Grey crowned cranes are fairly widespread throughout Africa but still a prized sighting. I saw these two while driving through the local villages and farmlands of southern Uganda. The crowned crane, locally called the crested crane, is the national bird of Uganda and appears on the flag.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/6.3 at 1/200th of a second
Just back from a long weekend in Tulum, Mexico. This was a relax-on-the-beach trip so not much photography, but I did get away one afternoon to search for spider monkeys in a nearby reserve called Punta Laguna. I saw quite a few of the spider monkeys, and also a pair of howler monkeys in just a few hours in the reserve. They can be difficult to photograph but I was able to get a few decent shots in the clear, including this young monkey swinging from tree to tree.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 260mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/400th of a second
Here’s another one from Madagascar (this will be the last post for the week as Karen and I are heading to Mexico tomorrow night for the Memorial Day weekend). This is a Verreaux’s sifaka lemur and it kind of looks like it’s ready for some sort of a duel — I say gunslinger, Karen says swashbuckler. Either way, what it really was doing was racing across the ground, getting from one tree to the next as quickly as possible.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 80mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/500th of a second
The comet moth is native to the rain forests of Madagascar and is one of the largest moths in the world with a wingspan of eight inches. They are considered an endangered species — like seemingly every other creature living in Madagascar — because of habitat loss. I came across this one in Ranomafana National Park on my 2007 trip to the African island nation, a place that is at the top of my list to revisit some day.
Nikon D40X with Nikkor 18-55mm lens (at 19mm) ISO 400, f/4.5 at 1/50th of a second
While in the Pantanal region of Brazil one night, a couple of crab-eating foxes came poking around our lodge, looking for scraps. I got down on the ground with my camera and flash and fired off a couple of quick shots of this guy who clearly thought that I had something more than a camera in my hand.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 102mm) ISO 200, f/10 at 1/60th of a second, Nikon SB-900 flash
Here’s a rarity from me — nature with no creatures attached. Just a simple shot of a fern frond before unraveling. I was shooting tree frogs at the time on a drizzly night in the Ecuadorian cloud forest.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 105mm macro lens, ISO 200, f/10 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-90 flash units on a circular flash bracket
I spent about forty minutes or so with a group — or band as they are called — of coatis consisting of about twenty to thirty members. They were all around me in the Costa Rican rain forest eating, resting, playing, and in this guy’s case, scratching his stomach.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 1600, f/3.2 at 1/200th of a second
The Canada goose in the middle seems to be trying to protect the rest of the geese from the sun. This was taken several years back when I was searching for river otters in Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge in Southern Indiana — one of my favorite locations in the National Wildlife Refuge system.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm f/5.6 manual focus lens, ISO 100, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second
It was twilight, and this leopard was just waking up from a nap. We watched her for quite some time as she climbed down the tree, stalked through the grass, and jumped up on a termite mound to get a better view of any unsuspecting prey. By then it was quite dark so we left her to her hunt and headed back to camp.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/200th of a second
This one goes out to all the mothers. I know it’s a day late, but seeing as I don’t post on Sundays I had to save my mother/baby tribute for today. This was taken at a little spot along the central California coast that I try to visit every few years or so. It’s a deserted stretch of beach that I stumbled upon one day that turns into an elephant seal nursery every January. There were a few stray males in the area, but mostly mothers and their single pup. It seemed every seal on the beach had one. In this photo, behind the main subject, you can see another mother and baby out of focus in the background.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 270mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/250th of a second