Just now, as I was sitting at my desk trying to decide whether to post a pelican or a snow monkey, I received an email from NANPA, the North American Nature Photographer’s Association. The results (at least the initial results) of their yearly photo contest are in and this year six of my images were winners, so I figured I’d post those instead. I don’t know yet where they all placed, but the first three (a black tailed jackrabbit, a spider monkey, and two giraffes necking) are somewhere in the top 120. The bottom three images (a bighorn in the Badlands, a bighorn in Yellowstone, and giant tortoises in the Galapagos) are in the top 250. All but the necking giraffes have been posted to the blog before, so I’ll just give camera info for that shot.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 280mm) ISO 400, f/5 at 1/400th of a second

One more post before Costa Rica, this one a bit self serving, but the end goal is more photos. I entered a competition that has a people’s choice prize of a trip to Namibia. Please click on the link  below (or cut and paste) and vote for my polar bear image and help me get back to Africa. You can vote once per email so vote, send to your friends, post on Facebook, whatever. It’s a bit tricky. You have to click the vote button when you get to the photo, then they send you an email and you have to click it to confirm the vote. I know a pain, but I’m dreaming of that trip to Namibia.  Thanks for the support. I believe that today is the final day for voting.

http://www.wildernessphotocompetition.com/bin/Rate?image_id=2009861130