The Indian roller looks a lot like the lilac-breasted roller that occurs in Africa. The Indian roller, of course, occurs in India (as well as other parts of Asia and the Middle East). I saw this one in Bandhavgarh National Park while searching for tigers on my central India tour a few years back. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/2000th of a second.
I had the pleasure of hanging out with quite a few Celebes crested macaques on my visit to Sulawesi, Indonesia back in 2009. They have very little fear of humans, which in part contributes to their conservation status as critically endangered. I saw them in Tangkoko National Park, the only place they are protected. And even within the park, that protection isn’t always guaranteed. In addition to the continued loss of their habitat, they are easily caught due to their trusting nature and unfortunately locals consider their meat a delicacy. Here’s hoping they’ll still be around if I’m ever to make a return trip. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/4.5 at 1/160th of a second.
I was getting an interesting mix of fog and late day sun on this particular visit to Point Reyes National Seashore in California. The perfect time to go wide and capture more of the landscape. That’s a male tule elk lit up by the sun. Tule elk are the smallest subspecies of elk. A small population of them live at Point Reyes just north of San Francisco. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 280mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/320th of a second.
I photographed many elephant seals over the past fifteen years or so, both the southern and northern species. This bull, a northern elephant seal, was one of the first I captured. It was a glorious morning in Año Nuevo State Park in California and being early in the season, this guy had the beach to himself. Of course, that meant no females around to impress yet either. In another few weeks the beach would be full of seals, fighting for territorial and mating rights. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 75mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/1600th of a second.
A young meerkat waits for the rest of the group to get back to the burrow before calling it a night. Photographed at Makgadikgadi Pans in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 155mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/4000th of a second.
A juvenile bull moose stands in front of a mountain landscape in Chugach State Park just outside of Anchorage, Alaska. During the fall rut, Chugach is a great place to see moose battling for mating rights. This youngster wasn’t quite old enough to mix it up with the big boys just yet and was staying clear of the action up on a hillside. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 116mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/3200th of a second.
A female puma stands among mixed scrub brush and rocks in Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile. She had three cubs who were hiding in the bushes waiting for her to awake from her nap before they all moved on. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/500th of a second.
We only saw one Galápagos flamingo on our trip to the Islands, but considering there are only 500 of them on the archepelago, those aren’t bad odds. And he/she had the decency to wallow in a dark area while the sun illuminated his/her body. I was okay with that. Photographed on Santa Cruz island. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 310mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/2500th of a second.
While in Tasmania I photographed two different species of quoll, the eastern and the spotted. The eastern I was able to track down in the wild. This guy, the spotted, was at a breeding center for Tasmanian devils just outside of Cradle Mountain National Park. Spotted quolls are the largest carnivorous marsupials on mainland Australia, and second to the Tasmanian Devil in Tasmania. They are considered a near threatened species due mainly to habitat destruction. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 3600, f/4 at 1/500th of a second.
While watering the lawn today, Karen spotted three tiny — I mean really tiny — little cottontail rabbits. They were about the size of a baseball and looked more like mice than rabbits. This one seemed to be enjoying the wet grass and cool breeze right in front of our house. Karen, of course, wouldn’t leave until she knew all three were safe from the ever-present red-tailed hawks. For now, mission accomplished as they eventually scrambled back into the bushes from whence they came. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second.