Taiwan 2025 - Monkey Post #1

This highly-cropped image needed a little massaging to make it presentable.  On virtually all of the monkey images some work was needed to make the eyes appear brighter, which included not only lightening in various ways but also an increase in color saturation.  Because of the clack of the mirror on the Bigger Cahoona, many shots captured a curious stare right at the camera.  The monkeys are obviously not used to hearing such, now that a vast majority of tourists take pictures silently with their phone cameras.

Indeed it was worth the trouble lugging around the D850, as technically the pictures of these critters have proven to be far superior to those taken with the iPhone.  But for wildlife shots like these one really needs a quality 500mm lens.  To demonstrate perspective, the image below - the same one from which the above was cropped - was zoomed to its full 300mm, which is as close as I could get to these critters:

Taiwan 2025 - Bare Tree on Mountainside / The Monkey Situation

We noticed last year that a certain species of tree on the mountainsides was not faring too well.  By this year they were completely bare.  Whenever seeing one I would think, "Wouldn't it be great if these branches were a favorite perch for the monkeys...", which would be ideal for taking pictures of the critters.  No luck on that front, however.  While the population of macaques has noticeably increased, they favor the broad, leafy trees down low that provide cover from prying human eyes.

And because of the greater population, sightings of these creatures are far more common.  Last year I identified where a certain troop - perhaps just a single family - lived, and approached the area with the Bigger Cahoona as if on a hunt.  As seen in posts from last year's series, sometimes there was success.  This year, however, the troop obviously has grown and, from what I saw, numbered in the range of 10-12 individuals.  And they were predictable enough to photograph if you knew when they'd be at a certain location.  For example, based on dozens of hikes through their territory, I concluded that in the mornings they descend to the river for water.  Then they make their way up the mountainside onto higher ground, and settle within 50 yards of it once they cross the road.  This is where they keep an eye on things from a high perch.  When they do see someone on foot, or a large group such as from the tourist buses, they scramble down to the lower canopy so as not to be seen.  This defeats the purpose for them, however, because they aren't careful and crash loudly through the brush, giving away not only their location but the direction to which they are headed.  Of course for me that serves as a beacon for quick positioning to hunt them photographically.