I don't get paid, yet, but I currently use a GoPro H2, VPC WH1 (though not often because it has low quality), any DSLR I can get my hands on from the local production company that'll let me borrow them, and the camera on my Droid.

Right now I mostly make documentaries for Youtube, so this suite of cameras meets most of my needs.

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Sadly I don't get paid yet :(

I'm still in college, gaining experience through my videos until I get out

Have you ever had a dangerous encounter with an predatory animal, like an alligator?

Hmm, I volunteered in a rescue facility that had rather low safety standards, and nearly got attacked by a tiger once!

Here's my closest call with an alligator, it's important to note that any danger was my fault for getting too close

Have you ever intervened in a life and death situation?

Basically did you give a starving lion cub a steak or something similar...

No, and unless it was a significantly endangered species, I never would.

I really love the animals I film, but it's important not to intervene as one animal's misfortune makes another's breakfast

How do I get your job?

Hey, I've answered this one a couple times, so is it ok to link to another comment?

I hope so :)

I read most of this stuff was staged....

Well, mine isn't anyway!

A couple of people have been caught staging shots for their shows, but it's pretty frowned upon.

Just graduated with a focus in wildlife ecology and sold out accepting a job at an environmental remediation corporation working as a consultant for shell.... Got any room for one more? I have a trailcam to offer!

Oh man, I'm still in college for Wildlife Ecology, trying to rack up some experience with these videos so that I can get paid for it when I get out.

Sidenote-- Got any cool pics or vids with your trailcam? I'm trying to make a collaboration video with Reddit and that'd go great!

Gotta fox, raccoon, opossum, and video of deer. All nightvision.

Sweet!

I could totally use those shots in the video, if you'd be kind enough to send them to me in the manner of your choosing! :)

How do I become you?

1) Find Animals

2) Film Animals

3) ????

4) Profit Hopefully start getting paid for what you do after college (I'm at Step #3 right now)

What's the most danger you've ever been in whilst filming an animal? Your job is awesome by the way, I'm totally jealous.

Whilst filming an animal, probably this though the danger was not really that great there.

If you're careful and don't get too close there's really very little danger in what I do

Always wondered: how much of the sound effects you hear in nature programs (animals eating, or bubbling underwater) are real, and how much are put in post-production?

In mine, they're usually from the same day/place, but I take a desperate shot just for the sound and later overlay it on the video

*seperate hahaha autocorrect

What equipment do you use?

Right now, as all my stuff's for YouTube, I use a go pro h2, vpc wh1, and my droid's camera.

To film in nest cavities I've used a modified baby monitor on a pole that transmits its ir image down to a screen on the ground

Zookeeper here. Just a few questions. (1) what's the rarest animal you have ever captured on film? (2) Have you ever gotten really close to a large (dangerous) animal? (3) Ever done any filming under water? Would you want to? (4) I your opinion, what books and documentaries have the best photos and film?

1) Rarest is probably the Red Cockaded Woodpecker Sorry for the poor quality on that one, I made it a while back!

2) I got really stupidly close to this alligator once, and he told me off

3) Yeah! Mostly in rivers. My best shot ever is this underwater manatee shot that got on Discovery last June

4)The best nature documentary I've ever seen is the Life series. One caveate: find the Attenborough version, not the Oprah one!

The best nature book is harder to say, as far as pictures it's hard to beat the DK book Animal

In terms of a great story I'd recommend last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Nafanua: Saving the Samoan Rainforest by Paul Cox, or Life in the Valley of Death by Alan Rabinowitz

Hello! Thanks for the AMA! I am currently a film student and I am curious as to what equipment you use and what have you found particularly useful when filming wildlife?

I'm really low budget right now, so I'm limited to a Gopro H2, VPC WH1, and my Droid's camera.

I also modified a baby monitor so that it can go into nest cavities in trees and transmit the video to ground level.

Do you have any recommendations that're cheapish and would give me a wider range of options for filming?

How do you feel about bison? Do you ever try to attract wildlife to your own home for observation purposes?

I like bison!

There's a small herd in the nature preserve (Payne's Prairie) next to my university!

Back home we keep big parts of our yard wild, mostly through neglect, really, and I find a lot of wildlife there.

Also, for snakes, I have several pieces of tin layed out in the backyard.

I assume you're not doing this alone. If that is the case, how would I get involved in something like this? Do you just travel around with close friends, colleagues, or what?

Well, I'm still not a professional, so right now my aim is to gain enough experience that I can make a real, good TV show when the opportunity arises.

I travel and film with my family and friends, whoever I can drag along.

If you wanna make wildlife videos, YouTube is a great stepping stone. It lets you practice and improve all the way up to professional grade skills, and even gets you some level of recognition on the way.

Also, if you already have a clip or two of animals/nature in your area, I'd love to include it in a collaboration video I'm working on!

As someone really interested in the wildlife industry, particularly working behind the scenes of nature programmes, any tips? Also how much time do you spend travelling? Many thanks for this AMA

Well, I'm not really a pro yet, but the strategy I'm using is to become so is to learn about ecology (in college for Wildlife Ecology), learn how to make a good film (through my show), and to make connections whenever possible (I may do some internships, these'll help me gain more experience and meet people).

