RESULTS: Mini Challenge #349: Wildlife "Safari"

sapphire73

First off, thank you all for entering one or more photos. It was fun to see them come in and read the stories.

@JAG Such a diverse set of photos! I love your photos of the gray wolf and Alpun the Polar Bear – and the stories that go with them. (But I know those weren’t entries.) I also like your Tiger Heron entry. Interesting subject with a pleasing composition and nice separation from the background!

@Cavalier Great to see your images of the mountain goats and the big horn sheep, but I think the Praying Mantis is my favorite among your entries. You’ve captured a lot of detail in a natural setting with a lovely bokeh in the background.

@grandmaR Fun to see the series of images of the cormorants in the Galapagos and the profile of the monkey. It is the photo of the zebras that caught my eye though. So typical of the zebras (and so many other animals seen on safari) to turn away from the people eager to view them! I also like the textural contrast of the zebras with grasses. (It would be great to see a little more space in front of the zebras but I realize that isn’t always possible.)

@pegelli Fun set of images! Very appealing foxes and good capture of the hedgehog. My favorite is that moth. Your perspective and technique help us focus one part while blurring the rest. Lovely capture!

@TonyCooper Thank you again for sharing this photo of the baboons, taken in a historic setting. Fun to see the photo and the story that goes with it!

@GSPeP A lovely set of entries – all seen on or near a road! Fun to see the highland cows in Scotland and the (red?) deer crossing the road in Belgium. My favorite is the coyote in Yosemite National Park. I appreciate the composition, the connection with your subject and the clarity of the coyote. Very nice.

With so many fine entries, judging was a difficult task. I ended up with two honorable mentions and a tie for 2nd place.

Honorable mentions
@grandmaR KBFF/Twins
@TonyCooper Baboons at Treetops in Kenya

3rd Place
@GSPep Coyote along the road in Yosemite National Park

Tie for 2nd Place
@Cavalier The Praying Mantis

@JAG The Tiger Heron

1st Place
@pegelli Moth on a white wall

Congratulations, Pieter! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the next challenge!

TonyCooper

Thank you for creating and running an interesting challenge. Any mention of one of my photos is an honor in such august company.

A comment for "JAG": Joyce, your Costa Rican "gators" are "crocs". Alligators are not indigenous to Costa Rica. I know, when one of these behemoths rises out of the water next to your boat that you don't check a Wildlife Field Guide to identify it, but those were crocodiles. Of course, you could have leaned closer and checked the snout. Alligators have a rounded snout and crocodiles have a v-shaped snout. The lower teeth are visible when the croc's mouth is closed, but gators have overbite and the lower teeth are concealed.

Cavalier

@sapphire73 - Thanks for running a geat mini and your extensive comments. Congrtulations to Pieter for an outstanding image, if not a little disturbing given my loathing of moths. I have to admit he/she is kind of cute. Thanks for the 2nd place nod along with Joyce for the Tiger Heron - I've never seen one before.. Conngrats to all entrants for such fine images.

grandmaR

Thank you for the HM and the interesting mini. I'll look at the Twins photo again and see if I can recrop it. I don't think they were turning away from us though - I think they weren't paying any attention to us - there was a huge herds of animals running past our Land Rover (and others) or just standing around.

sapphire73

@grandmaR said:
Thank you for the HM and the interesting mini. I'll look at the Twins photo again and see if I can recrop it. I don't think they were turning away from us though - I think they weren't paying any attention to us - there was a huge herds of animals running past our Land Rover (and others) or just standing around.

@grandmaR We have been on several safaris in Kenya and South Africa, and it was amazing how many times the animals turned away. We've had very good guides who give the animals lots of space but have seen other vehicles getting too close, etc. I always enjoy seeing zebras and am glad you had a good sighting.

JAG

Congratulations Pieter for the win! Congratulations to runner ups and kudos to @sapphire73 for a great run of the mini and all your responses. @TonyCooper I really thought I wrote croc, but alas, it came out as gator. I do know they were crocs. Let's just say it was a brain fart when I wrote out these comments. It's fixed now.

pegelli

Thanks for the win Gretchen, and congrats to all the other great images and honourable places. This came as a total surprise in such a good collection of true wildlife photo's.
Also thanks for all the thoughtful comments, that makes these mini's so much more enjoyable.

I'm currently discussing the organisation of the next challenge with JAG, so it might take a few more days to get one up.