Little Lizard

This little guy briefly flitted into view, posed for this photo and then flitted back into hiding. This is a gecko, as you may know, and you find them in unlikely places in Hawaii, including bedroom wall and bathroom mirrors. They are harmless and, as you can see here, colorful.Subscribe to A Photo A Day by Email

Does A Bear Prowl In the Woods?

Of course they prowl. And they do other things as well. Here a mother bear and her cubs are watching tourists watch them.

Puffin

I don't do much wild life photography, mainly because it seems to take too much patience. It also helps if you have a really big lens, and I don't.But sometimes I get lucky as in this photo. We were visiting our son Jon in Sitka, Alaska and he had taken us in the company boat to see the flora and fauna of a few nearby islands. We don't have puffins in South Dakota so I felt lucky to be close enough to a few to get some photos. I took 10 or so photos but this is my favorite because it does a good job of showing the flared wing tips and the excellent aerodynamics of neatly tucked legs and feet.

Our Portuguese Friend

One of the best discoveries of all of our travels to Europe is a small village in Portugal north of Lisbon with stone houses that have been converted to small apartments for tourists. The name of the little town is Aldeia da Mata Pequena and we stayed in the apartment named "Caso do Jasmin." Among the ammenities were antique decorations, a kitchen sink carved out of stone and warm bread served each morning by the owner.Another amenity was the town dog, whom we nicknamed "Sparky" because we couldn't say her real name. She would come to visit when we were out on our little back patio. She wouldn't respond to our English but did accept our small gifts of bread and cheese. When she barked, I'm guessing she spoke Portuguese.

Bambi Twins

It's easy to shoot wildlife photos when the wildlife wanders into your front yard. In this case the front yard is at our cabin in the Black HIlls. They were lured there by the cracked corn that had been thrown on the grass.If you study the spots on the fawns, incidentally, you will discover that the deer are not identical twins, though I'm guessing that human twins wouldn't necessarily have the exact same skin blemishes, would they? Maybe it's the same for deer.

The Happy Fisherman

Most people fish Lake Oahe for its walleye. But my friend Peterson thought finding northerns would be just fine and on day two of our fishing/sailing expedition, this is what he found. I don't have a scale on my sailboat so we had to go looking for a fisherman who did. Total weight: 20.2 lbs. Scott has been fishing in Canada for 30 years but this is the largest northern he has ever caught. And I helped.If you want to see the exact location where we caught this fish, check out the Panoramio link. There may be more.

We Can See Ourselves!

We were packing our rental car and getting ready to leave our little cottage in Aldeia da Mata Pequena, Portugal, when the two resident peacocks walked up and started to look at themselves in the dark reflection. I thought they were admiring themselves, but when they started to peck at our car, I concluded that they thought they were looking at two other peacocks that somehow posed a threat. They moved on amiably when I opened the passenger car door.

More Than Books

Books bags certainly carry more than books. In this case, I watched a young woman stuff her Jack Russel puppy into a book bag and strap it on her back. Before she rode off on her bicycle, she asked me if her dog's head was sticking out. I said, "Yes. And the dog is smiling." I found this photo op in Sitka, Alaska.

03-14-10 Puppy Love

This is my third dog post but the first time in a long time that I am yearning to get a dog. How can you not love a puppy like Max, a beautiful golden retriever?

Whenever, I tell Deb I want a dog, she reminds me that we travel a lot and that I'll have to be satisfied with Mac. And for the most part, I am. Though Mac rarely treats me like I'm some kind of god like Polly used to. I'm lucky if Mac even wakes up from one of his endless naps when I come home.

03-11-10 Wildlife

The only wildlife I seem to photograph is captive, such as the butterflies I've posted. And now a lumbering brown bear, on display at a zoo a few miles south of Sitka, Alaska, named "The Fortress of the Bear." This young bear is one of two at the compound. They were orphaned after their mother had to be be destroyed. The crime the mom had committed was that she had made her way into the kitchen of a resort. Once a bear has tasted peanut butter and jelly, she is less inclined to eat berries and salmon. And before you know it, they'll be back in your kitchen. Here's another view. (click)

03-10-10 Got Your Goat

Of all the things we saw during our trip to Sitka, Alaska, this celery-crunching goat is perhaps the most paradoxical "wild" animal. We had gone to a place to see brown bear that had been captured rather than be destroyed. (Their mother did have to be destroyed). Next to the bear compound was a kind of a children's zoo with all sorts of animals that don't necessarily symbolize rugged Alaska. But he's a photogenic goat, isn't he?

In his face and well-worn horns there is an interesting mix of curiosity and menace. Now that I think of it, as a classroom teacher for over thirty years, I've seen that same look in my students. Fortunately, students don't have horns.

02-25-10 Dark Beauty

I have been "dusting off" some old photos and this is one I took a few years ago at the Butterfly House in Sioux Falls, SD. I'm not sure you can see it here, but there is blue speckling this butterfly's wings which is anything but random. Part of the disguise? Part of the reproductive game? I don't know much about butterflies but the more I look, the more I marvel. Here's another one from the same day.

Incidentally, did you know that if you click on the picture displayed when you first go to a page in my blog, you get a bigger view of the same photo? In fact, most of these photos are uploaded at a resolution of 1680x1050, which is pretty big. I hope you have a good connection?

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