The Way We See It: predators

Showing posts with label predators. Show all posts

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Summer 2013 : Live Your Passion

Suburban Coyote (Canis latrans) - White Bear Lake, MN
Canon 50D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + Canon 1.4x converter

It’s the annual end of summer post. For years I have blogged my ode to summer as a lament to the loss of freedom and a return to a year of work. At times I’ve eluded to a fabled purgatory or indentured servitude, but each of these references were always intended to be tongue in cheek.

The Singer (Melospiza melody) - Chippewa Preserve
Canon 5D Mark iii + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

I am a conservation photographer and artist, but this is only one of my two passions. My work, “the job,” is to teach. Teaching biology and exploring the working of life’s biodiversity is my other passion. I’ve been playing the role of a teacher since 1992, and am now a seasoned actor. Once a young buck among a sea of future retirees, I am now the old guy. Yet, with 22 years in the bank, I’m not one of those wannabe’s looking to leave the profession.

Northern Saw-whet Ow (Aegolius acadicus) - North Central WI
Canon 5D Mark iii + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

The onset of the school year is as exciting and tense as capturing an ephemeral moment with my camera at the break of dawn. I feel the same pressure and fear of failure during my first week back to work as I do when photographing a fleeting moment. This fear is tempered by the sense of potential that also floods my thoughts. Much like photography, teaching excites me. The unknown product of my efforts and desire to improve what I do each day is a redundancy in these two passions of mine.

Chippewa Prairie State Park - Minnesota
Canon 5D Mark iii + Canon 17-40 f4.0L

It’s been a good summer. I’ve photographed the prairies of Minnesota, the deep woods of the Midwest, and the jungles of Costa Rica. I’ve explored the details in bird feathers and frog eyes and climbed mountains to catch the start of a new day. This will be a good year too. I will craft rich lessons that will illuminate young minds, and paint a picture of the life found on this Earth. So rather than author yet one more lament, just this once I’ll let the real truth speak for itself... this educator has a nice life ;-)

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Costa Rica 2013 - Black and White Portraits

Portrait of a Jaguar - Rehab Center, Costa Rica
Canon 5D mark iii + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

Some faces look better in black and white!

Lurking Howler (Alouatta paliatta) - Selva Verde, Costa Rica
Canon 5D mark iii + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + Canon 1.4x

Paca (Cuniculus paca) in Rehabilitation Center - Costa Rica
Canon 5D mark iii + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Winter Diary (Post VI)

North American Mink (Neovison vison)
This little guy was working itself silly hunting for crayfish through a maze of mallards.
Captured during my pursuit of its more aquatic cousins, this small
mustelid appeared after being skunked by otters ;-p
Canon 7D + Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS

Mink #2 (Neovison vison)
Canon 40D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + Canon 1.4x Converter

Sunday, December 16, 2012

The Queen's Land

This Queen's Turf (Panthera leo) - Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Canon 1Dmk II + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

Stuart Pimm, professor of environmental ecology at Duke University has collected data suggesting that the African savanna is shrinking. Much like the North American prairie, human expansion is to blame. According to Pimm, "Savanna Africa is in deep trouble and it's in worse trouble in fact, than the world's rainforests..."

Guarding (Panthera leo) - Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Canon 1Dmk II + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

More about shrinking savannas and near-catastrophic impact on the “king of the jungle” can be found on PRI (Public Radio International).

Friday, September 14, 2012

Rant: (3000) - (400) = 2600

Timber Wolf - Canis lupus
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS
Jasper, NP Canada

Where to begin...?

In 1986 I took my first trip to Denali National Park. Our group met near Savage Creek, camped in the open air and prepped for a long back-country hike. Cocooned by the down of our bags, we kept the tents packed and hoped for a quick start. That was the night when I heard them for the first time. With eyes closed I can still hear the prolonged cries echoing across the sub-arctic sky. I watched the Northern Lights dance, and listened for competing packs staking claims to parcels of land. I didn’t see any ghosts that year, nor the next during a trek through the Kenai, but I knew they were there.

