Reader Jim Billie has sent me a whole passel of wildlife and landscape photos from around the world—so many that I can’t put them all up. Here are a few highlights with his captions (click to enlarge):
A cheetah nomming a Thompson’s gazelle in Masai Mara (Kenya):
Mountain goat, Olympic National Park:
Baby mountain goat, Jasper National Park, Alberta:
Flamingoes, Lake Nakuru, Kenya (Jim notes that this was taken with a 600 mm mirror lens):
Kea (JAC’s second favorite parrot after the kakapo), Arthur’s Pass, New Zealand:
Kookabura, Tasmania. Jim notes, “This beast got to know us over a week such that I could approach him/her within 10 feet and talk to him/her. You know that wild “monkey” call they used in the Tarzan movies?: That’s the kookaburra calling.”
Flame tree, Thailand:
Finally, lotus in pool, Thailand:
Beautiful composition in the Lotus Pool photo!
Yes! Especially since it isn’t fully revealed till you scroll down.
So is that a gum tree?
Yes, of some sort: There are some many types, I never got qany good at recognizing which was which.
Yes, sittin’ in the old gum tree …
Glorious pictures.
The “busy” bokeh on the cheetah shot is also caused by the mirror (catadioptric) lens used in the shot: Mirror lenses are not known for sweet bokeh! ;^)
But, nothing else gets you 600mm in small package at less than 2-pounds.
Everything but the mountain goat is scanned Kodachrome 64 (ceased production in 2009 ;^( ).
Beautiful pics…thanks for sharing
Yes they definitely are beautiful!
Enjoyable stuff, J. Thanks for sharing.
Two mentions of Tasmania in two days! Yesterday the Thylacine, and today the Kookaburra which, incidentally is not native to my home state, but was introduced here early last century.
Isn’t the kookabura an Aussie?
Yes but not Tasmanian apparently, (I didn’t know that!).
Oooh, kittehs, new trees, new words (bokeh must be an evolutionary offshoot of kitteh, surely?) and beautiful images.
Moar! [/reader not known for knowing when to say enough]
Exquisite photos, Jim. I’d love to see more, if you ever put them online for public viewing.
Is the tree also known as the Royal Ponciana?
http://www.cnseed.org/royal-poinciana-delonix-regia-tree-seeds.html
I have fond memories of such a tree… the branches, laden with flowers, would sometimes cascade unto the lawn. As kids, we used to hold the filament of the flower’s stamen, and “duel” head to head, trying to pull off our opponent’s anthers.
Hi all, yes, I have a public site:
http://www.berettaconsulting.com/barbarossa/index.htm
(There are something north of 10,000 images on this site.)
and you can see my photos on Flickr as well:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jim_blilie_photo/
You can also just Google my name: Jim Blilie and you will find the first three hits are: my photo website, my guitar website, and my Flickr photostream.
Enjoy!
Wow, wow, wow! That is one gorgeous tree! I’m not sure if that’s the same tree or not; but it looks like it. That photo was in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Some mighty fine images here, Jim. I especially like the adult Mountain Goat and the Kea.
The Mountain goat at Olympic National Park is gorgeous, the panorama’s breathtaking. Well done sir Jim.
That photo of the mountain goat in Olympic Nat’l Park: it looks a lot like Glacier Nat’l Park to me, but then again I visited it as a child and haven’t been back since.
Dunae: Very well done! You are quite correct: That photo is taken above Logan Pass, near the Hidden Lake overlook, looking south from the trail. Glacier NP. I must have provided Dr. C. with incorrect notation when I forwarded the photo.
Glacier is all sedimentary rock. Olympic is most a topsy-turvy mess of marine igneous rocks (lots of cool pillow lavas.)
Duane that wold be …
Fab photos, couldn’t have too many of them! I never could figure out why there were so many Kookaburras in Tarzan movies, I didn’t realise they were supposed to be monkeys, weird.
I think they were intended to be monkey calls: The movies were very North America-centric of course. I’m sure any Aussie would instantly recognize the kookaburra calls.
This pic’s are fantastic it gets me closer 2 the nature ur a awesome