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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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