Crittering Archives
Finding the perfect backpack is a never-ending battle for me. I’ve bought so many backpacks trying to find something that works, and most often they end up for sale on Craigslist a few months later. A nature photography backpack needs to do three things. First, it needs to carry your camera and accessories for a day in the field. Secord, it needs to have storage for extra clothes, food, and the other… Read More
What’s the difference between a possum and an opossum? In the United States, the two words are used interchangeably to refer to the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), even though, technically speaking, a possum is an Australian marsupial of no close relation. Whatever you prefer, this is is a fascinating creature that often carries an undeserved bad reputation. I grew up in rural Michigan where we called them ‘possums, and if you said… Read More
Tofino, on Vancouver Island, is one of those places that the minute I heard about it, I knew I had to go. Vancouver Island is just a quick hop from the mainland, and has one of the most amazing landscapes imaginable. Mountains and coastline, what more could you ask for? How about great coffee? Abundant wildlife? Surfing? Yes, that and more. Let’s make this our little secret, eh? Our journey began in… Read More
The flying squirrel may own the title of Colorado’s rarest mammal because just one single specimen has ever been recorded in the state. Although they are only found in a small sliver of the state, this probably has more to do with how difficult it is to find them, and not as much to do with the size of the population. The northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) is common in northern latitudes of the… Read More
Blue light fills the cab of my pickup as lightning crashes into the ground all around me. In the midst of a fierce desert thunderstorm, I am watching an animal that hasn’t been documented in Colorado for nearly 20 years – Vulpes macrotis, commonly known as the kit fox. The kit fox is an arid land fox inhabiting the sagebrush and shrubland west of the Rocky Mountains. It has a slim body… Read More
This spring, we returned to the Santa Rita Mountains in southern Arizona. Tucked away on the western side of the range, about halfway between Tucson and the Mexico border is the quaint oasis of Madera Canyon. The Santa Rita Mountains are known as “Sky Islands”. Rising abruptly from the Sonoran desert floor, these mountains reach heights of nearly 9,453’ at their highest point, the summit of Mount Wrightson. This dramatic topography creates… Read More
With spring around the corner, it will soon be peak season for visiting Pawnee National Grassland. The Pawnee is one of Colorado’s best destinations for wildlife and nature photography. The vast tracts of seemingly endless shortgrass prairie are a glimpse of days past, before much of the Great Plains was converted to agriculture and center pivot irrigation. Pawnee may be best known as a bird watching destination, and if it is your… Read More
Somebody pinch me. Did this really happen? I just returned from visiting Colorado’s San Juan Mountains and photographing not one, but two, Canada lynx in the wild. The Canada lynx is a Colorado state endangered species. For the protection of these animals, details regarding whereabouts have been omitted. You may wonder, how does one go about photographing a Canada lynx in the wild? When I set out on this project three years… Read More
The short-tailed weasel (Mustela erminea) is Colorado’s smallest native carnivore. In summer, this diminutive weasel sports a chocolate brown coat with a light underbelly. In winter, it transforms to pure white except for a black tipped tail. In this white phase, the short-tailed weasel is often referred to as an ermine. I have now photographed 56 species of the 70 species in my Colorado Mammals Project. Of the 14 species that remain, ten are… Read More
Monterey Bay, California is a hotspot for marine mammals. Noisy sea lions jockey for position on jetties as harbor seals laze on the rocks. Sea otters form rafts in the kelp, nursing their young and cracking mollusks. Pods of Dall’s porpoise, harbor porpoise, and bottlenose dolphins patrol the bay, while further offshore, humpback whales breach in dramatic surges and colossal blue whales migrate to summer feeding grounds. Depending on the time of… Read More
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