When it gets late at night and I’m tired and I haven’t posted the photo of the day yet, I can always count on an orangutan. I remember being impressed by this young lady’s well combed hair — and that’s about all I have to say. Enjoy.
Yes, it’s true, sometimes I take photos with no animals in sight. This one was from Moñtana de Oro State Park in Los Osos, California. In Spanish it means mountains of gold, and the park was given its name because of all the yellow wildflowers that dot the landscape. Closer to the water, the layers of rock make for interesting seascapes — with or without the resident seals, sea otters, or sea lions.
There are two species of sea lions that frequent the Pacific coast of the United States — the Steller sea lions and the California sea lions. This is a colony of California sea lions, photographed at Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing (which is just north of Monterey). Stacked on top of each other like this all day is sure to cause some tempers to flare and fights break out often. These sea lions took over a dock that was built for tourists back in 2007 and they haven’t given it up since. Sea lions are a protected species under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and they were therefore granted the right of way on the dock, which is now closed off to people for safety reasons
While in the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya, we were lucky to see both species of African rhinoceros, the white and the black. The names are somewhat misleading, as the two species aren’t really distinguishable by color but by other physical traits. The white rhino is larger and has a wide, square upper lip as opposed to the more pointed or hooked lip of the black rhino. Because of this, they are sometimes commonly known as the square-lipped rhino and the hook-lipped rhino. Black rhinos are also more rare and are listed as critically endangered. One subspecies, the western black rhinoceros was declared extinct just last year.
Okay, I know I just posted a spectral tarsier last week, but I saw this photo and… well, look at those lips on that little guy. Again, this is the mother and her baby. In last week’s shot, the mom was carrying the baby tucked under her arm. In this shot she has the baby in her mouth.
It’s been a while since the last black bear post. This youngster was photographed a few years back at about this time of year in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. I was hiking one of the park’s trails when I came across this bear, a sibling of the same age, and the mother. I watched for at least an hour as the two young bears played (and their mother made sure that I stayed a safe distance away).
First off, I just want to announce that I finally have a shopping cart function on the site. To purchase a print of any photo, just go to the appropriate gallery in the drop down menu and choose a size, mounting, etc. (in addition to the galleries, everything posted here in the photo of the day blog is also available at the same prices. The shopping cart isn’t yet working here though, so if interested, find the price in the galleries and then send me an email).
On to the photo of the day.
These two little bat-eared fox pups were only about a month old. They were playing around just outside their den at the end of the day while their mother was busy hunting.
This was the first glimpse I had of a tiger in the wild — it’s the same large male that I posted two photos of a few weeks ago. It’s rare to actually see tigers out in the open, which is why I liked the way that this guy was framed by all the natural foliage.
Mountain bluebirds are migratory and range from as far south as Mexico in the winter, on up through Alaska in the summer. This one, a male, was in Yellowstone in late May. They are small birds that prefer open habitat and are often seen on the ground, either in the grass or on small perches like this rock. The males are a vibrant blue in color while the females are a duller blue with more grey on the chest, head and back.
One more mother and baby photo for Mother’s Day week. This mother baboon and her baby were looking for a little shelter from all the rain in Laikipia, Kenya. I liked the way the baby was sucking its thumb as it rode upon the mother’s back.