WILDLIFE
“If I could choose one superpower, it would be the power to appreciate fully.”
– David Morring
MOOSE DUEL – (Int'l Photography Awards Official Selection) Two bachelor moose spar at sunrise as the first snows of December descend on Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. I was encircled by six moose and only a few feet from these fighting males when I took this photo.
HANG IN THERE – (National Wildlife Federation Finalist & Int'l Photography Awards Winner) A symbol of the precarious position of today's wildlife in rainforests around the world, this Strawberry poison-dart frog clings to a Bromeliad leaf on Bastimentos Island National Marine Park, Panama.
RED FOX IN THE SNOW – While location scouting in the mountains a couple hours outside of Prague, I discovered this beautiful Red fox in a snow field. He stared at me for a few seconds before bolting into the forest.
EL CORRALERO BLANCO – A white Chilean Criollo horse miraculously appeared along the Serrano River as I was photographing in Torres del Paine, Chile.
RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD – (Int'l Photography Awards Official Selection) A Red-billed tropicbird flies amidst the lush, dark foliage of Bird Island, Panama. It was extremely challenging to capture these elegant birds in flight while being bounced in small skiff by 3-foot swells.
LAMB IN THE SNOW – A Bighorn sheep lamb blends in with the snow-covered bitterbrush of Jackson, Wyoming.
ANGLE OF FLIGHT - (Bird Photographer of the Year Finalist) Rufous-tailed hummingbirds beat their wings between 50-60 times per second. I captured this acrobatic flyer at 1/3200 of second outside my lodge in Tranquilo Bay, Panama.
BIGHORN BY THE ROCKS – A Bighorn sheep struts by a cliff along Millers Butte in the National Elk Refuge, Jackson, Wyoming.
PEEK-A-BOO – While tracking a couple of fur seals playing in the shallow waters along the rocky Melchior Islands coast, this one popped up and looked directly at me for a split second and I was able to capture our eye-to-eye moment before it dove beneath the surface.
SNOW BEAR – During a late Spring snowstorm in Yellowstone National Park, I tracked this Grizzly for twenty minutes till it decided to plop down in the snow and stare back at me.
TROPICBIRD FANCY – (Int'l Photography Awards Official Selection) Red-billed tropicbirds fly directly towards the precipices of Bird Island then expand their feathers like a parachute to halt abruptly before crashing into the walls.
THE LONE GENTOO – Gentoo penguins create deeply-cut paths in the snow known as "penguin highways." I captured this lonely gentoo as it walked along a particularly desolate stretch on the shore of Neko Harbour.
DYTHEMIS VELOX – A dragonfly pauses momentarily in the 103-degree heat.
THE HAPPY MOOSE - Dawn sunlight gives a young bull moose a morning bath in Grand Teton National Park.
AUSTRAL PARAKEET – In the forested hillsides above the Perito Moreno glacier, Austral parakeets (Enicognathus ferrugineus) patrol the conifers like gangs. Dodging and blending amidst the foliage, I was fortunate to spot and photograph this exotic bird in the open.
BISON AND RED DOG – A young bison, known as a red dog, has an affectionate moment with its mother in Yellowstone National Park.
ONE OF A KIND – The markings on the underside of the fluke are to whales what fingerprints are to humans. No two flukes are alike and this allows marine biologists to identify and track whales as they migrate up to 5,000 miles in a year. I captured this Humpback whale fluking just a few feet from our boat.
THE STAND OFF – Along a swampy inlet along the Serrano River, I noticed two Spectacled Ducks facing off on two small tufts of grass creating an almost perfect mirrored image of each other.
THE YAWN – While traversing the coastline of the Melchior Islands in Dallmann Bay, I happened upon an Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazelle) perfectly posed on a table-sized rock. After looking directly into my camera, it arched its back and opened wide.
FLUKING IN FOURNIER BAY – A Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) flukes its tail as it dives deep into cold waters of Fournier Bay. This particular whale was so close to our zodiac that I had to zoom out as wide as I could to ensure I got the entire fluke in frame.
SUMMER TANAGER IN SPRING – After long migratory flights from Central America, Summer Tanagers arrive in High Island, Texas in April to rest and recover in preparation for breeding season. This Summer Tanager posed perfectly no more than four feet from my lens in Smith Oaks Sanctuary.
PORPOISING PENGUINS – Gentoo penguins porpoise in tandem across Neko Harbour. The world's fastest underwater birds, Gentoos can swim up to 22 miles per hour.
OWL IN THE TREE – I placed a 24mm Venus Laowa Periprobe lens in the hole of a hollow tree and discovered an Eastern Screech Owl burrowed inside. I love the unique perspective and how the Screech owl's feathers blend in with the trunk.
LEOPARD SEAL ON ICE – Don't be fooled by the sly grin. These are some of the most vicious carnivores in the sea.
BELTED KINGFISHER AT SUNRISE – In the faint light before sunrise at Deaver Pond in Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, I heard the familiar high-pitched stuttering call of a kingfisher. He lit on this dead tree in the middle of the pond as the Texas sky became a lake of fire.
PENGUIN PARADE – Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) line up along a snowy precipice at Prospect Point, Antarctica.
TIME FOR YOUR CLOSE UP – This Red-shouldered hawk allowed me to approach within ten feet to capture this magnificent profile.
CHILLIN' – Don't be deceived by its placid demeanor. The Leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) is one of the fiercest predators in the Antarctic. As we circled this seal prostrated on a sheet of ice near Prospect Point, I could only think about what might happen if I lost my balance in the zodiac and fell into the water. The thought, not the cold, made me shudder.
