A friend asked me about yesterday’s post of the tallgrass prairie, wanting to know if he should be looking for a rattler or a spotted hare somewhere in the photo. I didn’t see any rattlers or spotted hares that morning, but I did see this nice little cottontail that was hiding in the grass.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 340mm with Nikon 1.4 teleconverter) ISO 200, f/5.6 at 1/160th of a second

I was looking through my files tonight and found this old one from South Dakota that I never posted to the blog. Spring and summer are a great time to be on the tallgrass prairie of Badlands National Park in South Dakota. On this particular morning, I was on my way to photograph prairie dogs when I was compelled to stop and take a few shots of the early morning landscape.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 200, f/18 at five shutter speeds

I figured it was about time for a new puffin post. I took this one on my first trip to Machias Seal Island in Maine (or New Brunswick, Canada depending upon who you’re talking to — both the US and Canada claiming ownership of the small island). During the summer months, puffins and razorbills nest on the rocky shoreline. This puffin had a mouth full of krill that she was bringing back to her nesting chicks.
Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 100, f/5.6 at 1/1000th of a second

I took this one a few winters ago in southern Indiana. I was at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge to photograph river otters, but it’s also a great place for birds. There were quite a few cardinals around, including this male (top) and female.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 460 with Nikon 1.4 teleconverter) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/125th of a second

Valentines come in many forms — for some a box of chocolates, for others a salty fish. This male least tern is presenting a gift to the female. Acceptance of the gift means acceptance of the mate. In this case, she accepted, and, well… let’s just say that a lot happens on a least tern’s first date.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 200, f/6.3 at 1/1600th of a second

As I mentioned yesterday, I was after wolves this weekend so didn’t really concentrate on any other creatures. That being said, there were bison everywhere, especially on the road. It’s much easier for them to move from one place to another by traveling on the plowed road than through four feet of snow. The guy above walked right past my driver’s side window. I recorded a little iphone video after I took the shot. See below:

Photo: Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 70mm) ISO 280, f/4 at 1/640th of a second
Movie: iphone 5

There were quite a few bighorn rams in Yellowstone this weekend. The ewes that I saw, on the other hand, were all just outside of the park. Rams and ewes only come together during mating season. The rest of the year the rams hang out in bachelor herds while the ewes hang out together and tend to the young. This guy was trudging through the snow looking for whatever vegetation he could find.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 340mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/2500th of a second

This is the twelfth time or so that I’ve been to Yellowstone — and I’ve still yet to get a usuable shot of a wolf. That’s the way it is with wildlife photography. One day you’re witnessing the rarity of a leopard stalking a pangolin in Africa and the next, you drive around all day in “America’s Serengeti” and don’t come back with a thing. So until I finally get that elusive wolf in the wild, here’s one I took about six years ago in a drive through animal park in South Dakota. As for bighorn and bison, well I got plenty of them over the last few days. Stay tuned for upcoming posts.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 300mm) ISO 800, f/5 at 1/800th of a second

I’ve posted a few photos of this bobcat before, but none of the wink that it gave me when it first spotted me down on the ground taking its picture. The encountere happened at a place called the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary — a small patch of wilderness just two miles from the hotel I was staying at in downtown Irvine, California.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/400th of a second

I had a request for another polar bear today and seeing as it’s about as cold in Brooklyn right now as it was when I was taking photographs up on the subarctic tundra, well, it seemed appropriate. Here’s a male polar bear, standing up to get a better view across the frozen Hudson Bay. Sure, they’re among the most fierce predators on earth, but somehow polar bears just don’t look quite as ferocious when on two legs like this as opposed to all four. Instead they can look more like Peter Griffin or Homer Simpson.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 290mm) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/640th of a second