Tree monitors are big lizards. Very big. I’d say this guy was somewhere between four and five feet long. He/she clung to that tree, not moving but keeping an eye on us as we slowly drifted by in a boat. Photographed in Khlong Saeng in Thailand. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 350mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/400th of a second.
A few weeks back I posted what I thought was a lappet-faced vulture. It was actually a white-headed vulture, as one of my subscribers pointed out. Here’s another one (I think… pretty sure, right?). Regardless of species, this guy would like you to kindly worship him. Photographed on the Masai Mara of Kenya. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/8 at 1/400th of a second.
These guys are very small — only about an inch in length. They’re mostly spotted on the ground in leaf litter, but they also climb trees. In fact, mother’s will climb to the top of tall rainforest trees to deposit their tadpoles in the water of bromeliad plants growing from branches near the canopy. They are also called blue jeans frogs, as you can see from those legs. I photographed this one in central Costa Rica. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 190 with Canon 500D close up filter) ISO 100, f/5 at 1/6th of a second.
Occasionally I see a pileated woodpecker in my yard in Connecticut. On my recent trip to Florida, I saw them all over the place in the Corkscrew Swamp area. These are the largest woodpeckers in the United States (assuming you consider the ivory-billed woodpecker extinct) and third largest in the world. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second.
A baby stump-tailed macaque peers through the thick vegetation, near Kaeng Krachan National Park on the Malay Peninsula of Thailand. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 280mm) ISO 1600, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second.
Here’s another one from Carcass Island in the Falklands. A blackish oystercatcher. Not much to say here, it’s an oystercatcher and it’s, well, blackish. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second.
Male southern sea lions live up to the name with their rather large and furry heads — at their furriest best when blown dry by the sub-Antarctic winds. This guy was enjoying the weather on the southern tip of Carcass Island in the Falklands. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (400mm) ISO 400, f/8 at 1/500th of a second.
Panama has a reputation for being one of the best birding destinations in the world. In the two times I’ve been there, I got a glimpse of just why. This image is from the highlands of El Valle — an orange-bellied trogon. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/200th of a second.
Wikipedia tells me this of the masked palm civet — “When alarmed, the animal sprays a secretion from its anal gland against the predator. The spray is similar in function to that of a skunk.” I’m happy to report that I must not have “alarmed” this palm civet. Photographed while camping in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 210mm) ISO 400, f/18 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-900 flash units.
It felt like a kangaroo day today. This field in Tasmania was full of eastern grey kangaroos, locally known as foresters. I was only at this national park in the far north for one night and thankfully the sky cooperated. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 70mm) ISO 800, f/6.3 at 1/60th of a second.