Looks like this striated caracara is lining that penguin egg up for a shot on goal. In fact, the caracara was having a hard time cracking the egg open and was kicking it around like a soccer ball. You can see the out-of-focus gentoo penguin colony in the back. This was on Saunders Island in the Falklands at a place called The Spit. In this one area of the island, five different penguin species can be seen, along with albatross and many other birds like the two species of caracara that live there. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/3200th of a second
Sometimes you just need a funny-faced monkey to start the day. That’s it. Photographed down on the Malay Peninsula in Thailand Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1250th of a second
The Falkland steamer duck is one of two endemic birds to the Falkland Islands. It is also flightless. But as you can see here, it’s not afraid to mess around in the surf. It uses its short wings as paddles, much like penguins using theirs as fins. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/2000th of a second
This mom and her two cubs were just finishing up a morning of fishing. They walked about another 100 yards before plopping down for a group nap. Photographed in Lake Clark National Park in Alaska. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 105mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/4000th of a second
Here’s another one from the Linyanti Concession of Botswana. This time a spotted hyena, spotlit with a flashlight early one morning. There were about five hyenas, playing in a flooded area of the savanna. I didn’t have enough light to capture the action without a flash, but I also wanted to try a few shots with just the flashlight to bring out the ambient light of early morning. I used a very high ISO and a very low shutter speed to get the proper exposure. But at 1/25th of a second, there’s a bit of motion blur, but I think that just adds to the mood. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 3200, f/4 at 1/25th of a second
It was just past sunset in Botswana when we came upon two cheetahs atop a termite mound, surveying the savanna for prey. After a few minutes, they darted off after a herd (or dazzle) of zebra but were ultimately unsuccessful. Cheetahs have a kill rate of more than 50%, which is highest among the African cats. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/160th of a second
A wood duck drake struts along from one pond to another in Reifel Bird Sanctuary just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 280mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/400th of a second
It may be a simple brown lemur, but in my estimation, the white-fronted brown lemur is one of the finest looking of them all. Something elegant about this little guy. This is a male. Females don’t have the light colored head, and are more uniformly brown. I photographed him on the island of Nosy Mangabe, which is off the east coast of the mainland of Madagascar. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm manual focus f/5.6 lens, ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second
Here’s another from my sea otter excursion to Morro Bay back in October. This little pup was resting on its mother’s belly as she did a bit of grooming. It can be difficult sometimes to distinguish one otter from the other as their thick, wet fur meshes together. The pup looked like a little brown fur ball with eyes. Sea otters, in fact, have the most dense fur of any animal on the planet — up to one million hairs per square inch. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/640th of a second
Few wildlife moments were as fun for me as swimming with and photographing sea lions in the Galápagos Islands. Their natural curiosity and playful nature was apparent as they’d swim up to my snorkel mask then dive below me, only to circle back around to get another look. They were also constantly playing with each other, synchronized swimming, chasing each another and occasionally giving a muzzle to muzzle tap. These two were photographed just off Rabida Island in the Galápagos. We swam with sea lions almost every afternoon, and this was the only location with this reddish sand on the sea floor. Most everywhere else was green with algae over volcanic rock and coral. That said, Rabida provided an interesting color palette between the red sand and the turquoise water at such a shallow depth. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) Ikelite Underwater housing with 8 inch dome port, ISO 800, f/9 at 1/400th of a second
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Looks like this striated caracara is lining that penguin egg up for a shot on goal. In fact, the caracara was having a hard time cracking the egg open and was kicking it around like a soccer ball. You can see the out-of-focus gentoo penguin colony in the back. This was on Saunders Island in the Falklands at a place called The Spit. In this one area of the island, five different penguin species can be seen, along with albatross and many other birds like the two species of caracara that live there.
