Black-capped night heron’s often allow a close approach. This one was focused on staring at the water, waiting for just the right moment to strike. I was able to get several nice portraits from ground level, before backing off and allowing the staring contest to continue. Photographed at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island in Florida. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 240mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/500th of a second.

I’ve posted a few images from this series in the past. Here’s another of a lone bighorn atop the eroded buttes of Badlands National Park in South Dakota. The bighorn being on the ridgeline allowed me to shoot with a wider telephoto, making the subject smaller in the overall composition and really communicating all that glorious environment. I was also able to use a graduated neutral density filter to hold the detail in the sky while preventing a full silhouette of the landscape. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 150mm) ISO 400, f/8 at 1/800th of a second, split graduated neutral density filter.

Usually, photographing an animal with its back to camera is the last thing I want. But occasionally, it works. This angle emphasizes those enormous ears, while also highlighting the namesake black tail. Photographed in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in southern California a few years back. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1250th of a second.

A bit late on post today as my Internet has been down at home. Here’s another from the Venice Rookery in Florida where it is almost too easy to capture shorebirds in flight, usually with something dangling from the front of their beaks. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/8 at 1/4000th of a second.

A Barrow’s goldeneye flies past the blurred peaks of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/2500th of a second.

Looking at those skinny legs, it’s hard to believe that the pronghorn is the second fastest land mammal on earth (only slightly slower than the cheetah — although it can maintain speed over a greater distance than the cheetah). In fact, the pronghorn can easily outpace any predator on the North American continent, leading experts to believe that it developed its great speed due to a now extinct predator — perhaps the American cheetah, of which exist skeletal records. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 380mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/800th of a second.

Here’s another one from the Venice Rookery in Florida. In addition to great egrets, blue herons, black-crowned night herons and ibis, it’s also a great place to photograph anhingas in flight. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (with 1.4 teleconverter for 500mm) ISO 1600, f/10 at 1/800th of a second.

A pair of river otters enjoy a moment atop a frozen pond in Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge in Indiana. The great thing about photographing river otters in the winter is that you always know where they’re going to pop up. They create a hole in the ice and then maintain it so that they can easily hunt for fish before dining on the surface. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens and 1.4 teleconverter (for 550mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/500th of a second.

This one goes out to all the mothers out there, especially ML. Hope you all had a great day. This mother mountain goat was having a great day with her kid high atop Mount Evans in Colorado. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 200, f/6.3 at 1/800th of a second.

Just a simple portrait of a brown bear, but I liked the layers of muted colors in this one — typical of Alaska’s Lake Clark National Park in autumn. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 330mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/320th of a second.