I just got back from a two week business trip to Los Angeles. I had some down time last weekend and was able to get out to the desert for a night. It was hot. Very hot. 122 degrees hot. Too scorching for even the usual desert wildlife to make an appearance. As soon as the sun hit the horizon, however, the jackrabbits, coyotes and roadrunners all came creeping out of hiding. The next day, I got up before the sun and had a good time photographing the jackrabbits. This particular rabbit was eyeing me through a hole in the dried up desert flora. With their enormous ears, jackrabbits have always been one of my favorite subjects to photograph. They can be skittish and don’t usually stick around long enough to get decent shots, but I had good luck this time — perhaps because they were too hot to make much of an effort to run away. I’ll be posting a few more of these guys in the coming weeks. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/1250th of a second
These two scarlet macaws seemed to be having a pleasant conversation high in the canopy of Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. Scarlet Macaws mate for life, so maybe they were discussing plans for the future. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/1000th of a second
This young snow monkey was having a good time in the thermal waters of Jigokudani Monkey Park, near Nagano, Japan. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 200, f/3.2 at 1/50th of a second
This elephant was reaching to the top shelf for a little something to eat. Photo taken in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/320th of a second
About a month ago I posted a shot of a single bighorn silhouetted against the late day sky in Badlands National Park. Here’s another from that sequence with several bighorn hanging out on the ridge line. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/8 at 1/400th of a second
Back by popular demand, a baby tarsier. This little hair ball is about the size of a baseball and hails from the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. I’ve posted quite a few pictures of these guys in the past, but always a good way to start the week. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 290) ISO 200, f/8 at 1/60th of a second, two Nikon SB-800 flash units
It ended up being a good day for the snake and a very bad day for the lizard, but for a moment it looked quite the opposite. The green rat snake was obviously trying to eat the whiptail lizard, but the lizard put up a good fight and at one point actually had a bit of a strangle hold on the snake. Eventually, however, the snake was too much to handle and nature did what nature does. This was taken in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica — not on my recent trip but on a previous trip back in 2007. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 400, f/4 at 1/125th of a second
My guide in Costa Rica told me that this was a lineated woodpecker, but further research leads me to believe that it is actually a pale billed woodpecker. The pale bill and almost uniformly red head being the giveaways. Both birds are very large, although the pale billed is even larger, averaging about 15 inches in length. These birds can be found from northern Mexico, south to Panama. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400) ISO 1600, f/4 at 1/2000th of a second
You have to work a bit for this one, but there’s a cheetah in there — lower left hand corner, just in front of the termite mound. I captured this image late one afternoon on my first trip to Botswana just over three years ago. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 75mm) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/200th of a second
This guy is called a hoary marmot. He was lounging on a rock high up a mountainside in Mount Rainier National Park. When the sun is up they like to sprawl out on rocks to soak up the warmth. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/8 at 1/500th of a second
We use cookies to enhance your experience while using our website. If you are using our Services via a browser you can restrict, block or remove cookies through your web browser settings. We also use content and scripts from third parties that may use tracking technologies. You can selectively provide your consent below to allow such third party embeds. For complete information about the cookies we use, data we collect and how we process them, please check our Privacy Policy
