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.
The town of Olney, Illinois is known for its population of white eastern gray squirrels. A few years back I happened to be in town and photographed a few of the locals. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/320th of a second.
Also known as the long-tailed macaque, the crab-eating macaque is a fairly common monkey throughout much of southeast Asia. This one looked like he was heading out for some of those aforementioned crabs. Photographed in Sumatra, Indonesia. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/80th of a second.
It was late in the day and the colors of the swamp were intensifying as the trees were reflecting off the surface of the water. The perfect time to photograph half-submerged alligators in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/100th of a second.
With snipes, it’s all about the beak. This is the Magellanic snipe, just one of many snipe species in the world. But back to that beak, which is highly complex and can distinguish between many different delicacies beneath the soil such as larvae and other food sources. Apparently extra sensory filaments within the beak are what allow the snipe to be so discriminating. Photographed on Sea Lion Island in the Falkland Islands. Nikon D800, with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/2500th of a second.