As I’ve mentioned before, the silver fox is actually just a black variant of the red fox. There’s also a cross fox, which is part reddish and part blackish. The “silver” fox name comes from the white (silverish) tips to the fur that you can see on the in-focus part of this guy’s face. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/50th of a second.

When the tide recedes, ochre sea stars are a common sight along the shoreline in Olympic National Park in Washington state. They come in varying hues of purples and orange, clinging to the volcanic rock. A misty day combined with a slow shutter speed added to the atmosphere of this image captured at Rialto Beach. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 200, f/20 at 8 seconds.

You can see just how much bighorn lambs blend in with their surroundings in Badlands National Park. Bad for any would-be predators. Very good for the lambs. These two were having a good old time chasing each other up and down the sides of these eroded buttes, the dominant landscape feature in the park. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/320th of a second.

Like black bears, brown bears can vary in color. This young male had a lighter coat than any of the other bears we saw at Lake Clark — more of a blondish brown. He was doing a bit of a dance as we drove past on our way back to the lodge. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second.

Haven’t seen a single fox in my area of Connecticut this summer. At least not yet. But here’s one hunting for voles along the treeline in Lake Clark National Park in Alaska that I photographed a few years ago. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 250mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/640th of a second.

I was getting an interesting mix of fog and late day sun on this particular visit to Point Reyes National Seashore in California. The perfect time to go wide and capture more of the landscape. That’s a male tule elk lit up by the sun. Tule elk are the smallest subspecies of elk. A small population of them live at Point Reyes just north of San Francisco. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 280mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/320th of a second.

I photographed many elephant seals over the past fifteen years or so, both the southern and northern species. This bull, a northern elephant seal, was one of the first I captured. It was a glorious morning in Año Nuevo State Park in California and being early in the season, this guy had the beach to himself. Of course, that meant no females around to impress yet either. In another few weeks the beach would be full of seals, fighting for territorial and mating rights. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 75mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/1600th of a second.

A juvenile bull moose stands in front of a mountain landscape in Chugach State Park just outside of Anchorage, Alaska. During the fall rut, Chugach is a great place to see moose battling for mating rights. This youngster wasn’t quite old enough to mix it up with the big boys just yet and was staying clear of the action up on a hillside. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 116mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/3200th of a second.

While watering the lawn today, Karen spotted three tiny — I mean really tiny — little cottontail rabbits. They were about the size of a baseball and looked more like mice than rabbits. This one seemed to be enjoying the wet grass and cool breeze right in front of our house. Karen, of course, wouldn’t leave until she knew all three were safe from the ever-present red-tailed hawks. For now, mission accomplished as they eventually scrambled back into the bushes from whence they came. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second.