Sea Anemone Landscape
Those are giant green sea anemones mixed in among all the barnacles, mussels and other tidepool life. This was taken one cloudy morning along the Washington coast in Olympic National Park.
Burchell’s Zebra Portrait
Just a zebra minding its business. There are three different kinds of zebra in Africa, the mountain zebra, Grevy’s zebra and plains zebra. This guy is a Burchell’s zebra which is a subspecies of the plains zebra. You never know when you might need this valuable information. This photo was taken in Mburro National Park in Uganda.
Rufescent Tiger Heron
Rufescent tiger herons were just one of the bird species that I photographed with their heads peaking out of the water hyacinth. These floating plants are a common site along river banks throughout the Pantanal in Brazil.
Another Look at Monument Valley
Here’s another look at the sun rising behind Monument Valley in Utah.
Tufted Capuchin “Einstein” Monkey
The light definitely didn’t cooperate with me the day I visited the famous “Einstein” monkeys in northeastern Brazil making shooting conditions difficult (although I do like the final shot because I had time to get into a better position vis a vis the light). None the less, this is a sequence showing the unique behavior that has earned these monkeys the distinction of the most intelligent in the New World. “Einstein” is just a nickname, of course, and they are actually called tufted capuchin monkeys. They range throughout a large portion of northern and central South America, but only those in this remote area of Brazil display this particular behavior. Their favorite food is the palm nut and they harvest only the ripest nuts. They then tear the outer husk off the nuts and leave them in the sun to dry for about a week. When they return to the dried nuts, they place them on a large flat rock surface, which acts as an anvil. They then use much harder igneous rock boulders as their tool to smash open the nuts. It’s really pretty cool to see these wiry monkeys lifting large boulders over their heads and then smashing them down. Only chimpanzees are known to make more intelligent use of tools.
Crested Caracara Guarding Lunch
This crested caracara was trying to enjoy his catfish lunch in peace, but the black vultures kept trying to sneak in and steal a bite. Every so often the caracara would attack the vultures to get them to back off. With my long lens mounted to the camera, I wasn’t able to capture both birds, but as you can see, I did catch just a piece of the vulture’s foot. The location was the Pantanal in Brazil.
How to Wash an Elephant
I suppose the best way to wash an elephant is to just get on top of it with a scrub brush. This was taken in Sumatra, Indonesia where the domestic elephants really seem to enjoy their daily cleanings. It sort of reminded me of a dog rolling over to have it’s stomach rubbed.
Chestnut Eared Aracari
A couple of shots of chestnut-eared aracaris. Aracaris are in the toucan family. These two were photographed in the Pantanal of Brazil.
Newborn Orangutan
This newborn orangutan looks like it just discovered where its next meal is coming from. The photo was taken in Tanjung Puting National Park in Indonesian Borneo.
Jaguar Sighting No. 4
This is the 4th of the jaguars I saw in Brazil. From what I understand, this is more or less the typical sighting — resting on the river bank, concealed by the foliage. We were actually quite far away in a boat, but I had my longest lens on my camera, plus a teleconverter to get even closer.