It was late in the afternoon and this cheetah had found a nice resting spot for the evening. Unlike most other predatory cats which tend to be creatures of the night, cheetahs are mostly diurnal and hunt during the day. They rely more on sight than their other senses and prefer the morning and afternoon hours when the sun is still in the sky. I photographed this one in the Linyanti concession of northern Botswana. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/320th of a second.
There are two types of sea lions that we get along the west coast of the United States. The Steller sea lion and the California sea lion. This is the latter. A great place to see them is at Moss Landing, just north of Monterey, where they tend to hang out on empty docks. This guy appeared to be getting a satisfying flipper scratch on the top of the head. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 260mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/160th of a second.
A great egret gets busy constructing a nest. Egrets and other wading birds will spend days flying back and forth, carrying whatever sticks and twigs they can find to build the perfect nest. You can see the green lores (that patch of green surrounding the eyes) which is an indication of breeding season — roughly January through June. Photographed in Venice, Florida. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 380mm) ISO 400, f/6.3 at 1/2500th of a second.
I’ve mentioned before just how small dik diks are — one of the smallest antelope species in Africa. If you look close you can see that this one has a fly on its forehead between the eyes. That should give a bit of an indication just how small in size they are. Photographed in Samburu, Kenya. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 380mm) ISO 400, f/9 at 1/60th of a second.
This one goes out to my friends at No Fish (nofishcardgame.com) doing their part to bring awareness to our vanishing sea creatures. This school of blue-striped grunts were in the protected waters of Hol Chan Marine Reserve in Belize. Definitely looking forward to getting the camera under water again sometime soon. Sony RX1005 at 8.8mm (in underwater housing) ISO 125, f/4 at 1/320th of a second.
When I take my dog out for his nightly walk, I often see the eyes of white-tail deer staring back at me from the woods behind our house. With my headlamp, all I can see is the eyeshine — bright dots of light in the darkness. Occasionally, my camera trap provides a behind the scenes look at what they’re up to back there. In this case, a young buck and a doe seem to be having some sort of conversation. 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 remote flashes.
Other than baboons, vervet monkeys are the most commonly seen primates on East African safaris. They often hang around camps, and can be particularly mischievous. At Samburu in Kenya, you need to lock your tent at all times because the monkeys have figured out how to unzip the front entrance and ransack everything inside in search of food. I photographed this mother and her infant while we were eating lunch at the camp’s dining area. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/400th of a second.
Purple honeycreepers are small little things — not all that much bigger than a hummingbird. They are in the tanager family and live throughout the northern half of South America and into the Caribbean. I photographed this one in Trinidad. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/400th of a second.
We got up and out before the hippos got up and in. They often leave the water at night and can be found grazing at dawn. As soon as the sun gets hot, however, they generally get back into the water. Their skin is very susceptible to burning and they spend the hot part of the day with their bodies fully submerged. You can see cape buffalo in the background not yet fully awake. Photographed on the Masai Mara plains in Kenya. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 240mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/250th of a second.
With this momentary window of warm weather, I suspect the bears will be out and about tonight. Here’s one I took back in early October. Or should I say she took the photo of herself when walking through my camera trap. Most of my bear camera trap photos over the past year have been at night. This was a rare instance of daytime action. I actually watched as she and her two cubs came through the back woods, tripped the shutter, and then continued on through my side yard. On this particular pass through, the cubs stayed out of frame and to their mother’s left. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 400, f/14 at 1/80th of a second, Cognisys camera box, trail monitors and remote flashes.
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It was late in the afternoon and this cheetah had found a nice resting spot for the evening. Unlike most other predatory cats which tend to be creatures of the night, cheetahs are mostly diurnal and hunt during the day. They rely more on sight than their other senses and prefer the morning and afternoon hours when the sun is still in the sky. I photographed this one in the Linyanti concession of northern Botswana. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/320th of a second.
