Robins are sweet little birds. They come in many color varieties, including a fiery, orangish-red. Meet the flame robin — a little guy that I had the pleasure of meeting on Bruny Island in Tasmania. That brilliantly colored breast can really light up the otherwise dull colors of the forest.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/320th of a second
It’s been quite a while since I posted a mountain gorilla. I visited Uganda back in 2009 when I was told that there were only about 700 left in the wild. Since then their numbers are up slightly (depending on who is doing the counting) to almost 800. Let’s hope the trend continues. I’ve also seen another count that only has them at 600, so who knows how many are really out there. The point is, not many, so I was thrilled to spend about an hour in the presence of a very large troop of 23 individuals. By my very limited mathematical abilities, that comes to about 3.2% of the world’s total population — right there with me — in one small corner of the Ugandan rainforest. Pretty amazing.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 240mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/125th of a second
This photo has been one of my best sellers over the years and I just realized that I’ve never actually posted it to the blog. It is in my “North America” gallery but was never a photo of the day. So here it is. A roseate spoonbill from what started as a terrible day at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island in Florida. When I first got to the refuge, I couldn’t see ten feet in front of me with the thick fog. I waited it out, however, and when the fog finally cleared, it revealed quite a bit of pink out amongst all that white. It wasn’t the blue skies that I had hoped for, but ended up being the perfect conditions for reflection shots of these beautiful birds.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (with 1.4 teleconverter attached for 550mm) ISO 400, f/9 at 1/640th of a second
The bushbuck is a very widespread antelope throughout sub-Sahara Africa. They prefer habitat on the edge of thick forest, which provides both shelter and food. I spotted this one in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. Bushbucks are rather clumsy runners, but they are great swimmers and jumpers — being able to clear six foot obstacles with ease.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second
The above photo gives a good look at the ornamental nasal knobs of the imperial cormorant. Below shows how they highlight that gorgeous face. Both photos were taken on Saunders Island in the Falkland Islands.
Above: Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1250th of a second
Below: Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/800th of a second
Actually, these marine iguanas were resting in the sun and weren’t even moving, but it looked like they were on the attack and storming that small hill on Fernandina Island in the Galapagos Islands.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 400, f/16 at 1/250th of a second
This female white-handed gibbon was striking quite a few poses high in the tree tops of Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand. She was actually partaking in the morning ritual of marking her territory with a series of vocalizations and calls with her mate and offspring.
Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/200th of a second
King penguins get up and at it early in the morning. What exactly it is that they are up and at isn’t always clear. They scurry around as a group, heading to the surf, running back from it, then turning and heading parallel to the shoreline in the other direction. I mounted my camera on a tripod and used a slow shutter speed to capture a bit of this organized chaos.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 170mm) ISO 31, f/18 at 1 second
It’s tough being a bighorn sheep in Yellowstone in the winter. Finding suitable grass for grazing can be quite a challenge with all the snowfall that the park gets. This ram was opportunistically feeding on whatever shrubbery he could find.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 120mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/3200th of a second
Here’s another one of the red-footed tortoises that I saw on St Barths. Unlike the previous wide angle shot, for this one, I used my long lens and caught the tortoise as it slowly moved across a shaded area of the sand.
Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 280mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second