I live in Minnesota, the land of 3000 wolves... soon to be 2600. I am a teacher, biologists and nature photographer. I’ve traveled across my state, headed west to Yellowstone and northeast to the Wisconsin borderlands. I search for the ghosts who meander through forests, hunt in packs and hide in plain sight. I hear them while camping in the North Woods, can track them at a nearby refuge and have caught a glimpse of their hollow eyes during early morning drives. Yet, these midwestern wolves, immigrants from Canada, have been an elusive target.

Hiking along the bed of the Toklat, we saw our first mated pair. One black the other white, they are my metaphor for the rugged beauty that is Alaska. Black and white were famous, stars of tourist videos, seen by many and hunted by a wayward shooter looking for game near the National Park border.

So begins and ends this poetic rant. Minnesota, the land of “NICE,” has painted a target on the wolf. Some call it a sport, I call it a tragedy. With 23,000 applicants in a lottery for 6000 permits, the wolves better plan a retreat into the quiet of a deep wood. The Department of Natural Resources hopes to cull the pack by 400, but like many, I think their judgment is flawed. Deer populations continue to outpace our capacity to reduce the herd, and the DNR now endorses a hunt for the one animal that can control the browsers that overgraze the state. Years of hunting prohibition, land management and funding has restored the state’s wolf population and rather that exuding pride in our success, the state sanctions a hunt. This logic defies my own. They celebrate the wolf hunt... what’s next?... the Bald Eagle?

Enough said. Should you be interested in reading more about this upcoming tragedy, you can learn about future wolf hunts across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming at: The Associated Press and Scientific American .

About the leading image... this wolf was photographed during our recent travels to the Canadian Rockies. After a long day of hiking and wildlife viewing we were heading back to the campsite as the sun was setting. We were surprised by the wolf that emerged from the forest, it walked a few paces towards us and disappeared. I shot only 9 pictures and all but one were total blurs. The image pictured is from a treasured moment that rivals my experiences with African Predators and Exotic Costa Rican Birds.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Few Words...

All Images America Red Fox - Vulpes vulpes (Vulpes fulva)
Canon 7D + Canon 300 f2.8L IS @ f2.8 - 1/30 second shutter - ISO 1600

We surprised each other at sunrise.
I was an uninvited guest for breakfast, but this young one was too hungry to care.
With scarred legs and a swollen left eye, the kit ignored pestering crows as it devoured its prey.
What was a muskrat is now a fox and so the cycle continues.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Tip #30: Focus on the Eyes

Kirk's Dik Dik (Madoqua kirkii) - Lake Manyara, Tanzania
Canon 1D MarkII + Canon 300mm f2.8 + 1.4x converter shot at f4.5

When photographing wildlife, we will typically shoot at the widest aperture possible. A long telephoto with a shallow depth of field will allow you to isolate your subject against a busy background. The drawback of this technique is the narrow zone of focus. At maximum aperture, there is little room for error between nailing the focus and producing an unsharp image. Because the human brain is drawn to the eyes of others, we seek eye contact when viewing images of nature or people. This need to see the eyes is deeply rooted in our evolution, and failure to capture eye detail will cause the viewer to dismiss an otherwise beautiful image.

So Tip #30 is a simple one... Given the choice of the Nose or the Eyes, Focus on the Eyes.

Banded Mongoose on Alert (Mungos mungo) - Masai Mara, Kenya
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8 @ f3.2

Monday, August 22, 2011

Tension

Images from the crater...
Waiting for the drama to unfold...

All pictures displayed were photographed at Ngorongoro Crater - Tanzania

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Kenya 2010: Missing Africa

The Patagonia expedition weight thermals clung tightly to my frame as I braced for the biting cold. It's 7 degrees fahrenheit and the north wind ushered the frigid air through my layered attire. This is Minnesota, it's Thanksgiving Day, and I'm on a hike. My Sorrel bound feet blazed a trail as I crunched through the crusty mix of ice and snow that fell the night before. I'm seeking a winter landscape, and I'm thinking about Africa.

The cold and lonely hike offers me the opportunity to reflect on my summer excursion... We were three on a Kenyan safari... Tamy, my mother and I. It was my opportunity to share my passion for nature, photography and travel... it was an opportunity of a lifetime.

