As the snow continues to fall outside (at least here in the northeast) I thought I’d brighten the day with this one I took in Italy back in May of 2010. Hang in there people, the flowers will be blooming again here soon. For this shot, I was lying on my back in a field of poppies somewhere along the side of the road in Tuscany. Oh to be lying on my back in a field of poppies somewhere along the side of the road in Tuscany right now. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 200, f/18 at 1/400th of a second
I was directly under this lemur when it jumped from one tree to another. This species is the rather pedestrian named, common brown lemur. They were very habituated to people at this particular location and were jumping all around me. I used a flash to illuminate the under side of the lemur while still exposing for the much brighter sky in the background. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/100th of a second
On my last day in the Falkland Islands, I got up before the sun to photograph the penguins with the full moon. The gentoos and the kings both get up early and head down to the shoreline. This gentoo was at the top of the dunes, just before waddling down to the water. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 160mm) ISO 400, f/22 at 1/25th of a second, two Nikon SB-900 flash units fired using Pocket Wizard controllers
A Madagascar flying fox soars overhead in the early morning, before returning home to roost in a tree for the day. These large bats are very cool looking and do, in fact, have little fox faces. For a look at the face, check out this previous post. As I mentioned in that post, I was in the extreme southern part of Madagascar at a place called Berenty when I took this one. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/4.5 at 1/250th of a second
It was brought to my attention today that this past Saturday was World Pangolin Day — the forth annual such event to raise awareness of this amazing, yet endangered creature. Can’t believe I missed it. Here’s another shot of the rare pangolin/leopard encounter that I was privileged to witness on our most recent trip to Botswana. To recap, the young leopard was stalking the pangolin on and off for the good part of an afternoon. Most of the action took place in very high grass, making clear shots difficult, but worth the effort. Below is a shot of the pangolin in the clear. Top Photo: Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 135mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second
Bottom Photo: Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 220) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/8000th of a second
Here’s another one from Madagascar. Those little green eyes belong to a baby Coquerel’s sifaka lemur, hiding in the lap of its mother. They were pretty high up in a tree in the dry forest of the western part of the country. At the time I was using a manual focus 600mm lens on a cropped sensor camera, getting me out to about 900mm — more than enough distance to focus in on the baby. As the baby gets older, its eyes will turn more yellow in color. The Coquerel’s sifaka, like pretty much all lemurs, is on the endangered species list due to continued habitat loss. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm manual focus lens, ISO 200, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second
This white tailed deer is another of the residents of Saint Andrews State Park that I met on Tuesday. I think it’s a male, based on size, but it could be a female as this is the time of year that the males are without antlers. I started with my long lens and kept getting closer and closer. Eventually I had on my 17 to 35 and was shooting at 17mm, and even then I was able to get closer — so I pulled out my rarely used 15mm fisheye. He showed no apparent concern or irritation with me being right up in his face. In fact, he kept chewing the grass as if I wasn’t even there. Being a very highly visited park, I’m sure he’s been fed a lot by uninformed/unconcerned visitors. Whatever the case, if an animal doesn’t seem to mind, I like to get as close as I can and go as wide as I can. I took quite a few shots, but liked this particular frame because he appears to be telling me some sort of story or maybe a joke. Or maybe he was asking kindly for that KitKat bar in my backpack. Nikon D810 with Sigma 15mm fisheye lens. ISO 800, f/6.3 at 1/250th of a second.
I was down in Panama City Beach, Florida for the past couple of days on a work assignment and ran into a few of the furry locals. This little guy is commonly called a swamp rabbit — a subspecies of the cottontail that prefers things a bit more on the wet side. You can tell a swamp rabbit from an eastern cottontail because the swampers are bigger, usually darker, and they have a cinnamon ring around the eye, as opposed to white. As for the tongue, well, I guess he wasn’t pleased with the particular flavor of grass he was eating. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second
This one is a good example of the early morning ritual of the king penguins that I talked about previously. A few leaders go down to the shoreline and contemplate getting into the water, while the rest of the group hangs back, waiting to see what happens. It goes on like this for several hours as the penguins slowly make their way down the length of the beach before finally getting up the nerve to go for it. Once the first one goes in, the rest quickly follow. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 70mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/3200th of a second
The photo above doesn’t look like much. Until you look a little closer. Toward the bottom of the tree on the right side, you can see the head of a mossy leaf-tailed gecko blending into the bark — its hand is visible to the left. Pretty amazing camouflage. This is the way that these geckos spend the day while at rest. They have dermal flaps that can break up their outline, and they can change color to match their surroundings. When awake, they can look somewhat like the giant leaf-tailed gecko below (I posted a close up of this guy about two months ago). This particular gecko is doing quite the opposite — trying its best to stand out and scare off potential danger (me) with its bright red mouth. Note the tail that gives these geckos their name. Leaf-tailed geckos can also jump from tree to tree, and this one had just leaped from a tree that better suited its particular skin color and pattern. Top photo: Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/2.8 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units.
Bottom photo: Nikon D200 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 400, f/4.5 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units.
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