This butterfly is known for its see-through wings, but in this photo I liked that I was able to capture the tips of its antenea, while the rest of the butterfly remained out of focus. There are many clearwing butterflies in Central and South American, this one was photographed in Ecuador. Its scientific name is methona confusa.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400 (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/200th of a second
I posted a wild eastern quoll when I first returned from Tasmania. This eastern quoll was a resident at the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, a rehabilitation center for orphaned and injured animals, as well as a breeding center for Tasmanian devils. Quolls really are among the cutest animals that I’ve had the pleasure of photographing, and that’s about all I’ve got to say about this little guy.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 1600, f/4.5 at 1/320th of a second
There are eight giant tortoises visible in this photo. They were enjoying a drink and a swim at a water hole in the Santa Cruz Highlands of the Galapagos Islands. There were several others milling about too, outside of the range of my wide angle lens. It was a lot of fun hiking through Santa Cruz’s open pastures alongside these enormous animals — the largest of their kind in the world and one of the longest living vertebrates in the world. They have an average lifespan of more than a hundred years. Biologists aren’t quite sure of the exact lifespan because data wasn’t collected that long ago, but a captive individual is known to have lived at least 170 years.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/1600th of a second
Wombats are funny creatures. They either scurried away as soon as I approached, or they let me get extremely close as if they didn’t have a care in the world. A few even pushed their noses up against my wide angle lens. This guy let me get extremely close, but had the added comfort of being at the opening of his burrow. I was using a fisheye lens when I captured this yawn.
Nikon D810 with Sigma 15mm fisheye lens, ISO 800, f/4 at 1/400th of a second
Just a simple headshot here of a striated caracara, locally known in the Falkland Islands as the Johnny Rook. These guys are fairly tame as you can tell from this close up. They were basically following me wherever I went in the Falklands, hoping that a few scraps would fall out of my backpack. This one spent a good part of the afternoon with me while I was photographing elephant seals on Carcass Island. Although they are common in the Falklands, they are an endangered species.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/6.3 at 1/320th of a second
For those of you on my subscribers list, I apologize, but for some reason last night’s post never sent. I’m not sure why, but hopefully this one will go through. If you missed last night, you should check it out — a sweet shot of a white wallaby with her joey you can see here. And this, of course, is a honey badger. I was in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve on my first trip to Botswana. Honey badgers have a fierce reputation for being able to stand up to larger predators such as lions. Their skin is very thick and also very loose. If a lion gets ahold of one, the honey badger can turn around in its own skin and fight back.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second
Here’s another look at the white wallaby with brown joey that I got to know on Bruny Island in Tasmania. In this shot, the joey had just crawled out of the mother’s pouch. You can see that the joey does have quite a bit of white coloration on the stomach, no doubt inherited from mom. I took this photo about fifty yards from the accommodation I was staying at (Inala Cottage). I was able to spend a lot of time with the wallabies so they were quite comfortable with my presence and I was able to get a few intimate shots like this one.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 330mm) ISO 1600, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second
I like the way that this one is almost devoid of all color (even though it’s fully saturated). It was sunset in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana when I came across this agreeable black backed jackal. The jackal was very accepting of my approach and I was able to get out of the safari vehicle and down on the ground for an eye level portrait. The low angle also enabled me to blur out most of the background, adding to the monochromatic effect.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/125th of a second
As I mentioned in a previous post, the landscape of Tasmania is extremely diverse — especially for an island that’s only about the size of Georgia or West Virginia. These two photos were taken at Cradle Mountain National Park in the north central mountains. The top shot is a boardwalk along the Waterfalls Walk. The entire track is boardwalk and leads to two waterfalls. The bottom shot is a river along a track appropriately called The Enchanted Walk. Both photos highlight the mossy forest typical of Cradle Mountain. It feels as if dwarves and elves might be hiding just around the corner.
Top Photo: Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 200, f/18 at 1 second
Bottom Photo: Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 64, f/20 at 5 seconds
It’s been about a year and a half since I posted a black-crested macaque. In that time, their numbers continue to decline in their last remaining stronghold on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and a few nearby islands. Even though they are listed as critically endangered, they are hunted by local residents for their meat, which is considered a delicacy. They are also hunted as pests because they destroy crops planted by local farmers — the same farmers who destroy what remains of their habitat by clearing the forest via slash and burn. Several international conservation groups are doing their best to save the remaining black-crested macaque populations. One of the problems is that they are so trusting of humans, as you can see from this young macaque, leaning in to get a better look at my wide angle lens.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 24mm) ISO 200, f/3.5 at 1/125th of a second, Nikon SB-800 flash