There are two species of elephant seal, the southern, which I photographed in the Falkland Islands and the northern, which are common up and down the California coast. This mother and her pup are northern elephant seals. On this particular beach near San Simeon, California, there were about fifty or so mothers, all with a single newborn pup.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 270mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/125th of a second
Penguin colonies seem to be a constant source of bickering. And this colony on Saunders Island in the Falklands was no different. I zoomed in on these two gentoo penguins as they were having a few words with each other amongst all the other squabbling going on all around them.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second
It looked like it would be a difficult day to photograph birds because of all the fog, but it ended up yielding some nice atmospheric shots, like these two cormorants perched near the water’s surface at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel Island, Florida.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 80mm) ISO 400, f/4.5 at 1/2000th of a second
As I’ve mentioned before, Muscatatuck in Indiana is one of the best places in the country to photograph river otters. They can be found all year round, but I like to go in the winter when they come out on the ice to rest and to eat fish. For this shot, I was laying belly down on the edge of the ice with my camera on the ground. The otter was unusually tolerant of my close approach. Part of that might have had to do with the fact that it was raining and the sound of my shutter was dampened.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/500th of a second
Back in November when I got back from my trip to Thailand, I posted a photo of this white-handed gibbon hanging from one of the tallest trees in the forest and calling to his mate. In this one, I was able to capture his quick look at the camera while he did his thing. We were in Kaeng Krachan National Park down on the Malay Peninsula south of Bangkok.
Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/4000th of a second
Jackals are sort of the coyotes of Africa and Asia. I’ve photographed two species in Africa and another in India. This is the black-backed jackal and he was doing his jackal-y thing in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. My three day visit to the Kalahari was made extra special by the fact that I was the only guest at the camp at the time. It was easy for me to get out of the safari vehicle when appropriate to capture eye level shots of all the great wildlife.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/400th of a second
The southern petrel is a massive bird with a massive beak. The wingspan is nearly 7 feet, but it’s that very weird and dense beak that had me fascinated as I got a close up look at these guys nesting on Carcass Island in the Falkland Islands.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/6.3 at 1/500th of a second
Panama is a great location for nocturnal photography. All sorts of creatures come out as soon as the sun goes in — including quite a few different species of opossum. This one is the four-eyed opossum, named for the bright areas above the eyes that will get more distinct as this youngster grows older.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 500, f/8 at 1/100th of a second, Nikon SB-900 flash
Here’s another look at Binalong Bay in Tasmania. This one doesn’t show much of the orange lichen that covers most of the rocks, but I liked the circular pattern left by the outgoing tide.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 100, f/18 at .6 seconds
