A Galápagos sea lion floats through the clear waters of Rabida Island in the Galápagos. I like that you can see the tail on this one. Each afternoon of our Galápagos trip we had the opportunity to snorkel with sea lions. They rarely disappointed. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) in Ikelite underwater housing, ISO 800, f/9 at1/320th of a second.
The Baird’s tapir is the largest land mammal in Central and South America. This impressive male was foraging in the leaf litter as I sat quietly on the ground waiting for his head to rise up for a portrait. There are three species of tapirs native to the Americas. The Baird’s occupies the northern range from Mexico down through the northwestern tip of South America. I photographed this one in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 78mm) ISO 3200, f/2.8 at 1/50th of a second.
Motmots are always a good find when birding in Central and South America. In Panama, there are four different species. The tody motmot is the smallest of the four and the only one without the distinctive long tail. This tody motmot was enjoying a breakfast of frog up in the mountains of central Panama. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/80th of a second.
I captured this image of a bull moose in northern Colorado a few years back on a rainy day. It’s always nice when you can photograph the wildlife from the comfort of the driver’s seat of your car. It was early July and the moose’s antlers were covered in velvet and quite a ways from being fully grown. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/100th of a second.
A female Dall sheep walks along a granite cliff beside the Seward Highway south of Anchorage, Alaska. Dall sheep, also called thinhorn sheep, are characterized by their white fur. They range from western Canada on up through Alaska. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 350mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second.
I’m assuming this is an adult opossum with a youngster trailing behind. They were caught on one of my camera traps as they walked along one of the many fallen ash trees in my back woods. An invasive beetle — the emerald ash borer — has been killing nearly all the ash trees in Connecticut, and across thirty other states. Terrible news for our native forests, but the fallen trees provide plenty of habitat for opossums and other small woodland creatures. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 500, f/14 at 1/200th of a second, Cognisys camera box, trail monitor and flashes.
I generally don’t like to post photos like this but it’s important to understand the consequences when it comes to human interactions with wildlife. Feeding wild animals is never a good idea. This brown pelican, and many other shorebirds, are often the victims of what some think is an act of kindness — tossing them dead baitfish and fish carcasses. Pelicans that are fed associate people with an easy meal and often mistake a lure for another handout. Undoubtedly, that’s what happened to this brown pelican in the heavily populated seaside town of La Jolla, California. Fortunately, this story had a happy ending, as local authorities were able to safely remove the hook. Many other birds aren’t as lucky. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/8 at 1/1250th of a second.
Not quite a rat, not quite a beaver. I photographed this muskrat years ago in Cape May, New Jersey. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm lens) ISO 400, f/6.3 at 1/200th of a second.
The tentativeness of penguins can be an amusing thing to behold. Even in this shallow inlet, this gentoo penguin seemingly had to psych himself up before finally making the plunge. Photographed on Saunders Island in the Falkland Islands. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/1600th of a second.
My wife and I have seen a bobcat in the backyard a few times over the last two years — always a quick glimpse before disappearing into the woods. My surveillance cams have spotted a bobcat too, but one has yet to trigger one of my camera traps. Until this past Friday. Ironically, this was the trap set up to capture raccoons, opossums and other smaller mammals as they travel across their favorite fallen tree. If I was going to get the bobcat, I figured it would be in the other camera trap, set up along a bottleneck trail in the woods. This was a happy accident in more ways than one. The batteries in the flash units died and did not fire. They would have filled in the shadows in the image, which would have ruined the best part — the bobcat sticking its head into the shaft of light. That’s camera trapping for you. Sometimes the accidents end up being the best shots. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 20mm f/1.8 lens, ISO 500, f/11 at 1/160th of a second, Camtraptions housing and triggers.