The pileated woodpecker may or may not be the largest woodpecker in North America. It all depends on if there are any ivory-billed woodpeckers out there. There have been many sightings, but none verified since the 1940s, which is why the ivory-billed is listed as “critically endangered/possibly extinct.” But this post is about the pileated, a fine creature in its own right. I photographed this cooperative bird several years back in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/4.5 at 1/500th of a second
This is a very rare frog that I photographed at the Peyrieras Reptile Reserve in central Madagascar. It is highly endangered due to its very limited distribution and the pressures put on the small areas that it does exist. It is also threatened by over collection by the pet trade. The brilliant color of the golden mantella is thought to be a form of aposematism — which is basically the reverse of camouflage. The bright color is a warning to would-be predators to stay away because the frog is highly toxic. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (with Canon 500D close up filter) ISO 100, f/22 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-600 flash units
Here’s another northern tamandua from Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. These guys are a medium-sized anteater with a prehensile tail. Unlike giant anteaters, tamanduas climb trees, where they spend about 40% of their time. They have a tongue that is well developed to lap up their favorite cuisine — which of course is ants — and they have an unusually long claw on both forefeet, enabling them to rip through wood to find those ants. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 310mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/160th of a second
Penguins are everywhere in the Falkland Islands. And macaroni penguins are the most numerous species of penguin in the world. But there aren’t many macaroni penguins in the Falklands. In fact, I only saw a total of four of them in two weeks — always mixed in amongst colonies of rockhopper penguins. This lone macaroni (the one on the right with the nice yellow locks) was mixing it up with all the rockhoppers. From what I was told, the macaroni is a female and the male rockhoppers found her exotic look appealing. They were all trying to “get with her.” The scrum was mostly rockhopper against rockhopper, all vying for the prize, but in the process she was getting knocked around too. Being a bit larger in size than the rockhoppers, she was clearly holding her own. But you can see that the two species are quite similar, although there is a clear difference in size, shape and those yellow strands of hair. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 3200, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second
Juvenile southern elephant seals are relatively easy to approach for wide angle shots. Sometimes, they even approach you. They are old enough to be on their own and away from their mothers, but they are still on the small side and not yet the massive beasts that they will become (males grow to more than 20 feet and nearly 9,000 pounds). This young fellow was having a nice rest amongst the lichen covered rocks of Carcass Island in the Falkland Islands. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 20mm) ISO 400, f/6.3 at 1/2000th of a second
Hermits are pretty cool looking hummingbirds, with their fancy tails and curved bills. In this case, a white-whiskered hermit that I found flitting around in the Ecuadorian cloud forest. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 310mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/1600th of a second, Nikon SB-900 flash
Night monkeys are the only nocturnal monkeys found in the Americas. There are several distinct species, including these two little guys which go by either the Chocoan night monkey or the Panamanian night monkey. I took this photo just before sunset, at about that time that they wearily start to peak out of the tree hollows of their daytime resting spots. You can see the second face, still sleeping, below the top monkey. This one is from Soberania National Park, not far from Panama City. Due to the quickly fading light, I had to use a very slow shutter speed to dig detail out of the shadows. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (with 2x teleconverter for 800mm) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/13th of a second
If you look closely, you can see a leopard resting in that fallen tree — the sun just about to set directly below her. As soon as the sun did set, she set off on a night of hunting. We saw her and her grown cub a few more times over the next few days and I was able to photograph both of them in a number of settings. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 102mm) ISO 400, f/2.8 at 1/400th of a second
Robins are sweet little birds. They come in many color varieties, including a fiery, orangish-red. Meet the flame robin — a little guy that I had the pleasure of meeting on Bruny Island in Tasmania. That brilliantly colored breast can really light up the otherwise dull colors of the forest. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/320th of a second
It’s been quite a while since I posted a mountain gorilla. I visited Uganda back in 2009 when I was told that there were only about 700 left in the wild. Since then their numbers are up slightly (depending on who is doing the counting) to almost 800. Let’s hope the trend continues. I’ve also seen another count that only has them at 600, so who knows how many are really out there. The point is, not many, so I was thrilled to spend about an hour in the presence of a very large troop of 23 individuals. By my very limited mathematical abilities, that comes to about 3.2% of the world’s total population — right there with me — in one small corner of the Ugandan rainforest. Pretty amazing. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 240mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/125th of a second
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The pileated woodpecker may or may not be the largest woodpecker in North America. It all depends on if there are any ivory-billed woodpeckers out there. There have been many sightings, but none verified since the 1940s, which is why the ivory-billed is listed as “critically endangered/possibly extinct.” But this post is about the pileated, a fine creature in its own right. I photographed this cooperative bird several years back in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.
