This one goes back to my trip to Madagascar in 2007, shooting with my just-in-case emergency camera, the Nikon D40x. This is a Verreaux’s sifaka lemur who was hanging around our lodge at Berenty reserve in the extreme south of Madagascar. Nikon D40x with Nikkor 18-55mm lens (at 26mm) ISO 100, f/9 at 1/40th of a second.
I photographed this canal zone tree frog in El Valle, Panama. Several of them were living in the ponds surrounding our lodge in the central area of the country. These guys are quite colorful and larger than most tree frogs. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 105mm macro lens, ISO 200, f/14 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-900 flash units.
I went up to check on my camera trap Tuesday night on my birthday and discovered a rare northeastern ring-tailed lemur doing its thing. Thanks for the surprise Karen Crane. Back to our regularly scheduled wild sightings tomorrow.
Here’s one for the insect fans. Eastern lubbers are common throughout the southeastern United States. They are very large and colorful grasshoppers and if you’ve spent any amount of time in the south, you’ve probably come across one or two. I found these two in Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park in Florida. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens, ISO 1600, f/3.2 at 1/500th of a second.
Sometimes you get so close to the elephants, you have to focus in on the details. We had this encounter in the Ol Pajeta Conservancy of Kenya last April. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/2.8 at 1/320th of a second.
I’ve seen less opossums up at my camera trap this year. This one was from 2021 when they were regularly crossing the fallen ash tree most nights. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 20mm) ISO 500, f/14 at 1/200th of a second, Cognisys camera box, trail monitor and remote flash units.
It seemed like a good day for a frog. I took this one quite a few years ago in southern Indiana at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm manual focus 5.6 lens, ISO 200, f/11 at .8 seconds.
This guy was part of a pride of young male lions we encountered late one afternoon in Kenya last April. You can see his mane just starting to come in. They had been resting and playing for most of the afternoon but when the sun began to set, they got serious and went into hunt mode. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 5600, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second.
Here’s one from my trip to Seal River in northern Manitoba, Canada back in 2010. The great thing about seeing polar bears at Seal River Lodge is that you get to be on ground level with them. This guy was lying down on the ice. So was I. Take a look at the size of those paws. Nikon D300 with 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 800, f/4.5 at 1/500th of a second.
It was a hot day in Coachella Valley National Wildlife Refuge, California when I spotted this side-blotched lizard basking in the sun. These guys can be quite colorful depending on the morph and stage of development. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/200th of a second.