The northwest entrance to Yellowstone National Park is a great place to spot bighorn sheep. The vast majority of Yellowstone is in Wyoming, but Gardiner Canyon where I took this photo is in Montana (the park’s boundaries also spill into a bit of eastern Idaho). I was there this spring and several recently born bighorn lambs were running up and down the steep walls of the canyon. It’s amazing how fearless they are at such a young age.
When I was in Brazil last year, I spent half a day scaling the side of a cliff, following my guide to the nesting site of green-winged macaws. Not much materialized as we waited patiently on top of the cliff for the birds to return home for the night. Finally, we saw this lone pair flying well below us in the valley. Not exactly the photo opportunity I was expecting but pretty cool to watch as they glided above the tree tops Green-winged macaws — also known as red and green macaws — are the largest of the macaws and they range throughout northern and central South America. Once fairly common, they are now faced with rapidly declining numbers due to habitat loss and illegal capture to the parrot trade.
Here’s a landing sequence of a razorbill on Machias Seal Island off the coast of Maine. These birds are the largest members of the auk family and they will only come ashore in order to breed. Presumably, razorbills choose only one partner for life, and females lay only one egg per year. These shots were taken earlier this year when I went up to Maine to photograph Atlantic puffins — a species that the razorbills nest along side of.
Oxpeckers can be found on most of the large mammals of sub-Sahara Africa including elephants, rhinos, giraffes, buffalo, and in this case, zebras. They mostly eat ticks off the backs of their hosts, but sometimes they move in for a delicious bite of earwax. This zebra/oxpecker combo were photographed early one morning in the Okavango Delta of Botswana.
Some of you might remember these guys — the indri indri lemurs (and no, that’s not a typo, indri is repeated in the offical name). They are the largest of all the lemurs at nearly four feet tall, and 21 pounds. Even so, they can be incredibly acrobatic while jumping from tree to tree. As you can see from this guy, they also look a bit like stuffed animals.
Although the kori bustard avoids flying if possible, it is the heaviest bird capable of flight in the world. Large males can weigh up to 45 pounds and have a wingspan of almost 10 feet. Most often they are spotted foraging for seeds and lizards on the flat grasslands of the African savanna. This one was photographed in the Central Kalahari desert of Botswana.
The dwarf mongoose has the distinction of being the smallest carnivore in Africa. They mostly eat insects like grasshoppers, beetles and spiders, but will occasionally grab a smaller bird or lizard. The light wasn’t great when I came across this one in the Okavango Delta of Botswana, but I was able to get a few shots in in even — if not ideal — light.
They can be found pretty much anywhere in this country, but it’s still exciting every time I see a red fox. This one was running past me on a snow covered road in Yellowstone National Park. At times they can be very tolerant of people and this guy barely acknowledged my presence.
Lilac breasted rollers are pretty common throughout much of Africa. Unlike a lot of birds, both males and females look pretty much the same — very colorful. This one was in the Linyanti Swamp area of northern Botswana.
Back for another post, my favorite primate, the black-crested macaque, this time letting out a big yawn. For those new to the blog, these guys are critically endangered and live in Tangkoko National Park in the extreme northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.