I’ve mentioned before that it is fairly easy to photograph penguins. You always know where they’ll be because they don’t venture far from their colonies while not at sea. You simply wait for good light and then begin snapping the shutter. In this case, I had nice rim light at the end of the day while these gentoo penguins were heading home after an afternoon of fishing.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/200th of a second
This is the white-footed sportive lemur. Or if you prefer, the white-footed weasel lemur. You may also call it the dry-bush weasel lemur. It will answer to all three. It lives in the southern, subtropical region of Madagascar and is almost strictly nocturnal. Agriculture practices and charcoal production have landed it on the endangered species list, where it sits alongside most all other lemur species.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mmm lens (at 165mm) ISO 200, f/4.5 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-600 flash units
Here’s another one from this past weekend in Saint Barths. There are more than 1100 species of hermit crabs so I won’t even venture a guess at which one this is. It was quite large, however — about the size of a baseball. All hermit crabs live inside a salvaged seashell, usually from a snail, which they use for protection. They have a soft abdomen which retracts into the shell when threatened. As they get older, it is necessary to abandon their smaller shells in exchange for a larger one. Competition over available shells can be intense. It can also be quite cooperative. With certain species of hermit crabs, a vacancy chain can occur. A crab looking for a larger shell will climb out of its current shell and inspect the new, larger shell. If the new shell is too large, the crab will climb back into its old shell and wait patiently for another crab to come along. Twenty or more crabs may inspect the vacant shell and deem it to be too large, so they will line up in order of size until the right size crab comes along to claim the new shell. Then the next in line will get that crab’s shell, and in turn, pass its old shell on to the next in line, and on and on.
Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/500th of a second
Saint Barths isn’t necessarily known for its wildlife. Much of the indigenous species have been displaced by invasive ones — wild goats and mongoose among them. That said, I did fit in a few wildlife excursions around trips to the beach and found several species that still thrive on the French-speaking Caribbean island. The red-footed tortoise was quite prevalent along forested trails. This little guy seemed to be intrigued by his reflection staring back at him from my wide angle lens. Although these tortoises are common on Saint Barths, they are considered vulnerable to extinction due mainly to loss of habitat and the pet trade.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/125th of a second
Karen and I will be traveling early tomorrow morning to Saint Barts to help celebrate a friend’s 50th. This will be the last post until mid next week. I’ll be bringing my camera, but this trip is more about visiting with friends and beach time. That said, I’m hoping to be as lucky as I was last time I was in the Caribbean and witnessed the mass hatching of three large leatherback turtle nests (probably about 300 hatchlings in all). This little guy was aggressively going for it, making the mad dash to the sea. The sand was uneven and bumpy thanks to all the other mother turtles that were still laying there eggs earlier that morning, making it that much more of a challenge. Luckily, the vultures that seemed to be everywhere weren’t about to approach as I escorted the youngster on his way to freedom — clicking the whole time, of course.
Nikon D800 with Sigma 15mm fisheye lens, ISO 800, f/5 at 1/250th of a second
I spotted this serval on the final night of our trip to Kenya. The sun had long since set but there was still just enough light to capture the cat slowly creeping through the grass in the blue hues of dusk. Servals are medium-sized cats with small heads, long ears and necks. They also have the longest legs of any wild cat relative to body size. They hunt smaller animals like rodents, birds, and frogs and are great leapers — often jumping more than six feet above the ground before pouncing on their prey.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 160mm) ISO 1600, f/2.8 at 1/80th of a second
Blue-footed boobies are probably the most iconic animal of the Galapagos Islands. The bright blue feet are actually used by the males to attract the ladies. They engage in an elaborate dance, lifting their feet up and down in an attempt to look more suitable for mating. Best feet, best dance, best chance of passing that brilliant blue on to the next generation.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 260mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/5000th of a second
The late day sun can be huge as it sets in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. Add to that the compression effect of using a long focal length lens and this is what you get. Each afternoon in the Kalahari, I was scrambling around in search of an animal or two to position in front of the sun and the pastel colors that it created. In this case, an oryx appeared to heading home after a long day of grazing.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/160th of a second
The tapir is the largest land mammal in Central and South America. They can weight up to 670 pounds. This one — a Baird’s tapir — was photographed in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. They are usually shy of humans, but I remained very quiet on the forest floor and eventually he forgot I was even there.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 78mm) ISO 3200, f/2.8 at 1/80th of a second
The common opossum isn’t necessarily going to win any beauty contests, but she does have a certain charm. I spotted this one on a solo, nocturnal hike in Pavones, Costa Rica. It’s always tough to get the shot when you need to position a light on your head just to aid in focusing, while also triggering two flashes. Luckily, the opossum stayed in one place long enough for me to do my thing. These guys are also known as the southern opossum, black-eared opossum or locally as the gamba or manicou.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 320, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-600 flash units