I mentioned in a previous post that if I had to pick a favorite penguin, it would be the rockhopper. Their fiery personalities are hard to beat. And they are very determined when they set their mind to something. This guy wasn’t going to be deterred when it came time to building his nest. Other penguins were pecking and bickering at him while he carried rocks, one by one, into the middle of the colony. He just ignored everything around him and went about his business of building a home for himself, his mate and their unhatched egg. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/2000th of a second
The wolf snake is a very small snake that lives in India and other areas of southeast Asia. It is primarily nocturnal, and I found this one near our camp, shortly after eating dinner one night in India’s Kanha National Park. It is a non-venomous snake, but will bite if threatened. It gets its name from a set of rather large front teeth that resemble those of a canine. It uses those teeth to prey on lizards, frogs, geckos and other local delicacies. Being so small, I was able to photograph this wolf snake from directly overhead using my 105mm macro lens and a couple of flash units. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 105mm lens, ISO 500, f/8 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-900 flash units on a RRS bracket
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
We use cookies to enhance your experience while using our website. If you are using our Services via a browser you can restrict, block or remove cookies through your web browser settings. We also use content and scripts from third parties that may use tracking technologies. You can selectively provide your consent below to allow such third party embeds. For complete information about the cookies we use, data we collect and how we process them, please check our Privacy Policy
I mentioned in a previous post that if I had to pick a favorite penguin, it would be the rockhopper. Their fiery personalities are hard to beat. And they are very determined when they set their mind to something. This guy wasn’t going to be deterred when it came time to building his nest. Other penguins were pecking and bickering at him while he carried rocks, one by one, into the middle of the colony. He just ignored everything around him and went about his business of building a home for himself, his mate and their unhatched egg.
