I love these bright little goldfinches that have been visiting the trees in my yard. Couldn’t decide which shot to post, so I’m posting both to get the front view and the side view. Top Photo: Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/1000th of a second. Bottom Photo: Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/100th of a second.
Things got interesting in the yard yesterday. While walking with the dog, I spotted this common garter snake with the better part of a spadefoot toad hanging out of its mouth. Good for the snake. Very bad for the poor toad. They battled for awhile before the snake finished the job and then quietly slithered away with a full belly. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 105mm macro lens, ISO 500, f/5.6 at 1/500th of a second.
Gorilla trekking is quite a formal process in Uganda. You usually have to purchase your permit months in advance. The day of the trek, you spend the better part of a morning being briefed by park officials and guides. The trek may take half a day or more but once you find the gorillas you only have one hour to view and photograph them. It’s well worth the effort, however, to encounter these beasts in their natural habitat. That said, on very rare occasions, you might get lucky to encounter a gorilla without all the formality. Thus was the case with this guy. I was actually on my way to view golden monkeys when we spotted this young gorilla hanging out in a tree along the path. I was able to get a few quick shots before our party moved on to the intended subjects. I waited just long enough for that shaft of light to fall directly on the gorillas face. Photographed in Mgahinga National Park. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/1600th of a second.
It’s that time of year again when the horseshoe crabs are spawning in the Delaware Bay. I took this shot a few years back down in Cape May, New Jersey. The crabs generally come ashore in greater numbers at high tide on full or new moons. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 20mm) ISO 200, f/20 at 1/3rd of a second.
Here’s another quarantine image from my backyard. I’ve seen a lot of these eastern bluebirds flying around, but they are reluctant to let me get too close. This guy was a bit more agreeable. His colors weren’t as vibrant as some of the others I’ve seen. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm f/5.6 PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/800th of a second.
Sifakas are a type of lemur named for their alarm call which sounds something like shi-fak. They spend the majority of their time in trees and are quite acrobatic as they leap through the forest. As with all lemurs, they are only found on Madagascar and a few surrounding islands. This one was photographed in southern Madagascar at Berenty Reserve. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 135mm) ISO 100, f/3.5 at 1/125th of a second.
This gnarled old tree trunk seemed to be a favorite scratching post for the local elephants. Photographed in the Masai Mara of Kenya. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 155mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/100th of a second.
This young guy was waiting patiently for his mother to return to the den with breakfast. There was also another sibling nearby and they would take turns playing with each other and then stopping to scan the horizon. Photographed in Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/320th of a second.
Here’s another one captured the other day in my yard. This is a male house finch. A mated pair have been hanging around our garage. I’m assuming their nest is somewhere nearby. They look like normal brown sparrows until viewing them through my long lens. The female, however, doesn’t have the red. I want to hang feeders to draw in more of the birds I see flying around, but it’s not recommended with all the bear activity. Two days ago, we had a large male walk up the driveway, past our front door and then into the back yard where he stood a few times as if about to climb a tree. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera in hand. Until next time. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm f/56 PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/200th of a second.
This one goes back quite a ways to when my main big lens was a manual focus 600mm f/5.6. I picked it up used at a bargain price and it enabled me to capture images that previously wouldn’t have been possible. I always loved the narrow depth of field and smooth bokeh. A perfect combo for late afternoon in Flinders Ranges National Park in South Australia. Without auto focus, action shots back then were always a challenge, but the quality of the glass produced lots of great portraits like this red kangaroo. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm f/5.6 manual focus lens, ISO 200, f/5.6 at 1/40th of a second.