THE POSE - White Egret poses at the tiptop of a tree.
THE GREAT HORNED OWL OF BRECKINRIDGE PARK – Hundreds of joggers, cyclists and pedestrians pass through Breckinridge Park daily oblivious that they are being watched by this local resident.
OLD BLUE EYES – While trolling in the ice-infested waters of Prospect Point, my eye caught this Antarctic shag swimming in the blue reflection of a nearby iceberg.
LITTLE BLUE HERON – Connemara Meadow is a nature preserve tucked in the suburban sprawl of Allen, Texas that's surprisingly rich in wildlife variety.
BROWN PELICAN ON THE BEACH – Vicious northerly winds along the Bolivar Peninsula coast create havoc for large waterfowl and migrating songbirds from Central America. But for a photographer, the winds create a wonderful opportunity to capture birds in flight as it slows them down significantly.
EURASIAN BLUE TIT – In the drizzling January rain of Pruhonice Park, an Eurasian blue tit seeks cover under the spindly limbs of a Norway spruce.
TOP GUN – An aerobatic marvel of nature, the Scissor-tailed flycatcher performs feats of spectacular flying that would make a Top Gun pilot jealous.
FINCH IN THE SNOW – A House Finch perches in the wintery wonderland of the Arizona mountains.
BURROWING OWL AT SUNSET – This Burrowing Owl of Central Texas posed for me on a barbed-wire fence just as the sun said adios.
WHISKERS – Unfazed by our presence, this Fur seal (Arctocephalus gazelle) peered at us listlessly as we floated by in our Zodiac raft. Fur seals, with their external ears and ability to walk on all fours, are related more closely to sea lions than seals.
SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER – The simplicity of this shot allures me. The perfect profile. The angle of the limb. The contrast of the white head with the bronze background.
SCARLET TANAGER – A recent arrival to the Bolivar Peninsula of Texas, this male Scarlet Tanager prepares to find a mate. Scarlet Tanagers are seasonally monogamous and pair together for one breeding season.
GO TIME – I squatted in the marshy bogs of Hornsby Bend observing this Vermilion Flycatcher's flight pattern for almost an hour. Eventually, I was able to capture this last tippy-toe moment before he went 100% airborne.
LONG NECK – A Great blue heron gazing straight at camera while the sunrise turned the water behind him into gilded sheets of glass.
WEDDELL SEAL – While exploring the coastline of Antarctica in a Zodiac raft, a molting Weddell seal peeked up from a floating piece of ice just as we passed by.
EAGLE EYE – While circumnavigating Upper Goldwater Lake, I spotted a juvenile Bald eagle in a tree along the bank. I keenly positioned myself a large boulder hoping to remain inconspicuous. As I zoomed in for my photo, he gave me the old "Eagle Eye" stare.
GOBBLER IN THE SNOW – While driving the backroads during a heavy winter snowstorm, a wild turkey caught my eye on the side of the road. I pulled to the side and captured this gobbler posing on a downed pine tree amidst the heavy falling snowflakes.
AMERICAN WIGEONS – I captured these waterfowl taking off along the shore of Bufflehead Lake in Littleton, Colorado.
FOUR EYES – An eye-to-eye meeting in Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge.
BIG HORN RAM IN PROFILE – Big horn sheep outside Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
FACETIME – I came face-to-face with a Three-toed sloth.
EAGLES AT SUNSET – While circumnavigating Lower Goldwater Lake at dusk, I spied two juvenile Bald eagles perched in a treetop. Perfectly silhouetted by the setting sun, one of the eagles graciously spread its wings for the shot.
RUFOUS-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD – Photographed at the Tifakara Birding Oasis in La Fortuna, Costa Rica.
REFLECTING ON DUCKS I – A male mallard poses on the edge of a small pond.
REFLECTING ON DUCKS II – A female mallard poses on the edge of a small pond.
LIP CURL – A bachelor moose bellows in the early morning in Teton National Park.
THIS BUD'S FOR YOU – While hiking out to Willow Lake to photograph waterfowl, I noticed a large creature in a tree. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a porcupine. Unaware that porcupines could climb, I was fascinated by it's agility in the limbs. I spent more than an hour photographing the porcupine before finally getting this shot clear of limbs and with it looking at my lens while eating.
TWO LITTLE MONKEYS – Early one morning along Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica, I heard the loud cry of howler monkeys. Within 30 minutes the blossoms of the Cassia fistula tree had been stripped bare.
LEAF-CUTTER ANT – Each evening, leafcutter ants march into the deeper unknowns in the rainforest defoliating the trees.
PERFECT ENTRANCE – One of the most fascinating parts of my trips to Costa Rica was watching the Brown pelicans dive along Playa Hermosa.
BLUE JEAN FROG – Smaller than my thumb, this Strawberry poison dart frog (aka Blue jean frog) poses like Spider Man.
CURIOUS OWL – An inquisitive Burrowing owl wondering where I came from.
IBIS AT SUNRISE – A white Ibis traversing the plains of Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge.
WARBLER WONDER – Branches and leaves provide beautiful framing and composition of this Yellow warbler.
SWOOPING EAGLE – A Bald eagle swoops through the snow in Grand Teton National Park.
CREEPY CRAWLER – I got on my belly to capture this Three-toed sloth as it crawled across the Panamanian rainforest floor.
RAVEN LANDING – A raven in Grand Teton National Park lands on a fence post during an early winter snowstorm.
SPOTTED TOWHEE – A spotted towhee perched on a snowy limb during the Arizona winter.
