As a wildlife photographer I can’t help but assign animals to my various friends and family members. Certain people just seem like certain animals. My friend Justin, for example, is a koala. Something about him screams marsupial. Another friend, Jon, is a puffin. He just is. My sister Kerry, well, she’s clearly a burrowing owl. She always has been and always will be. Tomorrow Kerry gets married. The lucky guy is Charlie, so by association, I guess he gets to be an owl too. This one goes out to them. Congratulations and see you tomorrow. (Incidentally, tomorrow also happens to be one year since I married Karen, a lovely combination of a white tailed fawn and a cow — you know, a cute cow. Like Elsie. Happy Anniversary Baby.) Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 550mm with 1.4 teleconverter) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/1250th of a second
On Tuesday, I posted a photo of a baby black crested macaque and commented on the green eyes. This is the adult and as you can see, those eyes eventually turn a bright orange. These monkeys have such amazing faces — very human yet very cartoony at the same time. Here is the link to Tuesday’s post where you can see how much their look changes over the years. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/2.8 at 1/200th of a second
I photographed this flamingo on Santa Cruz Island in the Galápagos Islands. The Galápagos flamingo is a subspecies of the greater flamingo. There aren’t many of them in existence (only about 500 in the entire Galápagos archipelago) so I was lucky to spot this one. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/1600th of a second
I’ve always been a big fan of the primates, but perhaps my favorite monkey is the black crested macaque. I had the pleasure of spending time with a troop of them for two mornings a few years back on my trip to Indonesia. They are considered critically endangered and exist only on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. This young male was resting in the forest. His green eyes will turn a vivid orange when he becomes an adult. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 1600, f/2.8 at 1/80th of a second
Sprawled face down in the sand, this black tailed jackrabbit seemed exhausted by the desert heat — which, as I mentioned in a post last week, reached 122 degrees. Those long ears, in fact, are an adaptation to the extreme conditions of the desert. The large surface area of each ear is loaded with blood vessels that release heat and thereby cool down the core body temperature of the rabbit. I, of course, was also face down in the sand enabling a ground level perspective. My ears, however, had little effect on my core body temperture. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/100th of a second
Bison are great as landscape subjects because their shape is so iconic. Here are two bison rim lit by the setting sun in Badlands National Park. This shot is similar to one I posted about a month ago, but different enough to warrant another look. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4.5 at 1/1000th of a second
A quick break in all the 100 degree desert action for the complete opposite. This was the first polar bear that greeted me when I arrived at Seal River Lodge in northern Manitoba, Canada. He was nice enough to pose for a few portraits before moving on. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/400th of a second
Of course, if we’re to believe Looney Tunes, wherever there are roadrunners (see yesterday’s post), there are sure to be a few wily coyotes just around the corner. According to Wikipedia, however, coyotes have not been known to successfully attack roadrunners as prey — which, now that I think about it, would be pretty consistent with old Wile E’s success rate in the cartoon. These coyotes were some of the skinniest that I have seen, but they were also pretty good looking — lean and clean with nice coats and not mangy or scraggly like others I’ve come across in desert areas. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) f/4 at 1/1600th of a second
In addition to jackrabbits, I also photographed roadrunners last weekend in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. I was able to get my camera onto the ground for this one as the roadrunner ran across the desert floor in search of a meal. By getting the camera low, not only was I able to get a much more pleasing perspective of the bird, I was also able to bring out the blurred pastel colors of the desert. Like the jackrabbit yesterday, roadrunners seem to have a special charm, perhaps born of their harsh existence in the desert. They are also known as the chaparral cock, ground cuckoo, and snake killer. I kind of like that last one. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 270mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/640th of a second
I just got back from a two week business trip to Los Angeles. I had some down time last weekend and was able to get out to the desert for a night. It was hot. Very hot. 122 degrees hot. Too scorching for even the usual desert wildlife to make an appearance. As soon as the sun hit the horizon, however, the jackrabbits, coyotes and roadrunners all came creeping out of hiding. The next day, I got up before the sun and had a good time photographing the jackrabbits. This particular rabbit was eyeing me through a hole in the dried up desert flora. With their enormous ears, jackrabbits have always been one of my favorite subjects to photograph. They can be skittish and don’t usually stick around long enough to get decent shots, but I had good luck this time — perhaps because they were too hot to make much of an effort to run away. I’ll be posting a few more of these guys in the coming weeks. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/1250th of a second
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