It was early spring when I photographed this bull moose in a field of out-of-focus lupine in northern Colorado. Like all male deer (yes, a moose is a deer) a new set of antlers is grown each year before being shed in the winter. Throughout most of the growing season, the antlers are covered in velvet. Once fully grown, the velvet will shed, and soon thereafter, the antlers will be dropped. This guy is also displaying a nice dewlap — that fancy flap of skin hanging from beneath the chin.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/500th of a second

This barred owl was enjoying a bit of an appetizer course for breakfast. The unfortunate prey was an eastern lubber grasshopper. You can see the one orange leg still dangling from the owl’s beak.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 300mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1//1000th of a second

I was talking to someone at the office today who has a bit of a mouse problem. She is disgusted by them and was asking what she could do to get rid of them. My advice was to enjoy their company and be happy that they had chosen her house to co-habitate in. This, of course, was not a satisfactory answer. I was reminded of a pleasant mouse encounter I had in the wild some years ago — well, it was sort of in the wild. I was hiking in Allegheny National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania. At the trailhead there was a box containing trail maps. When I reached into the box I quickly realized that a family of deer mice had other plans for those maps. They had torn them to shreds and used them as nesting material to line the bottom of the box. About eight mice scattered from the nest, including this little guy who decided to asses the situation from behind the relative safety of the box post.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 200, f/7.1 at 1/60th of a second, Nikon SB-800 flash

Point Reyes National Seashore isn’t that far north of San Francisco. In fact, the northern suburbs of the city can be seen below this ridge where elk often graze. It was well past sunset when I took this picture and I had to crank my ISO up to 3200 to have enough light to record the scene. A bed of fog (of course, it’s San Francisco) settled into the valley below as the elk began to wind down another day.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 135mm) ISO 3200, f/2.8 at 1/25th of a second

I photographed this northern harrier hawk last year on my snowy owl trip to British Columbia. There were quite a few of these hawks in the area, fighting with short eared owls for voles and mice.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1000, f/4 at 1/1250th of a second

And finally, to round off Final Four week, a UConn Husky — but instead of one photo, we get two because it’s not only the men’s team in the Final Four, but also the Connecticut women’s team. This is actually a grey wolf from the same drive-through wildlife park I talked about the other day when I posted the badger. Huskies, of course, being sled dogs descended from wolves and bred for their speed. Good luck to all the teams. But especially Connecticut.
Top shot: Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 300mm with Nikon teleconverter) ISO 800, f/5 at 1/1250th of a second
Botton shot: Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 340 with Nikon teleconverter) ISO 800, f/4.8 at 1/1000th of a second

In the past two days, we’ve seen a Wildcat and a Badger — here’s Final Four team number three, the Florida Gator. This one is a bit closer to the mark, too, having been photographed in St. Augustine, just about an hour and a half drive east of the University of Florida campus in Gainesville. The U.S. species is appropriately called the American alligator, not to be confused with his cousin, the American crocodile — the latter having a longer, more slender snout, among other differences. American alligators are apex predators, preying upon fish, amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals. The question is, will it be the predator or prey come Saturday?
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 350mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/50th of a second

Yesterday’s post paid homage to the Kentucky Wildcats. Today’s celebrates their opponent in Saturday’s Final Four matchup, the Wisconsin Badgers. Apparently this guy isn’t feeling too intimidated. There are a dozen or so different badger species in the world. The species that occurs in the U.S. — latin name Taxidea taxus — is simply called the American badger. As most of you know, I like to keep my wildlife photography wild, but this particular American badger was photographed in captivity, living in a drive through wildlife park in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/3.2 at 1/1000th of a second

If you’re a fan of college basketball like me, you know that we’re down to the final four teams that will compete this Saturday in the Final Four of the NCAA National Tournament. And it occurred to me that this year, there are no bad mascots amongst the four. No Providence Friars or Pennsylvania Quakers. Nope, this year, the Final Four are all solid animals — so why not dedicate the next four days of posts to the cause. Starting with the Kentucky Wildcats — or as a wildcat is also known, the bobcat. This one wasn’t photographed in Kentucky, but close enough — kind of — in Irvine, California.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 250mm), ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second

This will be the last post for a week, as I head to Costa Rica on Saturday in search of new photos of the day. In the meantime, here’s a black bear who stopped for a few pictures before moving on his way. See you all in a week.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 140mm) ISO 1600, f/2.8 at 1/320th of a second