Author Archives → Bob Ramsak

I'm a reporter, photographer and researcher driven by passions for travel, culture and justice. I've visited 62 countries and write something and make pictures every day.

Crested Caracara

Crested Caracara (Caracara plancus) in Argentine Patagonia.

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The World’s Only Ronnie James Dio Memorial – a Seven Photo Gallery

Heavy metal music icon Ronnie James Dio would have been 72 today. I don’t think he could have imagined that a 250 kilogram likeness would have been dedicated in his honor just five months after his death in 2010. The statue, which emerges from a large rock to rise two meters into the sky, has… Continue reading →

Kelp Gull, in Patagonia

The Kelp Gull is the dominant large gull species in much of the southern hemisphere. I mostly remember it for how it stood up to fiece winds as our boat crossed Lago Nahuel Huapi.

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Chimango Caracara Gallery

A half dozen images of a Chimango Caracara (Milvago chimango), a stunning medium-sized raptor spotted at the Laguna Nimez Municipal Natural Reserve in Calafate, Argentina. It’s one of the most common open country birds in the southern reaches of South America.

Lou Reed RIP

I cried for an hour on Sunday when I heard that Lou Reed passed away. Then I listened to song after brutally honest song. I still shake when I come across poignant tributes, now some two days later. Like this one by Neil Gaiman in yesterday’s Guardian which sums up so well why Reed’s artistry resonated so… Continue reading →

The World’s Most Beautiful Cemeteries – Punta Arenas, Chile: a Tour in 19 Photos

About a year and a half ago, CNN correspondent Bruce Holmes came up with a list of 10 of the world’s most beautiful cemeteries. Purely by happenstance I visited two on his list within 13 days of one another; the second of the pair, the municipal cemetery in Punta Arenas, Chile, just 15 days before his… Continue reading →

Laughing Gull, in Emerald Isle

If you’ve ever strolled along an Atlantic coast beach, chances are you’ve encountered this gull, the most common black-hooded gull on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America.

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Chilean Flamingo, in Patagonia

A few shots of a Chilean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis) at the Laguna Nimez Reserve in Calafate, Argentina.

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Great Thrush, in Quito

Here is a Great Thrush who (kinda) cooperated just long enough for a quick photo shoot in a small municipal park in Quito, where he shared a feeding ground with a Red-crested Cardinal and an Eared Dove, among others. It’s the largest of the South American thrushes. What a great eye ring! Great Thrush (Turdus… Continue reading →

Today’s Catch in Manta, Ecuador: Banned Sharks Netted ‘Legally’

Shark fin harvest, Manta, Ecuador, May 2013

Manta, Ecuador – Shark fishing is illegal in Ecuador but a loophole allows fisherman to legally sell sharks that end up in their nets. The law doesn’t define a distinction between landings that are accidental or intentional, which generally means that sharks are plentiful among the morning catch fisherman unload on beaches throughout the coast.

Dolphin Gull, in Ushuaia

Spotted along the Beagle Channel in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world.

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Upland Goose

Geese from the southernmost reaches of South America.

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A Park at the Planet’s Edge: Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego National Park

If this scene reminds you of what the edge of the world might look like, it’s because it’s close. This is the view over Lapataia Bay at the southeastern corner of Tierra del Fuego National Park, a body of water that extends towards the Beagle Channel which itself leads towards the Southern Ocean north of… Continue reading →

Austral Negrito, on the Beagle Channel

Another shot from my Beagle Channel trip, this is a male Austral Negrito (Lessonia rufa), who I spotted watching several hundred Magellanic Penguins on Martillo Island.

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All the World’s a Page – 13 snaps from the El Ateneo Bookstore

The El Ateneo Bookstore in Buenos Aires

Visiting El Ateneo, a majestic former theater converted into a gorgeous bookstore in downtown Buenos Aires, really was on my List of Things to See Before I Die. Does that mean I’m now really one step closer?

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Trebević Mountain Polka

1984 Olympic bobsled run on Trebevic Mountain near Sarajevo

Catching up on last month’s visit to Sarajevo, here’s a four-minute high speed stroll down the 1984 Olympic bobsled run on Trebević Mountain. Apologies for the bumpiness, but I imagine that an actual ride on a bobsled would be a bit bouncy too. Particularly these days when a machete would come in handy. Constructed in… Continue reading →

Sarajevo Notebook – timelapses

I’ve wanted to visit Sarajevo since I was about six, when I first read in our home encyclopedia about how World War I started in this Yugoslav city, one that would host the Winter Olympic Games 70 years later. Last week I finally walked across the Latin Bridge where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated and went… Continue reading →

11 Minutes in the Pasage de la Paz, Barcelona

Barcelona, 31 July 2010.

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Slovenia Day Trips: 35 Minutes in Svetina, With an Introduction to Alma Karlin

Svetina, a small settlement in Slovenia’s eastern Styria region just south of Štore, is known regionally for two things: its parish church which dates back to at least the early 15th century, and as the final resting place for Alma Karlin, Slovenia’s most renowned female traveler of the early years of the 20th century.

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