A critter a day...

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!

Hey George,

These are great!!

James

Today's critter amazed the father of evolutionary science when he first arrived at a small archipelago off the west coast of South America, the Galapagos Islands .

Marine Iquana

Today's critter, the Lechwe or Water Antelope, is a specialist in the marshy terrain of southern Africa.
It is well adapted to it's watery environment and uses shallow waters to evade predators.
They have special water proof secretions on their legs that let them run very fast in water.

Lechwe













This is what's left of a young one that couldn't outrun a pack of wild dogs.

Thanks for sharing, George! These are really cool. I like the pano a lot. The format really fits.

James

Beautiful photos George, The pano is stunning. I do like the two playing in the middle photo.

The last image from yesterday was of a young Lechwe carcass that had been feasted on by a pack of African Wild Dogs.
Although not necessarily the same pack, today's images are of pack of these wild canine critters. We were fortunate
to come upon this pack lounging in the mid day sun right next to a bush road. They are usually very elusive so we were
very lucky to find them.

African Wild Dog

Here is a critter that you can see, and often hear, at your local lily pond.

Bull Frog

Hey Geo,

These are great. I have NEVER taken a good frog photograph.

James

Today's post is actually a family of critters rather than just a single species. Like most nature photographers, I have always been fascinated with the beauty of Herons and Egrets. Here are images from some of these birds from all over the world.

Herons & Egrets

Beautiful photos George! The photo of the bird with the baby ( dinner) do you know what that animal is? Looks like a baby kitty or puppy, but I'm guessing it's some form of rodent?

The next to last Heron is gorgeous! I love the stripes and the golden tones.

Penny,

Thanks for the positive feedback. That is a mouse pup that the Small Blue Heron is about to devour. That bird was actual captive at the San Diego Zoo and I caught him at feeding time. The large Purple Heron is one of the most beautiful species of the Heron family. This one was hunting in the papyrus in the Okavango Delta in Botswana.

Today's post also includes a family of flying critters, this time from the insect kingdom. What nature photographer can walk through a mountain meadow of wildflowers and not snap at least one image of a butterfly flitting among the flowers. Certainly not me. Here are some of my many images of these flitting beauties.

Butterflies

Hey Geo,

The last several are just awesome. Nicely done.

James

Absolutely love the frog peeking out from under the lily pad!
Frogs are great animals.

I was out hiking on the summit yesterday and saw some recent sign that made me pick today's critter. We catch a glimpse of our resident Black bears every once in a while out on the trails. Unfortunately, we always hike with our goldies and our bears up hear are very shy, so I've never really captured a good image of a local bear. These images all come from trips to other areas.

American Black Bear

Today's critter is usually considered a villain by many. They can be a mean bunch when they hunt and scavenge. They are known for stealing the kills of other predators as is shown in a couple of these images I captured when they stole an impala kill from a leopard.

Spotted Hyena

Hey George,

The internet is slow, and it took forever to load, bit it was worth it!

James

Today's critter is one of my favorite raptors, the Osprey. We have several resident breeding pairs around us with all the lakes we have here in the Donner Summit area. Yesterday we had one do some fishing around us as we were kayaking on one of the local lakes.

Osprey

Today's critter is an icon of the Galapagos Islands, a mecca for naturalists. Each island has it's own variation of these gentle giants and a couple of them are included here.

Galapagos Tortoise

On of the advantages of living on the west coast is access to the great marine life that inhabits our shores. Today's critter cruises up and down the coast
during the year but hauls out along the California coast in winter to mate and give birth.

Elephant Seal

Today's critter is one of nature's comedians as was picked up by Disney. It is also a very good example of how natural selection specializes an animal for its environment.

Warthog

Traveling through the mountainous western national park is the best way to see today's critter. They can be pretty elusive but at some parks, like Glacier, they are very accessible.

Big Horn Sheep

Today's critter continues the American west theme.

