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Sea lions on high alert! Moments before I shot this photo, a pod of orca whales passed close by, and there was a huge splash. Many of us watching from a boat thought we had witnessed an orca taking a sea lion. Our guide, however, proclaimed that the orcas were fish-eaters, not mammal-eaters. From a […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5172: When Deb and I walked the remote gravel roads on Vancouver Island, we frequently found banana slugs and bear poop near to each other. Since the slugs didn’t eat the poop, I reasoned that the bears must gorge themselves on the slugs. When I researched later, I learned that […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5166: Deb and I have traveled all seven continents looking for rare and interesting wildlife and have seen creatures that look like they should be from another planet. These pelagic gooseneck barnacles, which Deb found as we were walking a beach on Vancouver Island, are the strangest creatures we’ve ever […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5164: I just love the far northern, Port Hardy, region of Vancouver Island! I’ve explored all seven continents, and this is the best area for birds I’ve seen. One reason is because the tides here are so extreme. Some bays go from ten feet deep to hundreds of acres of […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5163: Two days ago, Deb and I watched at least ten humpback whales in the Johnstone Strait (off the coast of far northern Vancouver Island). Not all humpback whales flash their tails, so when they do, it’s always exciting. For a size comparison, look closely under the tail on the […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5146: Whale sharks are the world’s largest fish. They can reach sixty feet in length, and their mouths can be five feet wide. Last year, Deb and I swam with four whale sharks of various sizes in the Raja Ampat of New Guinea. We even got a few unintended whale […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5143: Galapagos penguins are the rarest penguins in the world (less than 2,000 exist). They are also only penguin species that lives in the tropics and north of the equator. To survive high temperatures, they have less fat/feathers, bare skin patches on their faces/feet, and they can pant like dogs. […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5138: Antlion larvae hide at the bottom of hundreds of sandy ant traps on the Essen Wildlife Refuge. Later, when those larvae become adults, they resemble a damselfly, and their diet changes from ants to pollen and nectar. Yesterday, I watched this adult land on a branch no wider than […]
I took Nellie out for a walk this afternoon and routed us past where I had seen a nighthawk multiple times. All of a sudden mother nighthawk blasted out from under a pine tree and did her wounded bird act. At the same time, her chick flew off in the opposite direction. I moved away, […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5117: This is a mudskipper, a fish that spends more time out of water than in it. They breathe on land by absorbing oxygen through their moist skin; they propel themselves by using their fins as legs; and since fish don’t have eyelids, they keep their eyeballs moist by periodically […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5114: This is a Christmas tree marine iguana (also known as Española marine iguanas). It is a subspecies marine iguana, found only on Española island. While most marine iguanas are black to absorb sun heat, the males on Española turn brilliant red and green to attract mates—an adaption believed to […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5110: I shot this photo of the Bear Glacier in 2002, while traveling in Canada for my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. Now the glacier has melted into a fraction of what it once was. Some photos I’ve seen show that the ice doesn’t even […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5095: I photographed this Boyd’s forest dragon on a night-hike in Australia. These lizards get to be about 20 inches long. Unlike most lizards, they do not bask in the sun to regulate body temperature. Instead, they conform to the ambient air temperature of the rainforest. As such, they are […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5087: This is a Borneo pygmy elephant. It is a unique, genetically distinct subspecies of the Asian elephant, about 20% smaller than mainland Asian elephants, reaching a height of roughly 9 feet. (Photographed on the island of Borneo.)
Marty’s photo of the day #5061: This is a poison dart frog, carrying tadpoles. Both males and females carry tadpoles. (Photographed in the Amazon Rainforest of Peru.)
Marty’s photo of the day #5050: I appreciate and use the latest technology for many things in my life. But sometimes technology leads us backwards. For instance, while now many people forgo stereo systems to listen to their music with earbuds or a tiny Bluetooth speaker, they miss so much compared to what they’d hear […]
Marty’s photo of the day #5044: Because of the warm weather, I moved my writing room outside to the porch earlier than usual. The memory and intelligence of hummingbirds astounds me. Not only can they remember exactly where the feeder was last year, but they also know that humans need to fill it up and […]
A whale shark approaches from the cloudy water. Whale sharks are the largest fish to ever inhabit the Earth. They can reach 60 feet long; this one was between 30 and 40 feet long. (Photographed last year in the Raja Ampat of Indonesian New Guinea.)
Marty’s photo of the day #5038: There are fewer than two thousand Galapagos penguins in the wild. And even less photographed with a Sally Lightfoot crab. (Photographed earlier this year in the Galapagos Islands.)
Marty’s photo of the day #5037: As the largest species of parrotfish, humphead parrotfish can reach 4 feet-long and weigh 100 pounds. A single humphead parrotfish can produce up to 200 pounds of sand a year by digesting coral and excreting it, helping to create tropical beaches. (Photographed earlier this year in the Galapagos Islands.)