You never know what to expect when you travel abroad. Research helps you predict potential pitfalls and opportunities, but research cannot prepare you for the unexpected. On this trip, my fears were not about the travel experience... I pre-arranged all transports, lodging, and safaris; I knew that our in-country experience would meet expectation. We were in Africa... We were on Safari... Kenya would not disappoint!

Tamy and I travel abroad at least once a year, and rely on these opportunities to add to our vast library of images. International excursions provide a creative and intellectual boost to my psyche, it is the DNA from which I write, teach, and publish. This type of travel photography compliments our efforts home, and fulfills my desire to explore our natural world. We have been travel companions since the late 80's, and have always embraced the intensity of a rich travel/photographic experience. Love of travel and adventure united us in the beginning and continues to be a theme for our lives today. So, if I had any trepidations about my Kenyan Safari, they were about a new unknown. How would the addition of a third travel companion... my mother, influence our travel experience and our productivity?

Ten days in Africa can be a grind for anyone. A safari vacation is not as self-indulgent as it sounds. The distances between refuges are large, the roads are rough, and the days can be long. Having traveled through Tanzania in 2008, Tamy and I knew what to expect. We prepped my mother for the experience, and hoped for the best.

I feared that our excitement for Africa was masking the reality that I knew, but I hoped that the magic of nature would negate the inconveniences of adventure travel. Once we arrived in Nairobi and made that first long journey to Samburu Reserve, I knew that we were in for some fun. My mother embraced the experience in a way that I could have never anticipated. She was enthralled by the people, the landscape and the wildlife. The inner child that possesses me while on the road or with a camera, possessed her. My mother was one of us... not a photographer, not a traveler, not a tourist... she was a student. The intimacy of an intense cultural and environmental travel experience fostered the learner in us all. These are the experiences that enrich our minds and our hearts.

Today is a cold Thanksgiving Day in Minnesota. I am thinking of Africa, pondering my next adventure and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to share my passions.
Image #1: Cheetah. Masai Mara Game Reserve
Image #2: Olive Baboon. Lake Nakuru National Park
Image #3: Elephant Babies. Samburu National Reserve
Image #4: Young White Rhinoceros with Mother. Lake Nakuru National park
Image #5: Lioness. Masai Mara Game Reserve
Image #6: Black and White Colobus Monkey. Lake Naivasha National Park
Image #7: Reticulated Giraffe. Samburu National Reserve
Image #8: My Mother... an all around good sport!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Kenya 2010: Midday Light

As the saying goes... "If you can't beat 'em,... join 'em!"
You're on the trip of a lifetime, living in the moment... but the light is not your friend. What to do?
It would be all too easy to put the camera down, get discouraged, and lose that photoMoJo. Alternatively, you could throw caution to the wind and turn your bad light into an opportunity to experiment, learn, and get creative.

Harsh midday sun creates deep shadows, blown highlights, and unflattering colors. These unmanageable conditions make for great stories about the one that got away or the "impossible" conditions of the day.
Never say die... work that bad light!

Place your subject between you and the sun, stay low, and shoot for the backlight. Streams of bright sunlight can produce glowing highlights around ears, fur, or leaves. These "high-key" images are often the first to be tossed, but will occasionally make that list of cherished and interesting keepers. Don't fight the deep shadows and black blacks... leverage that lousy light and convert your raw images to black and white. Those trashy shadows now make for an interesting contrast to the bright whites. These shadows are now your friend as they make an average image into an abstract that compels your viewer to study the form and pattern.
Don't put that camera away... use that lousy light, think different, and shoot - shoot - shoot... you just might be pleasantly surprised.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Kenya 2010: The Mara in Review (III)

Predators abound across the African Savanna.... always on the lookout for a place to hide, something to eat, and easy prey. With their keen eyes, large ears, and ultra-sensitive olfactory organs, predators are finely tuned to seek out the injured and feeble.

This morning's quick post is homage to the evolutionary process that has so carefully crafted the anatomy and physiology of the carnivore. Be it gradual or punctuated, natural selection facilitates the retention of only the most adaptive characteristics while enabling the loss of traits that fail to perpetuate the species.

Graceful and lean, the cheetah is an ancient member of the family Felidae. Known for speed and maneuverability, she and her cubs scout the Mara in search of the weak and vulnerable.

