I’ve photographed evening grosbeaks before but was never able to get decent shots. I saw quite a few of them last weekend in Minnesota. This is the male. Females only have a small bit of the yellow and are more uniformly grey. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/4000th of a second.
I only saw one great grey owl last weekend while in northern Minnesota, and it was well after the sun had set. That said, I was able to crank up the ISO and get a few flight shots as the owl hunted for voles. It was so dark I couldn’t really see the owl through the viewfinder but my camera’s auto focus system could. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 6400, f/5.6 at 1/500th of a second.
I had seen this porcupine earlier in the day but it was curled up in a ball sleeping. I decided to swing back by at the end of the day to see if it was active. Unfortunately still sleeping, but then, for just a moment, it started to nibble on pine needles and twigs as the moon rose in the background. After only a few shots, it went back to sleep. I could have used some fill flash, but I’ll take it. It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen a porcupine in the wild in North America. Photographed last Sunday in northern Minnesota.Nikon D500 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/1000th of a second.
I booked a last minute trip up to northern Minnesota this past weekend. Perhaps I should have looked at a weather forecast first. It didn’t break 0 degrees the entire weekend and lows were typically between minus 20 and 30. They even issued a windchill advisory of -50. It was cold. And the wildlife seemed to be feeling it too as it was pretty slow from a photographic standpoint. That said, I was able to find a few subjects and get some images that I like. This trumpeter swan was resting on the ice early Sunday morning. I was using the foreground snow to create a nice blurred frame around the head when all of a sudden the swan yawned. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/2000th of a second.
Two guanacos traverse a hill beneath the massive face of a mountain in Torres Del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia. Torres Del Paine is the land of the puma. Guanacos are their favorite prey and the park is filled with them. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 220mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/1600th of a second.
This is a male cherrie’s tanager that I photographed in central Costa Rica. The name has nothing to do with the bird’s coloring, but rather is in honor of naturalist — and friend of Teddy Roosevelt — George Cherrie. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm manual focus lens, ISO 400, f/8 at 1/30th of a second, Nikon SB-600 fill flash.
I photographed this one quite a few years ago on the east coast of Florida. The nine-banded armadillo is a species that continues to push the boundaries of its range. It has been rapidly moving both north and east in the United States and is expected to reach New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Connecticut before the trend slows down. I’m ready and waiting. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/800th of a second.
Also known as the Perinet chameleon, I photographed this Malagasy side-striped chameleon on my first and only trip to Madagascar back in 2007. This is a relatively small chameleon that we came across on a night hike in Ranomafana National Park, which is in the central part of the country. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 100mm with Canon 500D close up filter attached) ISO 200, f/22 at 1/60th of a second, Nikon SB-600 flash.
This image gets a little closer to showing a Galápagos giant tortoise in perspective. These guys are really big, weighing in at over 500 pounds. Photographed in the Santa Cruz highlands. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/160th of a second.
Yellow-necked spurfowl, also known as yellow-necked francolins are native to eastern portions of Africa, from Tanzania on up through Eritrea. I photographed this one in Samburu National Reserve in Kenya. The males will often climb to the top of termite mounds or large rocks to call to females. Or, perhaps, to get a better look at photographers. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 260mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/125th of a second.