Wildlife - Nature Images

As I travel the planet, if there is an opportunity to photograph the wildlife, even though I do not carry the full range of equipment which most wildlife photographers carry, I will do the best possible to capture interesting images no matter how many ants may be biting me. There could also be a link which is in green and it is an active link to a web site for more information about the image. Just click the link and another browser window will open.

Nature is wondrous, beautiful and can be very brutal. The green viper snake is of course attempting to eat the gecko, which is the Tokay variety and can grow to extremely large sizes. I watched this "death dance" for about an hour as the participants struggled to overcome the other. Photo: Angkor Wat temple complex, Cambodia

During my stay on the island of Koh Rong Samloem I found these Tokay geckos living in the very high spots of my cabin. Most would not like these creatures in their room however, these are very useful animals because they eat the insects as well as spiders which might also want to inhabit your living space. Photo: Koh Rong Samloem Island, Cambodia

So exactly how large is the gecko in the prior photograph. I had to catch one for this image, notice I am wearing a glove. I was prepared for the gecko to bite me when I decided to catch it but his bite was so powerful and it caught me by surprise I let go which forced me to have another go at catching him. I included my hand in the photograph to give some sort of size reference to the gecko. A side note, this gecko was released unharmed in my cabin. Photo: Koh Rong Samloem Island, Cambodia

Fruit bats, also known as the Flying Fox and belonging to the megabat suborder can be found in many parts of the world. During the daylight hours they rest in the high tree tops and at night go on their feeding runs. The bats in this image are of the usual size which I encounter but there are smaller versions. In regions where the temperatures are very hot, you will observe the bats using one wing and fanning its body to keep it cool. This can be considered a typical grouping and an easy photograph to take. Photo: Sydney, Australia

This image is the difficult kind. Watching the fruit bats in the high tree tops which were 30 meters tall is difficult enough but predicting when and where one will fly is nearly impossible. The additional problem is having the correct light so the sun is at its highest point where the light will penetrate the wings. This one image took me 3 days of photography. Notice the details of the wings or arms. Photo: Siem Reap, Cambodia

Staying on a nature theme, I always enjoy finding Iguanas in their natural habitat. For the most part they are friendly enough but can be dangerous if molested or bothered. This particular Iguana was of the friendlier sort and did not seem to be annoyed at my activities of taking its photograph. These are amazing animals and this one was about 1.25 meters long. Photo: Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

The Andean Flamingo is one of the rarest Flamingos in the world. The birds in this image were very close as I was hiding in the high vegetation and the only way for me to take this photo was to jump up and run toward the birds forcing them to fly to another part of the lagoon where they were feeding. Before they can actually fly, like a lot of other water birds, they will run across the top of the water until they gain enough speed for flight. Photo: El Calafate, Argentina.

Egrets are to be found around the world but finding an active nesting location during mating season is a bit more difficult. This image is of a nesting site for the Great Egret which is usually in the mangrove trees. In the image you can see the hatched chicks as they are squeaking to be fed by the parents. This photo was from a series taken over a 2 day period. Photo: Cartagena region, Colombia

Jumping to another part of the world, the image you are seeing is called a Pitcher Plant and it is found exclusively in tropical regions or a greenhouse but these tropical regions are very limited. There are many varieties of Pitcher Plants and since I am not a botanist I can not tell you the specific variety or how many there are. This example is one of a handful which were growing in a group of short trees. Other varieties of the Pitcher plant were also to be seen, however, they were not a large or well developed as the one in the photograph. The Pitcher plant is a carnivorous plant which will eat any insect or small animal that happens to fall into the mouth at the top. The size of this plant from the top to the bottom curve of its stem is about 15 inches or 38 centimeters in length. Photo: Bako National Park, State of Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia

The wildlife in parts of Argentina, especially in the Patagonia regions have not normally been hunted by man and therefore lack any sense of danger. This particular bird is I believe a Caracara and though I had a 200 length zoom lens, he allowed me to walk up within 7 meters while I took this image. Photo: Argentina, Patagonia Region

This little fellow is about the size of a large marble and like most crabs he will change shells as it grows larger. It took me nearly an hour of just patiently sitting on the beach sand, sort of hiding, making no movements so he would come out of his shell before I could get this image. Photo: Bocas del Toro, Panama

While visiting friends at their farmhouse, I decided to help with the cleaning chores and as I was going about my work I noticed this spider and at the same time opened the shutters around the window and out fell the scorpion into the spiders web. It did not take much time for the spider to start the process of wrapping the scorpion in a cocoon of silk but I decided to photograph this process from start to finish. This image is in the middle stages of the spiders work and as you can see, the scorpion is being slowly enshrouded with spider silk. I am not sure if you can see the very fine silk going from the spider to the scorpion as the silk is very fine and hard to photograph but if you really look close you can see a bit of it. I watched this process until the spider had the scorpion fully encased which took about an hours time. Photo: Farmhouse in mountains outside of Perugia, Italy

One day I decided to trek into the jungles and look for "Poison Dart Frogs", this was not such a good idea because I was without a guide, however, on I pressed going deeper and deeper into the darkness. Finding these elusive frogs is difficult due to the fact that they are mostly in the ground vegetation and no larger than 1 inch (2.54 cm) in length but I would see movement in my vision even as dark as it was, try to hold steady while sweat was dripping into my eyes. Photo: Bocas del Toro, Panama

There is a very important Hindu temple in this city, one of the holiest Hindu temples, one time a year millions of pilgrims from around the world will come here. The climb to the entrance involves 272 steps all of which are steep and covered with monkeys which will mostly attempt to steal your food and other items. As I was coming down after my visit I passed this monkey, camera in hand, turned it point blank into his face and took this image. My distance, camera to monkey was about 1 foot (30cm) which really did not please the monkey. Photo: Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

During a trip to Africa which had nothing to do with safari tourism, I decided to visit one place to see what was lurking about. These are Hartebeest in a nice grouping, nothing special about the image but I decided to include this one image. Photo: Nairobi National Park, Nairobi, Kenya

Monkeys are a very communal and social animal and with this comes one activity which is a daily must for the monkeys, grooming, especially for pesky insects like lice or other bothersome insects which neither we or the monkeys want our bodies. I watched as this pair was in the trees taking turns going over the body of the other in a very meticulous (complete) inspection looking for the parasites which needed to be removed. Photo: Ao Nang, Thailand.

I typically will not add images such as this but I found this to be very interesting. There is a museum which houses one of the largest "wet collections" in the world. It is a massive, environmentally controlled area of millions of specimens of differing species from spiders, fish, crustaceans, amphibians and mammals. I selected this one image out of hundreds and if you look closely you can see the eyes of these marine animals. Photo: Museum of Natural History, Berlin, Germany

I love monkeys and this Gray Langur did not disappoint. He had snatched an ice cream bar from someone or some place and was happily having a go at it when I happened upon him. Langur monkeys are called "Old World" and can be found predominately in India.  Photo: Jaigarh Fort complex, Jaipur, India.

This little creature is a Praying Mantis or Mantis Religiosa.  This one was on the tarmac on a hot sunny afternoon where the vehicles would smash it. I wanted to take it to the bushes where it belonged but as I was attempting to pick it up, the Mantis took a defensive position, ready to strike at my fingers, as you can see in the photograph. I have never seen a Mantis do this but the beautifully delicate lace of the wings showed very clearly. Photo: Budapest, Hungry