This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
Just One More Step . . .
No, I wasn’t on foot in front of this mother leopard with cubs. I was safely shooting from a safari vehicle. This mother leopard was at the edge of a stream that was shaded and protected by trees and other vegetation. We came back a day or two later to find her gone and that palm tree lying where she had been. I don’t know what happened, but hope she and her young got away safely.
Leopard, Serengeti National Park
We saw this leopard lying under the palm tree two days in a row. We wondered if it was a female with newborn cubs. When we stopped on the third day, the leopard was gone and the palm tree trunk was lying in her place. Hopefully, the leopard wasn’t hit by the tree as it fell and any cubs survived uninjured. For a larger view click to go to my portfolio.
It’s that time. If you like to photograph wildlife you should be in Yellowstone or on your way. Bison calves are running all over the place. Elk, pronghorn and bighorn sheep are giving birth or will be soon. The bears are also out and about, some with cubs. It is the time to see and photograph baby animals.
This pronghorn fawn was born last May. The doe kept it and its sibling between the Roosevelt Arch and the north entrance station for the first week after birth. That’s when I left the park. The area is bounded by three roads and a high steel fence. It was crowded and noisy and wouldn’t seem to be a place for a wild animal to want to have babies. It’s also about the last place around Yellowstone that I would want to be stationed for a week hoping to photograph some predators. I don’t know if it was just happenstance or that mother pronghorn knew this was a good place to have her babies while they got stronger and were able to run fast enough to escape from a predator.
Long-tailed weasels are about as hard to find and photograph as badgers. This is the second one I’ve seen and been able to photograph at Point Reyes. I found it a few days after photographing the mother badger and her cubs. Every week should be so good.
A friend and I were driving toward the Point Reyes Lighthouse last week when we saw this sow badger and her two cubs. They were very close to the edge of the road. For some reason she decided to build her den there. I hope she moves. If they stay there the chances are that one or more of them will be killed by a vehicle.
I had heard reports of a sow grizzly with four spring cubs in the Hoodoos area of Yellowstone. I went there this morning hoping to see and photograph them. Four cubs is very rare.
I was fortunate. There they were. Unfortunately, they were about 200 yards away and partly blocked by branches. So, I waited. And waited. It was below freezing and very windy. The wind was really pushing my big lens around, even with me steadying it. Getting a sharp image was going to be a challenge.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour, they moved into a relatively clear area. I was hoping for a good composition. Mom and cub 1, the runt of the litter on her back, and cub 2 were cooperative; but cubs 3 and 4 were not. This is one reason why photographing people is easier.
