This guy was the epitome of a wily coyote. Tall, lean, scrappy, unafraid, and making the rounds at the end of the day in the southern California desert. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 220mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/1250th of a second.
This howler monkey didn’t like the look of me as we drifted past on a boat in Brazil’s Pantanal. Hopefully this post sends out an email. I’ve been having all sorts of trouble with my notifications not working. If you missed a few posts, use the “previous” button under each photo to see the previous posts. Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (with 1.4 extender for 550mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/1000th of a second.
Potoos are known for their comically cartoonish mouths and big yellow eyes. Neither of which you can see when they’re asleep. Which is when this photo was taken. The large owl-like bird was in a tree just outside my room in the Peruvian Amazon, and doing exactly what potoos do — sleeping during the day. I was hoping to get another glimpse when the potoo woke up at night but my timing was off and I missed the opportunity. Until next time. And by the way, you can see the closed eye and beak if you look close (head is in profile and facing toward the right edge of the frame). Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/800th of a second, Godox V860iii fill flash.
A group of bighorn lambs showing why it can be hard to spot a group of bighorn lambs. These guys were playing amidst the eroded buttes in Badlands National Park. In addition to their great camouflage, they also are well adapted to the steep, almost vertical landscapes they live in. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 3200, f/4 at 1/400th of a second.
Here’s another raccoon captured on my camera trap. This one was taken in August of ’21. Back then, a group of raccoons were using this fallen log nearly every night to go foraging in the woods behind my house. Their visits have become more infrequent since then but they still show up from time to time. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 500, f/14 at 1/160th of a second, Cognisys camera box, trail monitor and remote flash units.
This is actually a Pacific green sea turtle, but that barnacle really picked a conspicuous spot to latch onto. Unfortunately for the turtle (or maybe not) barnacles never move once they attach to a hard surface. You can’t tell from this photo, but there’s a second turtle just under the water and the two were mating. Photographed off Isabella Island in the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 280mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/3200th of a second.
I saw a couple of these tiny toads (about half an inch in length). They live in the leaf litter on the ground in the Amazon rainforest. For this image, the toad is almost right up against the front element of my wide-angle macro lens. That shelf behind the toad is a tree root. Nikon D850 with Laowa 15mm lens, ISO 1600, unrecorded f/stop at 1/125th of a second, Godox V860iii flash with Westcott soft box.
In early December, the tamarack trees in northern Minnesota have turned a dull orange. This creates quite a backdrop when the late day sun adds a short-lived splash of saturation. And it’s even better when great grey owls hunt in the foreground. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/2500th of a second.
As mentioned in previous posts, the Baird’s tapir is the largest land mammal in Central and South America. For this series of wide-angle images, I sat quietly on the ground for about an hour while the tapir slowly came closer and closer, foraging in the leaf litter. I kept going wider and wider with my lensing, and eventually he was right in front of me, so I reached for my 17-35mm. A few sniffs later he turned around and continued on in the opposite direction. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 20mm) ISO 3200, f/2.8 at 1/200th of a second.
This little guy is called the collared puffbird and was photographed on my recent trip to the northern Amazon basin of Peru. Not too much to say other than they prey upon frogs, lizards, snakes and larger insects — your usual Amazonian cuisine. That, and they have quite a large head in relation to body size. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1600, f/5.6 at 1/200th of a second, Godox V860iii fill flash.