Your Hopes for 2014

Well 2013 flew by and I diid not really achieve much of what I thought I would. Time seems to go quicker and quicker. I thought it would be interesting to share what each of us want to achieve in 2014, obviously World Peace is a biggie so I am going to limit mine to just wildlife related:

I hope (pray may be a better description) and wish for:

1 ) A decent photo (camtrap) of a leopard
2 ) Any photo/video (cam trap) of a marble cat, golden cat, tiger or indeed ANY cat.
3 ) Any photo/video (camtrap) of a tapir
4 ) To see more species of Lantern Bugs and Assassin Bugs (my macro favs)
5 ) To finally see a binturong
6 ) That I can add at least 4 new GPS tracks to this site
7 ) To expand this site's membership by double at least
8 ) For Nikon to release a "real" VDO camera - as I intend to transition fully to video by Jan 2015 and I don't want to move to Canon
9 ) For Nikon to release a real macro lens above 1x - as I can't really afford to move to Canon

and..........

10 ) that you all continue to take your outstanding photographs and share them here with your fantastic experiences so I can learn from them

Bagheera wrote:

......... any time spent in the forest is so enjoyable that the photos are just a bonus!

Could not have said it better myself.

Of course I too would love to see a total stop of any nature/ wildlife related crimes in this and any other country, but that probably won't happen in just a year, but lets hope it certainly won't get worse than it already is, and hope it will get less and less.

For me personally:

I would be extremely delighted to see a Russell's Viper in the wild without stepping on it... probably need to do a bit more research on areas with good populations of these snakes. Any suggestions are welcome!

Hopefully I can add a tenth wild cat species to my 'life list'; Golden Cat, Fishing Cat, or Tiger would do ;).
Good photo opportunities of any wild cat species in Thailand would definitely make my day/ year. Any good photo opportunity of an unusual animal is very welcome...

Seeing a Tapir, just hope... and of course I could add a lot more species like Banded Linsang, Pangolin etc ...

To find, or otherwise buy ;) a telephoto lens with vibrate reduction, most likely the new Nikkor 80-400mm VR, and perhaps a D7100; both a crop-sensor, and the video function are welcome additions to my current equipment.

Hopefully I get the patience to do some hide-photography and preferably come back with some great results. E.g. my plan to get some Gaur images IN the jungle, not out in the open. But I forgot where I stored that large bucket with luck...

And before you know it it will be 2015

Time to dig up this thread.
Which wishes became reality for you?
From the list Trekker posted, I think we all already know you have definitely been successful on many points!

Hard to say if our shared wish of a reduction of poaching has come true. One of my last threads on this forum suggests that it is certainly not over yet...

About my personal wishes.
I did not get my Siamese (Russell's) Viper :(
Only did one short trip to an area where there should be a good chance, but I think not even in the best season, and time was too short...
So that wish remains for 2015, and hopefully I can spend some more time this year to fulfil this wish. Have marked some locations on return from Pangsida that looked very promising...

I succeeded half for the second wish, the wish for a tenth wild cat species. I did get to see the Indochinese Leopard, and that counts as half because it was a new subspecies; I had seen Leopards in Africa... But it sure means I now have seen 4 of the 9 Thai wild cats. Still some work to do there ;)
So for sure the wish for 2015 is a fifth cat species for Thailand.
Though I would be just as happy, if not more, to 'settle' with another leopard, but this time Black phase ;)
I'm off tomorrow to give it a try.

Did get another Marbled Cat sighting but again no photos, and a couple Leopard Cats.
No luck for Tapir, only its dung, and no Banded Linsang, or Pangolin.
Did not buy a new telephoto lens, we'll see in 2015...

Still it was a good year.
A few other new mammals for me, common creatures from Kaeng Krachan. Brush-tailed Porcupine and Banded Langur.
Another highlight was the discovery of the new Caecilian species from Khao Yai national park. A week ago a new scientific paper was published with 3 new similarly looking species from neighbouring countries. It is not sure yet if the one I found in KY is one of these, or another species that still needs to be described...
We'll wait in patience.

We will see what 2015 brings.
Wish you all luck with wildlife encounters!

Here's mine for 2014 I will have to start working on 2015's goals but a few will carry over..................


1 ) A decent photo (camtrap) of a leopard - Successful, but just one
2 ) Any photo/video (cam trap) of a marble cat, golden cat, tiger or indeed ANY cat. Successful on GC and T, but Marble still eludes me
3 ) Any photo/video (camtrap) of a tapir Successful
4 ) To see more species of Lantern Bugs and Assassin Bugs (my macro favs) Successful
5 ) To finally see a binturongNot Successful, it still eludes me
6 ) That I can add at least 4 new GPS tracks to this site Not Successful, must try harder this year
7 ) To expand this site's membership by double at least Successful, I think
8 ) For Nikon to release a "real" VDO camera - as I intend to transition fully to video by Jan 2015 and I don't want to move to Canon Not Successful, and my vdo experiment has been shelved for a while as I do not have the time
9 ) For Nikon to release a real macro lens above 1x - as I can't really afford to move to Canon Successful, Nikon did not play ball but I bought a Canon set up that could do it