It's been my pleasure over the years to capture images of all sorts of critters, all over the world. I thought for the month of August I would post a small set of pics each day for a different critter. I'm starting off with one of my African favorites. Please check back during the month for other new critters.

Leopard

Hey George,

Beautiful! I cannot wait to see more.

James

I LOVE your photos ... what an amazing critter you found to photograph, I too will be looking to see more.

While photographing a leopard in the wild requires all the trappings of an African safari, capturing images of today's critter was just a matter exploring my backyard.

Orb Weaver

And now for something completely different.........Yikes. That is one huge spider.

James

Living on the west coast has the advantage of access to the birds of the Pacific coast. The nesting area of Bolsa Chica sits right in the middle of the urban LA to San Diego corridor and is used by thousands of shore birds. One of those birds is the Elegant Tern.

Elegant Tern

For those of us that live in California, especially on the coast, today's critter, the Gray Whale, is a familiar visitor in our waters. We usually see them heading down to their calving lagoons in Baja Mexico. Way back in the winter of 1986 my wife and I headed south and spent a week on a boat in Bahia de Magdalena observing these behemouths in the calving and breeding grounds and I recommend this to anyone as a really great trip. Unfortunately, these were the days of film and frankly I didn't really have great camera gear in those days. The images today are scanned in slides from these days and while the IQ is not up to my current standards, the subject matter is wonderful. I'm thinking I need to go back down there in the next couple of years with my digital gear.

WARNING: These pictures were taken in whale breeding grounds and there is some whale sexual content. This is probably the first time many of you will see a whale's "junk".

Gray Whale

Hey George,

I like that fluke entering the water the best. Very - very nice.

James

Yesterday's critter was a marine giant. Sticking with large critters, today the largest land critter is featured.

African Elephant

Awesome photos George! That leopard was gorgeous! The spider macro was great! What lens did you use for the spider close up? I love the fluke shot of the whale, and the terns on the pier? The pair of them were beautiful. I loved the elephant that was hiding behind the tree. The elephant in the water was fantastic! I can't wait for tomorrow's critter!