The Banded-mongoose belongs to the family Herpestidae. Thin and wiry like a mink, this predator takes on rodents, insects and serpents. Working among the collective, the mongoose is a fierce enemy of the cobra.
The last image is of a Black-backed Jackal. Lurking among the tall grasses, these members of the family Canidae, seek out the dead and dying. They steal bits of food from abandoned carrion and hunt in the secrecy of night.

Here's to the predator.... crafty and lean... like all of Africa's wildlife, living on the edge.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Kenya 2010: The Mara in Review (I)

It was a bit of a crap shoot, but I thought that my research would pay off. The event has been repeated for millennia as the wildebeest relive the tragedy of the commons. The seemingly infinite fields of Serengeti grasses are actually an ephemeral resource mowed to the roots by greedy grazers that nibble the foliage down to the soil. It was the end of June; the wildebeest should be on the move. The anticipation of seeing the great migration weighed on my every thought. I had visions of viewing nervous herds leaping into crocodile infested waters in a futile attempt to find a utopia on the Mara.

Where were the wildebeest? We drove for hours as we made our way towards the Tanzanian border. We traversed endless fields of tall grasses, and had infrequent encounters with wildlife. For two days we searched the Mara, but the great migration was not to be found. The wildebeest were coming, but not until their food was gone. We arrived too soon. From the Kenyan border we could see the herd beginning to grow, but it was not showtime. We waited for hours and revisited the "hotspots," but they were not ready to take the plunge.

The wildebeest are coming, the wildebeest are coming... but we have to go.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Kenya 2010: Born Free

When Elsa’s mother was shot, she was orphaned in an unforgiving place. Northern Kenya is arid; dotted by the rare acacia savanna and nourished by meandering rivers that are fed by infrequent mountain rains. Africa is inhospitable to those who have a parent, those without fall prey to lions, leopards and hyena. Were it not for the intervention of the rural farmer who killed Elsa’s mother, this infamous story of the orphaned lion would have ended in another tragedy.

Samburu National Reserve was Elsa’s home.

Prior to our trip to Kenya, I spent quite a lot of time researching the Samburu Reserve. I knew that this place was uniquely different from those that I had seen in Tanzania, and I was looking forward to viewing and photographing a suite of species that could be seen in very few places across Africa.

Absent is the ubiquitous savanna zebra. In its place is the larger Grevy’s zebra with its oval ears and narrow fingerprint-like stripes. The Masai giraffe is also conspicuously missing from the landscape. The smaller reticulated giraffe travels in small herds throughout the reserve. It’s elegant body is adorned with boxed spots that appear to be carefully outlined in white and bronze.

The slender gerunuk balances on its hind legs and plucks savory leaves from thorny acacias, while the beisa oryx struts about with its massive body and unicorn like horns.

This place is uniquely different from those to the south. Predictable and unpredictable drought shape the landscape, force adaptation, and push its inhabitants to the limits of survivability.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Kenya 2010: The Migration North

We had spent two evenings at the Safari Club Hotel Nairobi, and were now ready to begin the bush experience we planned nearly fourteen months ago. Exiting the the bustling city during a Sunday sunrise meant that we could avoid the oppressive traffic that walled in any who dared enter its borders. With over three million people crammed into 696 km2, Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, and forms a Kenyan province of its own. The rules of the road appear to be defined by the moment and confound my own logic. We three are thankful for Francis, our guide, who knows the terrain like the lines on his face. His knowledge of the city and homeland seem to be embedded in his DNA as he propelled us effortlessly out of the metropolis and into the hinterland.

Our destination was 350 km to the north on paved, unpaved, and pot-holed roads. Traveling in a stretched LandCruiser, we slowly made our way from Nairobi to Samburu National Reserve. During this five hour excursion, I could not avoid from comparing rural Kenya to the Tanzanian countryside we traversed in 2008. It became clear that Kenya is more “Westernized” than its neighbor to the south. While the homes and shops might be appear primitive to most from Europe and North America, the network of towns, villages and farms along the road were so numerous that it was a definite contrast to my recollections of Tanzania.

After five hours of twists, turns, bumps, and stops we arrived at the Samburu Simba Lodge. Cold towels and hot meals were waiting for us, a welcome relief from the dusty roads traveled that morning.