When it comes to wildlife, my sister Mo knows what she likes. Frogs. And seeing as today is Mo’s birthday, a frog it is. And not just any old frog — a high fiving tree frog. At least that’s what this hourglass tree frog appears to be doing. I came across the little guy on a nocturnal walk in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. Hourglass tree frogs are also sometimes called pantless tree frogs. What I like most about this trouserless specimen is that if you look close, you can see the reflection of his hand in his eyeball. Happy birthday Mo — from me and the frog.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 105mm macro lens, ISO 400, f/14 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-900 flash units on a bracket

I took this photo late one afternoon down in the Okefenokee Swamp of southern Georgia. The last rays of the sun were illuminating a mixed assortment of shorebirds as they settled into a tree for the night. Amongst the flock were little blue herons, white ibis and snowy egrets.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1600th of a second

Bison are always great subjects for landscape shots because of their distinctive shape. I photographed this one grazing on a ridge line early one morning on the recent Badlands trip. As with several other of the Badlands shots, I took five exposures and blended them in Photomatix Pro in order to retain the detail in both the foreground and the sky — which is another great thing about bison, they usually don’t move very fast.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 70mm) ISO 400, f/20 at 1/100th, 1/400th, 1/200th, 1/50th and 1/25th of a second

I photographed this hummingbird in Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana last year. It’s a female broad tailed hummingbird. The males are much more colorful with a red throat and green head and body. This young lady was among several other species of hummingbird that were fluttering around a feeder in the back yard of the refuge headquarters.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 250mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/4000th of a second, Nikon SB-900 flash

Here’s another photo of the baby prairie dogs I met while in South Dakota. These two youngsters were in Wind Cave National Park and were giving each other a little kiss while playing around the burrow.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/3200th of a second

Back to the Badlands for this one. I’m not quite sure of the exact species of cottontail, but this little rabbit was running around early in the morning at one of the popular pullouts in the park. There were a couple of other rabbits there as well, but this one was easily the smallest and clearly younger than the rest.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/800th of a second

I don’t often take photos in my own backyard. Mainly because I’m a wildlife photographer and I live in New York. That being said, there are some very good places in the city to find nature. One of the best is Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge, which straddles both Brooklyn and Queens. Jamaica Bay is a bit of an anomaly because it is the only National Wildlife Refuge that is not administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service, but rather the National Park Service. It’s a great place to photograph migrating birds, raccoons, and the occasional reeds with blurred cityscape.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 300mm) ISO 800, f/6.3 at 1/100th of a second

Here’s a rare post minus any animals — once again, taken in Badlands National Park a few weeks ago. Those yellow flowers in the foreground were everywhere throughout the park, covering the ground and growing up the sides of the eroded buttes. To hold the detail in the foreground and the sky, I took five exposures and combined them in post as an HDR image.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 200, f/20 at 1/3, 1/13, 1/6, .6, and 1.3 seconds

I promise that next week I’ll get back to the rest of the world, but for now I’m going to stick with south west South Dakota. A few days ago I posted a great horned owl. This is the other, much more common species of owl that I saw while in the Badlands. Burrowing owls are very small, and they can be seen early in the morning, living alongside prairie dogs in prairie dog towns.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/1600th of a second

Spring is the time for bighorn lambs to be born and there were plenty of them in the Badlands. It’s fun to watch them running up and down the steep walls of the buttes, jumping fearlessly as they chase each other back and forth.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/320th of a second