American Bison

Hey George,

Just wanted to say how much I have been enjoying these. I have not really been able to easily look when I was in Montana. The internet was dead slow...but at least I had something. :P

James

Speaking of Bison, today's critter is the African cousin of yesterday's American Bison.

Cape Buffalo

Today's "critter" is another group of critters that always fascinates nature photographers. I can never get enough of these birds that are on the top of the avian food chain.

Raptors - Birds of prey

White-tailed Kites


White-tailed Kite attacking Red-tailed Hawk


Wahlbburg's Eagles in Botswana


Peregrine Falcon


African Buzzard


African Fish Eagle


Cooper's Hawk


Bald Eagle


Harris' Hawk


Western Burrowing Owl


Kestral


Hooded Vulture


California Condor


Red-tailed Hawk


California Condor


Turkey Vulture

Hey George,

You have outdone yourself on these. What a great set! I will be disappointed when these all come to an end.

James

Agreed! what an amazing collection. Too many "wow" photos to try to single any out. The ram sticking its tongue out did solicit an outright laugh here.

Oh, and just love the "stink eye" from the two white tail kites...

Thought I would get into the primates with today's critter.

Baboon

Today's critter returns to the predators. One of the advantages of living in San Diego was access to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The park ran several captive breeding programs, one of which was breeding of Cheetahs. Part of the program is training the cheetah to chase a lure which allows the general public to observe them running at full speed. Some of today's images capture one of those sessions. Unfortunately, Cheetahs are relatively rare in South Africa and Botswana so I didn't get any images of them in the wild. This is one of the reasons I'm heading to the Serengeti in Tanzania next January.

Cheetah

Today's critter is another inhabitant of the Galapagos islands. These critters add a dash of color to rather drab volcanic rocks that make up the islands. You see them everywhere as you wander along the coastal tide pools.

Sally Lightfoot Crab

Today we go from a relatively slow moving crustacean to one of nature's speedsters. California is the home to many species of this darting little avian creature.

Hummingbird

WOW! Stunning photos George! James summed it up well, I'll miss your beautiful, wonderful animal shots when the month is up. The little crabs were adorable! I love the full front close up shot. Beautiful colors. The hummers are darlings aren't they? I love the California Condor head shot, the feathers looked like a black boa around it's neck.

Today we go from one of the tiniest critters to one of the largest (and certainly tallest) critters.

Giraffe

beautiful up close shots of these wonderful animals. its nice to see this even in the city! these are definitely photography contest entering material!

I've always been a pretty avid bird shooter and over the years I've captured a lot of images of young chicks of the avian persuasion. Today I'm posting some of those images in a general grouping I call...

Chicks

Today continues the emphasis on young animals, this time with the mammals.

Young Mammals

Today's critter is an old acquaintance that I have photographed for years in different places in the world. My first up close and personal interaction with it was
one day when I was out surfacing at a remote California beach and it swam under me while I was on my board waiting for a wave. It swam so close that I felt the water
current on my legs. I looked down to see a gray bullet shape pass under me and my heart missed a few beats because I thought it was a shark (they do like to nibble on
surfers legs). As I was trying to decide what the quickest way to shore was, a very large Sea Lion surfaced about 10 feet from me, looked over and gave several barks
which I assume was his way of laughing at the way he scared the bejeebeez out of me. Since then I have always had a soft spot for these marine clowns.

Sea Lion

As August comes to a close I feel I would be remiss not to post images of the "King of the Critters". I have been lucky
enough to have access to the Lion breeding program at San Diego Wild Animal Park as well as observe the feline royalty
in the wild in Botswana and South Africa.

Lion

On this final day of August after 31 days with 31+ critters, 362 images and 1700+ views
as I post this, I hope everyone enjoyed this thread as much I have capturing these
images. I have saved my absolute favorite critters for this last day. Thanks to everyone
that has joined me during August.

My Goldies (Calla and Maggie)