Besides deer, the only other mammals that I saw in Cuyahoga Valley National Park last weekend were a couple of beavers. Beavers are always difficult to photograph because not only are they skittish, they’re also crepuscular. What does crepuscular mean, you ask? Simply that they are active during the twilight hours of dawn and dusk. It was about 6:30 AM when I took this shot and the sun was still below the horizon. Due to the low light I had to crank the ISO up to 3200. There was just enough light, however, to record the reflected colors of the changing leaves on the surface of the water.
The Cuyahoga Valley in Ohio is an interesting national park given the human presence that exists within its borders — not exactly what you’d expect if your vision of a national park is Yosemite or Yellowstone. The purpose of the park, however, is to preserve and reclaim the rural landscape surrounding the Cuyahoga River. It does this beautifully with gently rolling hills, waterfalls, caves, lush farmlands and a twisting floodplain that mix seamlessly with the quaint residential patches that evoke a more Rockwellian America. The leaves were peaking this past weekend in many areas of the park, including these hills behind Kendall Lake.
I had to be in Ohio for work on Thursday and Friday so I figured I’d spend the weekend and explore Cuyahoga National Park. There wasn’t too much going on, but I did see quite a few birds, including this male wood duck. Wood ducks get their name because they like to nest in cavities in trees. The males are one of the most colorful duck species in North America, while the females have a more uniformly brown plumage.
Nothing much to say here — just a lilac breasted roller enjoying breakfast. These colorful birds are very common in much of Africa. This one was photographed in the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya.
This one is from Uganda in Queen Elizabeth National Park. One of the great things about many of the Ugandan parks is that you’re allowed to get out of your safari vehicle and hike. I was on foot when we came across this herd of hippos in a large bend in the river (a hippo herd is also known as a bloat or crash). This particular hippo wasn’t all that pleased to see me there so I took a few quick photos and got on my way.
Per request, one more from my Costa Rica trip from a few years ago. This three-toed sloth was giving himself a nice — albeit slow and deliberate — scratch to the midsection with those big claws. The sun had almost set and I had to use a tripod and a very slow shutter speed of 1/20th of a second, but with the way that these guys move, it wasn’t a problem getting sharp focus.
Tamanduas are a genus of anteater. The southern tamandua ranges throughout South America, while the northern lives all the way up into Mexico. This guy was photographed in Corcovado National Park in southwestern Costa Rica. I took several long hikes through the rainforest of Corcovado and actually saw quite a few tamanduas — sometimes in trees and sometimes on the ground.  Interesting fact of the day: they don’t have teeth, but instead rely on their powerful gizzard to break down food — mainly termites and ants.
I just found out that the following seven images were selected for inclusion in this year’s North American Nature Photographers Association (NANPA) award showcase. A total of 100 images are selected each year. All seven will appear in the Showcase print book and will be featured at the 2013 Nature Photography Summit in Jacksonville, Florida. I’ve previously posted all these photos before, but thought I’d get them up here on the blog again.
Bat Eared Fox Pups, Masai Mara, Kenya
Polar Bear and Sunrise, Seal River, Manitoba, Canada
This is another one from Costa Rica. I was photographing the local waterfall at Tiskita when I saw this damsel fly sitting on a leaf. It was very cooperative and waited patiently while I changed lenses to get a macro point of view.
I’m not sure of the exact species on this hummingbird, but it’s just one of the many that I saw at the Tiskita Lodge in Pavones, Costa Rica. The flower the hummingbird is perched upon, however, is clearly a species of heliconia.
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