Nine-banded armadillo, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida

Armadillos can be difficult to photograph because they keep their noses to the ground 90% of the time. They’re also quite skittish. They have a great sense of smell, but terrible eyesight so the trick is to position yourself upwind so that they don’t know you’re there and wait for them to lift their heads. I photographed this nine-banded armadillo on Merritt Island in Florida. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 220mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/1000th of a second.