This one is from back in 2008 when I was still living in Detroit and took a drive out west just before moving back to New York. Southwest South Dakota has long been one of my favorite places to shoot. Not only great landscapes, but also lots of wildlife. Prairie dogs are very common, especially in northern sections of Badlands National Park. This particular prairie dog was whistling a warning call to any neighbors close enough to hear. (This will be the last post until next Tuesday as Karen and I are heading to Barbados for a long weekend. It’s not a wildlife trip so not sure I’ll return with anything for the blog, but you never know. Sea turtles are among the locals where we are staying.)
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 600mm f/5.6 manual focus lens, ISO 500, f/11 at 1/320th of a second

I’m back down in the Florida Panhandle on business for a couple of days and came across this Fowler’s toad this afternoon at Camp Helen State Park in Panama City Beach. I don’t have my good gear with me because this isn’t a photo trip, but I was able to get a few decent shots today with my little Nikon 1 AW1, which I was carrying along just in case I came across anything like, well, a Fowler’s toad.
Nikon 1 AW1 with Nikkor 1 AW 11-27.5mm lens (at 11mm) ISO 160, f/4 at 1/640th of a second

This white tailed deer is another of the residents of Saint Andrews State Park that I met on Tuesday. I think it’s a male, based on size, but it could be a female as this is the time of year that the males are without antlers. I started with my long lens and kept getting closer and closer. Eventually I had on my 17 to 35 and was shooting at 17mm, and even then I was able to get closer — so I pulled out my rarely used 15mm fisheye. He showed no apparent concern or irritation with me being right up in his face. In fact, he kept chewing the grass as if I wasn’t even there. Being a very highly visited park, I’m sure he’s been fed a lot by uninformed/unconcerned visitors. Whatever the case, if an animal doesn’t seem to mind, I like to get as close as I can and go as wide as I can. I took quite a few shots, but liked this particular frame because he appears to be telling me some sort of story or maybe a joke. Or maybe he was asking kindly for that KitKat bar in my backpack.
Nikon D810 with Sigma 15mm fisheye lens. ISO 800, f/6.3 at 1/250th of a second.

I was down in Panama City Beach, Florida for the past couple of days on a work assignment and ran into a few of the furry locals. This little guy is commonly called a swamp rabbit — a subspecies of the cottontail that prefers things a bit more on the wet side. You can tell a swamp rabbit from an eastern cottontail because the swampers are bigger, usually darker, and they have a cinnamon ring around the eye, as opposed to white. As for the tongue, well, I guess he wasn’t pleased with the particular flavor of grass he was eating.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second

The eastern, or red spotted newt goes through a stage when young when it is called a red eft. At this time, it is a very brightly colored orangish red and it lives on dry land. For the rest of its nearly 15-year life span, it remains in the water. I came across this little guy one rainy day while hiking in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in northwestern New Jersey.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 150mm with Canon 500D close up lens diopter) ISO 200, f/10 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units

These two cubs (and a couple of others at the base of the tree) were having a good old time climbing up and down and up and down. As I’ve mentioned before, black bears can be either quite dark like these two, or more of a brownish color. Some are even almost blond.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/200th of a second

Like yesterday, here’s another sunset shot, but with a completely different animal in a completely different part of the world — a prairie dog in the Badlands of South Dakota. I liked that there are three almost evenly distributed colors in the composition. I used a graduated neutral density filter to hold the color in the sky while exposing for the foreground.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 250mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/2500th of a second

It’s been a while since I posted anything from the California tide pools. I photographed this bat star in the seagrass a few years back in Montana De Oro State Park in Los Osos, along the central coast. It’s hard to think of sea stars as animals, let alone fighters, but they will often battle each other when crossing paths. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see this guy flex his muscles, as any would-be challengers were nowhere to be found.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 200, f/16 at 1/20th of a second

A young fox can either be called a pup, a kit or a cub. I usually go with pup. Being a canine it just seems right to me. These two little guys were having some early morning fun while mom was out hunting for breakfast in Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/400th of a second