Mini Challenge #282 Wildlife

JAG

Looking through the older themes, we have not had any challenges around the Wildlife theme. So here we go! What I am looking for is any images that have any type of wildlife, whether it be birds, reptiles, mammals, fish or insect world is all considered to be wildlife. It cannot be any domesticated animal such as pets or livestock. Since not all people live around wildlife, Zoo images will be acceptable only if no bars or cages are in the image. So it is important to keep composition in mind if you are going to visit a local zoo to fulfill this challenge. There should only be 1 or 2 wildlife in a single image. No large herds or flocks.
Rules can be found at this link: https://dgrin.com/discussion/248032/mini-challenge-un-official-rules

This challenge will run from March 30, 2019 to April 13th at 12pm Alaska time (which is -8 UTC)
See my examples below:

This example is showing a wild marmot that was living under the porch of a 50 + year old bunkhouse at Hatcher's Pass Independence Mine in Alaska. This would be considered ok, but I would prefer to see images of wild creatures in their more natural habitat.

This example is of a Lion at the Idaho zoo and the Gorilla was taken at Disney World Zoo. As you can see, it doesn't look like an enclosure or fenced area.

Reptiles of any kind:

Birds

Sea Mammals

Insect world

Fish

Cavalier

Ooh - one of my favorite subjects. I have a lot of favorite shots of Tule Elk, ducks, varieties of geese, cranes, etc. from wildlife refuges, but I thought I'd post something other than zoo or refuge inhabitants.

A couple of years ago, I spent time over 10 days photographing "the life of a Praying Mantis" in a Day Lily bed. She lived and hunted in slow motion going from one flower to another, catching bumble bees and generally striking poses for me whenever she saw the camera (well, maybe that was my imagination, but.....). When I found a recently deceased bumble bee on the ground, I used tweezers to pick it up and offer it to her. She took the bee, inspected it and then threw it back. Picky, picky, picky.
I had a hard time choosing which shot to post for the mini. In this one she watches me as she rests on a spent flower.

On a road trip to Washington state, we ran across these guys just hanging and trying to look cute so that maybe a tourist might offer a tidbit. Much to their chagrin, all I offered was a camera.

Elephant Seal beach near San Simeon, Ca always proves to be a fertile ground for laughs and photography. This guy was so enjoying the beach and sun, making sure he applied a generous amoutn of sun screen in the form of sand.

Not for the contest - just another look at my friend, the Mantis. This is day one of our friendship.

slpollett

I don't have much wildlife, but I have a few.

1. This is one of the bears we saw at Yellowstone a couple of years ago. This was in Hayden's Valley.
   

2. The bison were plentiful at Yellowstone. This one was munching on the grass in the median in the parking lot. It was very close to our car. This photo was taken from the relative safety of our vehicle with the window down.
   

3. One of the many squirrels (I think it's a squirrel anyway) at Zion National Park. They didn't seem to afraid of people and wouldn't run away when we stopped for pics. Sit your backpack down and the little devils were quick to try to get in to steal your snacks. Somewhere I have a pic of a squirrel just about successful unzipping my husband's backpack. If I find it, I'll post it just for grins.
   

Sherry

JAG

Thanks for starting us our Jo and Sherry! Great images! @Cavalier Jo, I really like your seal taking a bath. I like how the sand seems to be exploding off his body. Like someone threw a big dirt clod at him! LOL! @slpollett Sherry, It definitely is a squirrel!

grandmaR

We live in a fairly rural area and there are a number of wild animals around our house. We have a resident ground hog, snakes, sometimes a bald eagle visits, we often see deer, and Bob has taken some photos of a turkey. We also apparently have a free range peacock who spends the night in a tree near our house. He is not OUR peacock and we have been unable to figure out if he belongs to anyone. He just showed up last spring. I wondered whether he would be considered wild or domestic. He's would probably be feral.
Fortunately I didn't really have to decide because Bob took all of the photos of him. So the above photo is just for general interest and not for the mini.

The first photo is not such a good photo IMO - I took it from the car as I was driving down our driveway. The mother deer will hide the fawns in our yard and Bob will mow around them. This is the only photo I have of those deer.
1. Fawn Fleeing

This was taken when I was snorkeling in Bonaire.
2. Orange phase of the White Spotted Filefish in Bonaire

3. Camouflaged Baboon
   There are actually 3 or 4 baboons in this photo and I didn't know whether that would be considered a large herd or flock. I thought of cropping it in to a single baboon, but I don't like the photo as well that way.
   

pegelli

Great theme! Thanks.

My contributions:

1: Water lizzard (exploring our garden)

2: Protecting his harem (Richmond Park, London)

3: Nibbling squirrel (Green Park, London)

sarasphotos

If it's ok I'll post again this time just for fun - because of upcoming travel committments please don't consider these as entries.

1) Ferocious frog!

