Vertebrates but not birds

Kangaroo and Joey - Photographed in a wildlife preserve, Australia Stealth.  The art of not being seen - or in this case being seen but not being a threat.  You can tell from the image that the Joey is aware of my presence; it is looking right at me.  The mother is also aware, but is not threatened.  Both can leave any time - the Joey was out of the pouch earlier and later on the mob (name for a group of kangaroos) disappeared into the evergreens behind.  Yet they stayed because they were not threatened.  Free to be photographed, not harassed. You only get this kind of shot through trust.  OK, a good long lens helps, and we will throw in a good dose of luck to boot, but if there is no trust on behalf of the quarry you will not get the shot.  These kangaroos lived on a game preserve; they could up and disappear at will but did not.  They were comfortable enjoying the outdoors, the occasional sunny break, and the grass (sounds like a Canad...

Kathryn Svendsen catches a Red Snapper in New Zealand Who doesn't like fishing?  Well, some of you don't, but my wife certainly does.  We have done fishing in a number of places.  This would include British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and the Maritimes (Nova Scotia).  Lately we did some ocean fishing in New Zealand. We signed onto a fishing charter with a friend and two others to do some fishing, specifically for Red Snapper.  We traveled out from port and dropped our lines in, and came up with a number of fish.  I think I had the largest one, but my wife outdid me in sheer numbers.  It took her a while, but once she got the hang of it she was a machine.  She must have caught between eight to ten of them. The process of fishing is fairly familiar to most people; use a fishing rod with hook, bait the hook, and send the thing to where the fish are.  Catch, fillet, cook, eat.  And, I have to say, the cooked fish was very nice.  ...

Grizzly bear eating berries near Lake Louise, Alberta Canada has a large number of majestic animals.  There are moose, mountain sheep and mountain goats, elk, caribou, not to mention all the aquatic behemoths such as whales, walrus, and dolphin (the killer whale is actually the world's largest dolphin).  The most splendid of them, many would argue, is the grizzly bear. I have only seen grizzlies twice in the wild; the first time was a couple of years ago just behind a wildlife fence along the highway through Banff.  That was pretty impressive, as I have been along that stretch of road many a time and it was the first time I saw this marvelous creature.  This experience though, was so much more amazing. We were driving along the highway to Lake Louise and there was what seemed to be a bit of a traffic pile up.  I had seen these before, and usually it meant there was some wild animals about.  I have had great opportunities to photograph elk and mountai...

Juvenile Cane Toad, Fiji "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time."  The results of actions without proper thought or research can be truly devastating.  Good intentions led by ignorance is a sure way to produce regret.  This is true in so many avenues of life, whether it is finances or love or, in this case, an attempt at biological control. The cane toad is native to South America, where it has evolved over millennia and fits into its ecosystem in a balanced way.  There are natural mechanisms in place that prevent its population from getting out of control.  But take it away from there and introduce it to a place where those mechanisms don't or can't exist, and you are asking for a disaster in the making. Australia is currently having a very challenging time with the cane toad.  Brought to help keep pests controlled in the sugar cane fields, they quickly spread and started their march across the country.  They are effective predators and b...