We only had one morning with this kind of light — made possible by that narrow seam that opened up in the clouds. This lone bear cooperated by taking a sunrise stroll across the wet sand at low tide.
Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 240mm) ISO 2500, f/4 at 1/80th of a second

I also saw quite a few moose on this recent trip to Alaska. It was the beginning of the rut, so bulls were plentiful and in search of willing cows. This bull was one of three that were after a single cow in Chugach State Park just outside of Anchorage. It actually got a bit scary as I didn’t know where the bulls were hiding in the bushes and when they would suddenly appear. They can be quite aggressive if anything or anyone gets between them and what they’re after. Amazing how such a large animal can seem to vanish in an instant and then emerge again.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 98mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/800th of a second

Yesterday I posted mama bear catching a fish. Here’s what her cubs do while she’s hunting. Well, not all the time, but on this occasion, I did catch this young cub doing a bit of a dance back on shore, no doubt excited for a delicious meal to come.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/5 at 1/2000th of a second

Just back from a week in Alaska. Despite the fact that it rained almost the entire time, it was still a great trip and it was awesome to get out there and photograph the coastal brown bears in Lake Clark National Park, as well as a few other creatures like moose, fox and dall sheep. I have many photos to go through. I took quite a few of the bears racing through the water at low tide, pouncing (or at least trying to pounce) on silver salmon. This is just one of those shots. More to come, some with the great mountain scenery in the background — for this shot I was shooting almost directly out to the open waters of Cook Inlet. There are some mountains back there, but the overcast conditions were keeping them from being visible.
Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1250th of a second

Pikas are closely related to rabbits, although smaller than the average rabbit and with shorter ears. There are several species living in mountainous regions of Asia and North America. This is the American pika. It lives in boulder fields at or above the tree line. Spotted at Mount Evans in Colorado.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/250th of a second

I believe this to be a female Brewer’s blackbird, but can’t be sure. Regardless, she had quite a scowl on her face as she stared me down from her perch in the vegetation above the oceanside cliffs in Santa Cruz, California.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/6.3 at 1/200th of a second

There are two species of elephant seal, the southern, which I photographed in the Falkland Islands and the northern, which are common up and down the California coast. This mother and her pup are northern elephant seals. On this particular beach near San Simeon, California, there were about fifty or so mothers, all with a single newborn pup.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 270mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/125th of a second

It looked like it would be a difficult day to photograph birds because of all the fog, but it ended up yielding some nice atmospheric shots, like these two cormorants perched near the water’s surface at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel Island, Florida.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 80mm) ISO 400, f/4.5 at 1/2000th of a second

As I’ve mentioned before, Muscatatuck in Indiana is one of the best places in the country to photograph river otters. They can be found all year round, but I like to go in the winter when they come out on the ice to rest and to eat fish. For this shot, I was laying belly down on the edge of the ice with my camera on the ground. The otter was unusually tolerant of my close approach. Part of that might have had to do with the fact that it was raining and the sound of my shutter was dampened.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/500th of a second

The silver fox is actually just a black variant of the red fox. Back in the day, their pelts were the most highly sought after by nobles in Russia, Western Europe and China. They get the nickname of silver fox because of all the white at the tips of their hair follicles. This particular silver fox was foraging amongst the alpine wildflowers late one rainy afternoon on Mount Rainer in Washington.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/320th of a second