I was directly above this American Alligator at the National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key in Florida. The refuge protects a small population of the smallest deer in the United States, the key deer. But, there are also plenty of other creatures to be seen. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/9 at 1/100th of a second.
For three nights at Grande Riviere Beach in Trinidad I waited for a leatherback turtle nest to hatch. On the third night one finally did. And then another. And another. It’s quite an incredible sight to see. A deserted beach (save for the ever patient vultures), and then suddenly a hundred or more little turtles emerge from the same spot under the sand, desperate to find their way to the ocean. An interesting fact about these hatchlings — each nest, whether 50 hatchlings or 100 will all be the same sex, depending on the temperature of the sand when they were incubating. So in other words, there can be two nests fifty feet apart and one will be all female while the other will be all male. Nature at its peculiar finest. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 28mm) ISO 800, f/4.5 at 1/320th of a second.
The martial eagle is the apex predator at the top of the avian food chain throughout its range in southern and central Africa. They are very large eagles (with a wingspan of nearly 7 feet) and can be ferociously efficient hunters. Those two traits combined with their spotted chests have earned them the nickname of “leopard of the sky.” When it comes to diet, martial eagles are opportunists, preying on everything from reptiles, amphibians and small mammals to even mid-sized ungulates. Because they will attack livestock and other game, they also happen to be one of the most persecuted bird species in the world. They hunt at much higher altitudes than most raptors, mainly due to their incredible eyesight — courtesy of eyes nearly the size of a human. It is estimated that they can spot prey up to 3.7 miles away. I photographed this one in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 300mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/1000th of a second.
These two warthogs appeared to be trying to out ugly each other. Actually, I think warthogs are quite elegant in all their hairy-faced glory and these two were most likely just having a bit of a territorial dispute. They were photographed in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park. Nikon D300 with Nikkor (200-400mm lens) at 270mm, ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second.
I took this photograph years ago in Australia. There’s an island just south of Adelaide called Kangaroo Island and if you’re a wildlife lover, it’s a must see on any itinerary. It’s also great for landscape shots, especially at the tip of the island at a place appropriately called the Remarkable Rocks. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 17-35 mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 200, f/22 at 1/13th of a second/
Another one for the bear fans. This mom was wading through the shallow water at low tide in Lake Clark National Park in Alaska, trying to get a better angle on breakfast. Her two cubs can be seen out of focus in the background waiting for their share of fresh caught salmon. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 310mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/2000th of second.
The hamerkop is a fairly common bird throughout much of Africa, but still a good find when you come across one. They get their name from the hammer-like shape of their head. They are generalists when it comes to diet, but prefer fish and amphibians and they can often be seen wading in flooded areas of the savanna. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 3200, f/4 at 1/200th of a second.
There are estimated to be about 425 species of lizard in the genus anolis — all distributed throughout the Americas, mostly in Central and South America. Although — as is often the case when it comes to species classification — there is some debate that many of them should be split into different genera, thus leaving about 45 true anolis species. Sometimes they get more than one name too. This one is the many scaled anole, but also goes by the Golfo-Dulce anole, native to the Golf of Dulce in southwestern Costa Rica. All very confusing. I just liked the way it popped its head into the spot of light. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/320th of a second.
I had some nice late-day light when this giant river otter swam past my boat in the Pantanal of Brazil. Unlike most other members of the mustelid family, these otters are highly social and live in large groups — sometimes as many as twenty individuals, although usually about eight or so. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens and 1.4 teleconverter (for 550mm) ISO 1600, f/5.6 at 1/400th of a second.
When you’re a red-billed oxpecker, romance can happen anywhere. Including the back of a cape buffalo. Oxpeckers are actually a very common site on most big game in east Africa, including zebras, giraffes and impala. It’s sort of a blessing and a curse for the mammals. The oxpeckers have a voracious appetite for blood-engorged ticks and they will eat up to a 100 a day — a good thing. But they will also skip the middle man when the opportunity arises and peck directly at the buffalo’s blood, thus keeping open wounds from healing. This buffalo and his tenants were photographed in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/200th of a second.