2) One of "our" deer - we live on the edge of a nature reserve and a family of three comes to graze quite often. The only problem is that the closer they get, the steeper the angle as I can only photograph from the balcony.

3) Don't you wish you could move your head like that? On a small lake not too far from home.

JAG

@grandmaR Your first baboon shot with the multiple baboons will be called acceptable as it is mainly just a few baboon but has a main focal point of the one baboon that is facing the camera. I think it is an excellent shot and prefer it much better than the cropped shot. The image really makes a person want to know just how many baboons are there. I think I have spotted 5. I will point each out if you like me too,

What I was meaing about flocks and herds was, that I didn't want wide angle shots of large herds/flocks ect, that had no focal point of just 1 animal. Yours baboon picture is more about the one that is more prominently positioned againts the tree.

@pegelli very nice set. Your Elk calling out over his harem is very nice. As I told grandmaR, I think it does fall well enough into what I am looking for as the male elk is more promident than the others and is the focal point of the shot. Kudos!

@sarasphotos , glad you are getting to travel around. Hope your getting loads of new pictures! I really like your frog shot and how you went down to the frogs level. Thanks for showing!

grandmaR

How many baboons? I see two (or maybe three) at the bottom of the tree on the left and one on the right. I think these were young baboons and they were climbing the tree and jumping down into the bush.

GSPeP

These were all taken in areas where a lot of people pass.

1. Sitting in a tree

2. Should I cross the road? (it eventually did)

3. Hey lovely lady ...

JAG

@grandmaR said:
How many baboons? I see two (or maybe three) at the bottom of the tree on the left and one on the right. I think these were young baboons and they were climbing the tree and jumping down into the bush.

there are actually 5. Two (numbers 4 and 5) are camouflaged behind grass and tree branches. Baboon 2 is grooming baboon 3. If you click on your image, it will show it in a browser that will allow you to zoom in on the image and you can clearly see the others. Numbers 4 and 5 are actually lookout baboons. They are each facing different directions in order to keep an eye out for predators. Kudos on an interesting shot!

JAG

@GSPeP great set of images! That fawn looks a little out of place doesn't it? I think I like the heron the best out of all the images.

DavidRGillespie

Great mini topic, and wonderful images to look at. My contributions,

1. Dung fly, Scathophaga species, without which we are up to our armpits in...

2. A common loon and chick (Watch Lake, British Columbia)

3. American otter (in a slough about 2 minutes from my front door!)

JAG

Lovely set @DavidRGillespie ! Thanks for entering!

lkbart

Great theme & lots of awesome images! A couple from a recent trip from me:

1. Almost hidden gator
   

2. Little Blue Heron
   

3. Great Blue Heron, just caught a fish
   

StueveShots

Great images so far! Here are a few from me:

1. Yellowstone National Park
   

2. Big Island, Hawaii
   

3. My Front Yard
   

JAG

great set of images @lkbart and @StueveShots !

[Deleted User]

thailand thieving naughty monkey

JAG

beautiful image @mongoose330

Ok folks, there is only 1 day left on this challenge!

[Deleted User]

White Rhino , taken in Umfolozi Nature Reserve in Kwazulu Natal , South Africa. What makes this photo pretty special , It was taken with film , and in 1993.
I was lucky enough to have a friend who was the PRO spokesperson for Umfolozi , and i would sometimes have the opportunity to go to the Holding Penns.

I could up close and personal with the wild life, I had my Camera under the gate of the enclosure.

What they would do is sell Rhino and other animals off to other countries. 2 Rhino were sold to Norway and while they were in Quarantine , what they would do , Is as the weeks went by , they would half the size of the enclosure the Rhino were in , But for a day or two .. Towards the end of the quarantine the Rhino would be so used to been in a tight Cage that they would not Pranic or stress. The Rhino would not need to be drugged on the long flight to Norway.

Just out of interest sake , It was reported that the two Rhino grew long hair all over thier bodys like wooly Rhinos. ,Natures way

jwear

A fly by while at lunch or looking for a take out

jwear

Calif fly by

jwear

Something sweet and fast

[Deleted User]

I know it sounds Bizarre , but how many of you guys have taken a photo of a bird in flight , while been above it ? We were discussing amongst a group of photography friends about that one extremely challenging photo that you have to take before you go to the big dark room in the sky..

I often stand on bridges wait for birds to fly under the bridge and see if i can capture them from directly above. So i been doing this for years , and you know what I picked up , and figured out ? Well City birds in the concrete jungle have flight paths that most birds of that species stick to when traveling from one side of the city to the next. So often I would see another bird flying in the exact same direction where I saw the last one. If one waits for about 15 min , if you missed the first shot , be patient , Mr Birds friend is on the way

JAG

Ok, this challenge is closed! Sorry I'm a few hours late. Was out all day. I will have the results posted sometime tonight!

double_entendre

@jwear said:

A fly by while at lunch or looking for a take out

Wow. That is a spectacular shot.

jwear

Thank you , love wildlife