Of course, if we’re to believe Looney Tunes, wherever there are roadrunners (see yesterday’s post), there are sure to be a few wily coyotes just around the corner. According to Wikipedia, however, coyotes have not been known to successfully attack roadrunners as prey — which, now that I think about it, would be pretty consistent with old Wile E’s success rate in the cartoon. These coyotes were some of the skinniest that I have seen, but they were also pretty good looking — lean and clean with nice coats and not mangy or scraggly like others I’ve come across in desert areas.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) f/4 at 1/1600th of a second

In addition to jackrabbits, I also photographed roadrunners last weekend in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. I was able to get my camera onto the ground for this one as the roadrunner ran across the desert floor in search of a meal. By getting the camera low, not only was I able to get a much more pleasing perspective of the bird, I was also able to bring out the blurred pastel colors of the desert. Like the jackrabbit yesterday, roadrunners seem to have a special charm, perhaps born of their harsh existence in the desert. They are also known as the chaparral cock, ground cuckoo, and snake killer. I kind of like that last one.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 270mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/640th of a second

I just got back from a two week business trip to Los Angeles. I had some down time last weekend and was able to get out to the desert for a night. It was hot. Very hot. 122 degrees hot. Too scorching for even the usual desert wildlife to make an appearance. As soon as the sun hit the horizon, however, the jackrabbits, coyotes and roadrunners all came creeping out of hiding. The next day, I got up before the sun and had a good time photographing the jackrabbits. This particular rabbit was eyeing me through a hole in the dried up desert flora. With their enormous ears, jackrabbits have always been one of my favorite subjects to photograph. They can be skittish and don’t usually stick around long enough to get decent shots, but I had good luck this time — perhaps because they were too hot to make much of an effort to run away. I’ll be posting a few more of these guys in the coming weeks.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/1250th of a second

About a month ago I posted a shot of a single bighorn silhouetted against the late day sky in Badlands National Park. Here’s another from that sequence with several bighorn hanging out on the ridge line.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/8 at 1/400th of a second

This guy is called a hoary marmot. He was lounging on a rock high up a mountainside in Mount Rainier National Park. When the sun is up they like to sprawl out on rocks to soak up the warmth.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/8 at 1/500th of a second

You never know what you might find in a bison’s fur. In this case, a male and female cowbird — the female on the left, male on the right. I found it amusing that they always seemed to be looking in the same direction at the same time. As for the bison, he was just happy to be going about his business of eating grass, oblivious to the new tenants on his back. This is another one from the Badlands trip.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/500th of a second

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