Coyotes are a fairly regular sighting in Yellowstone. Especially in winter when they seem to be all over the place. This guy had a face full of snow after hunting for whatever it was lurking beneath all that powder. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 155mm) ISO 800, f/3.5 at 1/320th of a second.
I was directly above this American Alligator at the National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key in Florida. The refuge protects a small population of the smallest deer in the United States, the key deer. But, there are also plenty of other creatures to be seen. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/9 at 1/100th of a second.
Another one for the bear fans. This mom was wading through the shallow water at low tide in Lake Clark National Park in Alaska, trying to get a better angle on breakfast. Her two cubs can be seen out of focus in the background waiting for their share of fresh caught salmon. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 310mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/2000th of second.
The last six months have proven difficult to capture new photos to post. I became unemployed for the first time in fifteen years last month (if anyone has any leads for a trusted Executive Creative Director at either an ad agency or client side, please send them my way) and my wife is going into her sixth month battling a nasty form of Lyme Disease. Not exactly the time to be flying to the far corners of the globe. But there’s always my backyard. A close-in suburb of New York City, it’s certainly not a hotbed of wildlife activity. Most days it’s just the usual northern cardinals, tufted titmice and blue jays, but today this barred owl paid a visit. S(he) napped for the better part of the morning, but was eventually driven off by the constant circling of a red-tailed hawk. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 220mm) ISO 500, f/4 at 1/400th of a second.
It’s rare that I post a shot where you can’t see the animal’s face. In this instance, however, I think it works. A mother bear and her cub loading up on veggies, getting ready for the coming hibernation. I like that the cub looks like a round ball of fur with those two little ears protruding from the top. This is another one from my trip a year ago to Lake Clark National Park in Alaska. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 105mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/1600th of a second.
I met my first white squirrel a few winters back in Olney, Illinois. I actually met quite a few white squirrels that day, all living near the town center. Olney is one of several towns in the US and Canada claiming to be the “Home of the White Squirrel.” They are actually just a color morph of the common Eastern gray squirrel. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/125th of a second.
Two coastal brown bears just taking it easy on a sandbar near Silver Salmon Creek in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. I suppose I looked somewhat similar about twenty yards away face down on the ground with my camera.
Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 290mm) ISO 640, f/4 at 1/1250th of a second
2018 saw a lot of everyday life circumstances getting in the way of my photography. Hopefully things will get back on track in 2019 and I can return to where I enjoy being most — in the wild. That said, the year did start strong. Karen and I took a “non-wildlife” trip to Belize, which ended up yielding a surprising amount of incidental wildlife, especially of the under water variety. Shortly after that, I travelled to the southern tip of South America for a week of puma tracking. Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile clearly ranks toward the top of the most spectacular wild places that I have ever visited. Unfortunately, the remainder of the year consisted of the birds in my backyard and a single trip with my father to view seals off the coast of Cape Cod. I was busy with photos from other locations around the world, however, as I had quite a backlog of processing to do on all the images I’ve captured over the past 15 years. Lots of home time enabled me to tackle this ongoing challenge. That said, the following ten photos are the highlights captured this year.
Thought this one would be appropriate for the last post before the holiday — a sea otter floating in front of the reflection of a Christmas tree. Photographed in Moss Landing on the central California coast. Happy Holidays everyone.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 1600, f/3.5 at 1/30th of a second
Something a bit different today — a macro shot of a flower. Actually many flowers. The yellow spike in the middle of a calla lily is called the spadix. It’s made up of many male and female flowers. The male flowers reside on the tip of the spadix and will eventually produce pollen, whereas the female flowers are at the base. I used a very narrow depth of field to bring focus just to the uppermost male flowers. The white area surrounding the spadix is called the spathe. This is the leafy, trumpet-shaped part of the calla lily that we generally consider the flower. I’ve posted a few landscape shots of this very picturesque location before. It’s in Garrapata State Park in California — where a little spring leads down to the ocean. On each side of the spring, the calla lilies grow from the swampy ground.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 105mm macro lens, ISO 400, f/4 at 1/800th of a second