As far as monkeys go, the white capuchin is not one of the prettiest. But then again, it is a monkey, and by virtue of that alone, I think the white faced capuchin is a fine beast. I got a nice close look at the baldish, yet hairy-ish face on this one late one afternoon in Drake Bay, Costa Rica.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/320th of a second
Here’s one for the entomology fans — a giant red-winged grasshopper. I don’t know much about these guys other than they are big. Up to seven inches in length. This one was hiding in the leaf litter on a trail through Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. For close-ups of larger small things like this guy, I like to use my 200-400mm lens because of its ability to focus at close range.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/125th of a second
This is a granular poison frog, but I prefer the more common name of green jeans poison frog — closely related to the blue jeans frog, also found nearby in Costa Rica. This was the only frog wearing the green jeans that I found, but he was cooperative enough to pose for quite a few photos, including this one using a close up filter on the front of my 70-200mm lens and a three second exposure time.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 100, f/6.3 at 3 seconds
This is a northern tamandua, also known as a lesser anteater. I saw quite a few of these guys on my first visit to Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica back in November of 2007. They have a terrible sense of sight, but a good sense of hearing. For this shot, I sat motionless under a tree and patiently waited until the tamandua forgot I was there. Satisfied it was alone, it started to descend. From experience, I knew that once I clicked the shutter, the animal would either freeze, head back up the tree, or scamper away on the forest floor. I took only one shot at close range before the tamandua froze for what must have been ten minutes. Once satisfied that it was alone yet again, it proceeded on its way.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 18-55mm lens (at 45mm) ISO 500, f/5.3 at 1/80th of a second
Trogons are among my favorite birds. There are many different species which live in tropical regions across the globe. The males are generally much more colorful but the females have that sturdy and exotic trogon-look that is characteristic of all species. The top photo is a female collared trogon from the cloud forest of Ecuador. The middle shot is a male black-throated trogon from Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. And the third is a green-backed trogon from my most recent trip to Trinidad.
Collared Trogon — Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/100th of a second
Black Throated Trogon — Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/60th of a second
Green Backed Trogon — Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 640, f/4 at 1/100th of a second
Coatis are fairly common in Costa Rica. They are comfortable both on the ground and in trees. This guy was resting during the heat of the day in Corcovado National Park. You can see why they have the nickname of “hog-nosed raccoon.”
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/250th of a second
Some animals I like just because of their names. Thus is the case with the Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine. I was lucky enough to come across this one early in the morning in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. Porcupines are primarily nocturnal so it was great to photograph this bristly beast in daylight. Even so, the light was very dim, but due to the fact that he/she was resting, I was able to use a slow shutter of 1/30th of a second with no worry of motion blur.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/30th of a second
There was no Africa trip this year, and I didn’t get out with the camera with the frequency of some previous years, but 2014 was still a great year for me and wildlife. The time that I did spend in the field yielded some excellent sightings, even when I was only able to get away for a day or two. The following photos represent some of the highlights of the year — all new shots that I haven’t shared yet. Enjoy, and thanks for continuing to check out my posts on a daily basis.
Things started a bit slow in Yellowstone back in February. I’ve been to Yellowstone many times, still hoping for better looks at wolves. It didn’t happen this time, but I did have some great opportunities with bighorn, pronghorn, bison and all the other usual suspects. This ram was working hard to find grass beneath the thick bed of snow.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 380mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/8000th of a second
I went to Costa Rica for a long week in March, hoping to photograph tapirs and photograph tapirs I did. In fact this one I photographed from only about a foot away, as I remained very quiet, on the ground, with my wide angle zoom.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 3200, f/2.8 at 1/320th of a second
In May, Karen and I took a five day trip to Tulum, Mexico. It was mostly a beach holiday, but I got away one afternoon and headed to the Punta Laguna Nature Reserve where I was able to photograph spider monkeys.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 310mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/640th of a second
In June, I headed out to the great parks of southwestern South Dakota. Badlands is one of my favorite parks in the country and never seems to disappoint. It was the time of year for baby prairie dogs and I saw many of them.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/400th of a second
In July, I had to be in Los Angeles for business. I was able to get away for a night over the weekend so I headed to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. This was the 122 degree day that I’ve talked about in several posts. I love photographing black-tailed jackrabbits and have posted a few from this trip. My mother had asked about whether or not their ears are ever down. Well, here you go. When relaxed and at rest, the ears are down, but when they hear something or are on alert, the ears stick straight up.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second
And finally, my big trip of the year was to the Falkland Islands in October/November. I’m still going through all the photos from this trip — two awesome weeks with five different species of penguin and assorted other creatures. I photographed these four king penguins at twilight at Volunteer Point, on the main island of East Falkland.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 35mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/320th of a second
This was the first of many coatis that I saw on my trip to Costa Rica back in March. These guys are pretty widespread throughout much of South and Central America and even range up into the southwestern United States. I had my camera on the ground when this one passed by, foraging in the leaves — most likely looking for crabs — in Corcovado National Park.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 250mm) ISO 3200, f/4 at 1/400th of a second
If you’ve looked into my Costa Rica gallery, you may have seen this shot before but I never posted it to the blog. This was the only time I’ve ever seen a mountain lion/puma/cougar (they’re all the same thing) in the wild. And she was only five feet away. She wasn’t five feet away when I took this photo — more like 40 feet — but she was five feet away when I first came across her the night before. It was the first time I visited Corcovado National Park down in southern Costa Rica. I arrived late in the day and had to hike for about an hour or so to reach a permanent tented camp on the beach. I had about an hour of good light left after setting up camp so decided to go for a hike in the rain forest that led down to the beach. The forest was very thick and I had my longest lens mounted to my camera so I decided to stop, take off my backpack and change to a shorter lens. As soon as I had my lens off my camera is when I felt a presence to my left and turned to see the puma. She had a dead white faced capuchin monkey in her mouth and was backing into the brush. I couldn’t believe my bad luck — the shot of a lifetime and I had a camera with no lens on it. The next morning I got up at about 4 AM and hiked through forest. Sure enough, I found the puma, but without the monkey. This is the one shot that I got before the puma turned and walked away.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second, Nikon SB-800 flash