We have a lot of blue jays in our yard. And occasionally one flies in front of my camera trap. This bit of jay action was recorded back in November. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 400, f/11 at 1/160th of as second, Cognisys camera box, triggering system and flashes.
For my day job in advertising, I used to shoot a lot of commercials in Toronto. Whenever there was down time I would head out with my camera to see what I could find. On this particular evening it was a mute swan in a city park on Lake Ontario. There wasn’t much light left, but just enough to capture the last color of the day. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 310mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second.
I’m usually not much of a high-key guy when it comes to wildlife photography and blowing out the highlights, but occasionally I find something that works. I liked this painted turtle popping its head above water framed by the bits of out of focus foliage to the right. Photographed somewhere in Florida. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second.
I missed the boat on Groundhog Day. A day late, but here’s a marmot. All marmots aren’t groundhogs, but all groundhogs are marmots. The guy pictured above is a hoary marmot (Marmota caligata) as opposed to a true groundhog (Marmota momax). Photographed years ago at Mount Rainier in Washington. There wasn’t any shadow that day either — as if any of us actually thought winter would be over before the middle of March. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second.
The Thomas’s leaf monkey, also known as the Thomas’s langur, is one of the world’s least studied primates. They live only in Sumatra and their habitat has been getting smaller and smaller due mainly to deforestation for logging, pulp and paper and palm oil cultivation. They are also hunted by locals, so they were understandably skittish every time they saw me raise my camera to take a photo. This monkey pictured above was one of the more relaxed ones I saw, thanks to the protection of a nearby national park. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/250th of a second.
I always like to include the subject’s environment if I can. Usually that means getting close with a wide angle lens, but sometimes it means using a long lens to compress space. The latter was the case with this prairie dog in Badlands National Park. I used a 600mm lens but from quite a distance to bring the background closer. I also had to stop down to f/22 to record detail in what otherwise would have been a blur of color.Nikon D700 with Nikkor 600mm f/5.6 manual focus lens, ISO 400, f/22 at 1/80th of a second.
I met this forest lizard on the Malay Peninsula of Thailand at Khlong Saeng. More specifically, it’s an Emma Gray’s forest lizard, named after an English conchologist. What’s a conchologist, you ask? Just as it sounds, of course. One who studies mollusks. It was Emma’s husband, however, who discovered the lizard. I’m still searching for a lizard to name after my wife. Some day Baby, some day. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 240mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/100th of a second.
Here’s a species I’ve never posted before — the Malagasy kestrel. As the name suggests, it is native to Madagascar. It’s a small bird of prey that has many other common names, including the Malagasy spotted kestrel, Newton’s kestrel, Madagascar spotted kestrel, katiti and hitsikitsika. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm f/5.6 manual focus lens, ISO 200, f/8 at 1/320th of a second.
We watched this puma as she slowly worked her way through the grasslands of Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile, back to a kill that she had hidden earlier in the day. She would disappear into the landscape, occasionally entering a clearing such as this before vanishing again. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/500th of a second.
The razorbill is the only species in the genus Alca. It’s relative, the great auk, went extinct in the mid 19th century. They are monogamous birds and spend the vast majority of their lives at sea, coming ashore only to breed. This mated pair appears to be doing just that. Photographed on Machias Seal Island off the coast of Maine. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/6.3 at 1/2000th of a second.