Category Archives: Fauna

Bath toy

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Grizzly bears are some really amazing creatures — smart enough to act a bit like humans, unpredictable enough to be hazardous. When we were in South Dakota earlier this Fall, one of the residents of “Bear Country, U.S.A.” was having a grand old time playing with a chunk of wood in his pond.

Bath toy diptych

It was almost like watching a kid play with their bath toy. A big, furry, lethal kid, that is. Should you like a closer look, I’ve included the two images making up the diptych below.

Bath toy 1

I was really happy with how these turned out, I don’t get much practice with splash photography — much less out in the real world (vs. in a more controlled setting).

Bath toy 2

Time for a quick snack…

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There are times in life when you have to remember to stop and smell the roses. Or in this case, to pay attention to what your kid’s fixated on.

We were at the foot of Mount Rushmore, being fully impressed by the sculpture, when our little one started chatting away about a squirrel eating “a nut.” So after I broke free of my granite-inspired haze, I swapped to a long lens on my camera and zoomed in on the scene:

Time for a quick snack

Turns out it was a chipmunk, and it was eating a grasshopper. A nut would be tastier for us (my girl got disgusted when I told her what the main course really was), but the little guy seemed to be quite pleased with his insect meal…

Cubby hole

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Just back from a Labor Day weekend road trip to South Dakota — here’s the first photographic fruit of our adventure:

Cubby hole

I saw this little red fox at “Bear Country U.S.A.,” just outside of Rapid City. He even picked a nice wooden “frame” for the image…

Iguanakeh

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An iguana strikes a dramatic pose in the ruins of Tulúm, México:

Iguanakeh

The funny thing about this shot is that the iguana wasn’t nearly this well posed until somebody with a point-and-shoot camera intervened. I was working from a distance to get a good shot of the little critter, when the cruise-boat tourist started fiddling and fussing with his P&S, trying to get a head-on shot from about 3 feet away. He made such a sight that this little guy pivoted around to watch the show — lining up perfectly for a profile shot!

About the only time on our recent trip that I was grateful to see one of the cruisers…

Ready for takeoff

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Seen at the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Cockrell Butterfly Center:

Ready for takeoff

I suppose I could have taken this shot from the side, so that more of this little guy would have been in focus. But I preferred an over-the-shoulder approach, you could almost share his point of view.

Interlopers

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Visiting pronghorn enjoy a tasty dinner of freshly-mown hay near Billings, Montana:

Interlopers

If there’s one thing I’ve learned while driving around in the Rockies, it’s to keep my camera with a long lens handy. I took this from the side of the highway on our way home from a long road trip last summer — could have used a bit more “reach,” but 200mm was just about enough for these guys.

Assigned

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A Red Postman Mimic takes a break on a sign at the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Cockrell Butterfly Center:

Assigned

As natural history museums go, Houstons’ one is pretty pricey for what you get. But pricing there is a la carte, so if you’d like, you can get a ticket to just the butterfly center.