Just back from a few days in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Too many photos to go through at the moment and I need sleep, but here’s a quick one that I took yesterday in Badlands National Park. Look closely and you can see a bighorn sheep silhouetted against the great sky.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 250mm) ISO 400, f/8 at 1/640th of a second

A couple of months ago, I posted a wide angle shot of tule elk on the horizon at twilight. Here’s one a bit closer and a bit earlier in the day. This bull was keeping watch over his harem as the fog was just starting to roll in in the background. I’m off to the Black Hills of South Dakota tomorrow for a few days. I’ll be back mid next week with new posts.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/100th of a second

Not much to say here. Just a simple portrait of a pronghorn taken last year in Yellowstone.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/6.3 at 1/640th of a second

This burrowing owl was displaying the ability to turn its head 180 degrees, keeping an eye on a possible predator flying above (probably an eagle or a hawk). I took this one down in Cape Coral, Florida — one of the best places in the country to see burrowing owls.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 350mm) ISO 800, f/4.5 at 1/200th of a second

Meals don’t come easy for bighorn rams in the wintertime. I photographed this guy a few months back in Yellowstone. There was a small bachelor herd of rams on a steep mountainside, all digging through the snow in search of any edible grass.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 310mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/2000th of a second

The Canada goose in the middle seems to be trying to protect the rest of the geese from the sun. This was taken several years back when I was searching for river otters in Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge in Southern Indiana — one of my favorite locations in the National Wildlife Refuge system.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm f/5.6 manual focus lens, ISO 100, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second

This one goes out to all the mothers. I know it’s a day late, but seeing as I don’t post on Sundays I had to save my mother/baby tribute for today. This was taken at a little spot along the central California coast that I try to visit every few years or so. It’s a deserted stretch of beach that I stumbled upon one day that turns into an elephant seal nursery every January. There were a few stray males in the area, but mostly mothers and their single pup. It seemed every seal on the beach had one. In this photo, behind the main subject, you can see another mother and baby out of focus in the background.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 270mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/250th of a second

Roseate spoonbills are at the top of many birders must-see list. Especially when taking a trip to Florida, where I photographed this one. I’ve posted a few shots of these guys before, but this particular photo really gives a good look at that peculiar bill. While feeding, they swing their head back and forth through shallow water, using the spoon-shaped bill to easily sift through the mud in search of food.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/5 at 1/320th of a second

I took this one at the end of the day in Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island in Florida. Ding Darling is world famous for its birds. I’ve been there many times and it never seems to disappoint, although I’m never quite sure what I’m going to see. On this particular evening, it was white pelicans. They were settling in for the night on a small sandbar in the middle of the bay. I got the camera down low in order to silhouette the pelicans against the sky’s red/orange reflection in the water.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/125th of a second

The double crested cormorant is a rather ordinary looking sea bird. With the exception, of course, of that extraordinary emerald eye. This particular cormorant was very tame, allowing me to fill the frame with a nice head shot. I was hiking along the popular — and justifiably famous to birders — Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park just south of Miami.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 200, f/6.3 at 1/640th of a second