I hope this helps you too!

This is awesome. You have one of my dream jobs. Huge David Attenborough fan here. Question regarding time-lapse shots:

I noticed on Discover's "Life" series that they have some SICK time-lapse shots of plants and trees growing. I mean this is much different than the usual 8 hour sunrise time lapse that we see pretty frequently. What does this month to month lapse entail? Is it as simple as it sounds, plant a camera and let it sit? Battery life? Interference from wildlife? Or is it all fake?? HELP!!!!

I LOVE those time lapses.

The way they made them was to go to a natural area (where the logs the plants were "growing on" were), take a film without vines on the substrate, and take exact measurements of the logs etc.

Then they recreated the logs and stuff exactly in a controlled environment with trellises and supports that act as a green screen, and grew plants on them while filming and making that months-long panning shot.

Then they put the two videos together. Probably one of the most impressive feats of nature videography so far.

Watching vines etc climb higher and higher to the sun gives me tingles. Very cool info, I appreciate man. Keep up the good fight. I have a degree in marine biology & oceanic chemistry but the field was saturated in my area with only PhD's winning even the most menial jobs. Undergrads not welcome. It was find another industry or go back to school, and I wasn't ready for any more learning. So fell back to business roots. But know that most of us office goers are dying for a job like yours.. so watch your back ;)

Haha I will!

Hey-- you wouldn't happen to have any videos of animals in your area would you? I'm trying to make a collaboration vid with Reddit.

No I have slides and slides of marine life from polychaetes to tuna but no video footage. Sorry.

Actually a picture is fine too, if you want to send it.

No pressure if you don't though

Have you ever had the chance to pet a penguin? If so how did it feel?

Not yet but maybe one day!

Dude I used to watch and comment on your videos all the time. Teen Wilderness. Awesome stuff bro.

Sweet!

What are the odds?

Edit: Wait, WHY DID YOU STOP WATCHING!?! I STILL MAKE THEM!

Hey thanks for doing this IAMA. I recently went to nz and got some pretty cool videos and pics with furry seals. It was in kaikoura and I would highly recommend you going there for to shoot some videos or snapping pictures.

Hey-- do you mind sending me those videos?

I'm making a collaboration video with people around the world and would love to include them!

Yeah sure I'd love to its on a go pro is that okay?

Perfect! PM me a link to it!

How much ya bench?

I don't even lift, bro

BUT, a cool animal that does is the Hero Shrew, a tiny rodent from Central Africa that has a spine strong enough to withstand the weight of a full grow human!

Whaaaaa...

I want your job.

I'm still trying to make it into a job

Right now I'm in college for Wildlife Ecology, probably gonna dual major in Film.

Edit: I say I'm already a filmmaker, though I don't get paid much yet, because I basically spend most of my time filming or scouting out new spots to film. Hopefully it'll transition from a lifestyle to a career when I get out

Well, good luck! Love your videos!

Thanks! :)

Have you ever filmed in New Zealand, or do you hope/plan to?

Oh man, can you get me a ticket?

I'd definitely love to check out Middle Earth, and all its crazy birds.

Particularly the kakapo, an adorably helpless flightless parrot!

The males are so horny (and the females in such short supply) that they'll basically try to fuck anything certain times of year, including Stephen Fry!

There's some more funny facts about Kakapo mating if you're into it!

Edit: Hmm, he seems to have gone for Mark Carwardine in that video. Stephen Fry was his second choice in the group, I'm sure.

I couldn't contain myself.

The coolest thing about Kakapos is that they may have the world's absolutely least effective mating call.

The males dig out a large bowl in the ground, sort of like a shallow amphitheater, to amplify their call, a low pitched BOOM.

The only problem is that it's so low pitched, the females (who only lay about one egg every two years at best) have trouble telling which way it's coming from, and may even run in the wrong direction!

Kinda reminds me of guys who have really loud subwoofers in their cars, actually.

Ok, I just subscribe to your YouTube channel just based on all of the awesome nature facts and anecdotes you've been saying on here. Good luck on finding more awesome and telling us all about it!

Sweet!!!

Welcome to the channel!

I live in Dunedin, New Zealand and study science communication. You can do a masters in documentary film making - one of my classmates is working on a doco about Sirocco the kakapo which you might like.

Haha I love that clip!

Have your classmate PM me if he wants to collaborate on a video sometime, I've got a lot of cool stuff from the Southeast US!

Who was your first prom date?

This horrible girl I was set up with because her friends wanted to get her in even though she was a tenth grader. She left me just as we walked in.

I wound up dancing awkwardly with this other girl, who turned out to be my friend's now-ex girlfriend, as she dumped him in the lobby.

So I guess two horrible girls!

PS Hi Jacob.

What was the shot/moment you were most proud of?

Hmm, that's a tough one.

I guess I'd have to say this one's my best, just an incredibly lucky day I happened to bring the camera and wound of finding a family of manatees!

Also, a bit older and lower quality, but I've done quite a bit of filming underground in gopher tortoise holes with a special camera I made!

Is that Chrystal River in Florida? If so i dive that river ever so often when the manatee's are coming through. I love it, so clear

It's actually the Itchetucknee River, but I've been to Crystal River too and that area's very nice