Best of 2023

 

I started the year in Antarctica photographing Adelie penguins in the falling snow. Penguins are agile swimmers but have as much trouble as I do climbing over slippery boulders. I loved watching this one carefully navigate the rocks without faceplanting.

This was my favorite photo and my favorite wildlife moment of the year.

Miller Gallery is pleased to present my favorite pics of 2023.

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Penguins march in a snow squall in Antarctica. I love shooting animals in the snow, so this day was truly epic.

The summer sun kisses the coastline of a still-frozen Antarctica. This place will make a landscape photographer of anyone. Glaciers and mountains stretch all the way to the ocean. 

An Adelie penguin makes its way down a slippery ice field pockmarked with the tracks of other penguins.

Adelie family portrait. The hungry babies were impatient to be fed after one of the parents returned from a fishing trip.

A chinstrap penguin stretches after a nap on a rocky beach in Antarctica. These are the most populous penguins on the continent, but we saw very few.

On our last day in Antarctica, we spent time on a black sand beach with this sleepy Weddell seal in the falling snow. A trio of chinstrap penguins also let me take a few pics while they relaxed on the beach.

I spent several days exploring Tierra del Fuego National Park, home to wild horses. This mare got annoyed with the unwanted advances of a band stallion and raced around a meadow.

Seeing this mare gallop at a full run was pure magic.

Spring migration is always too short. This blue-gray gnatcatcher posed for me in a redbud.

A Mississippi kite dives over a farm field. A trip to Oak Island to visit my Uncle Mark revealed a wildlife spectacle as more than 30 kites hunted the fields. My uncle is a fantastic birder. He also put us on endangered woodpeckers, whippoorwills and a shy black bear that didn't want to share our dirt road.  

A meadow vole's nose leads her to the choicest flowers.

No summer would be complete without a visit to Joyce Park to see the thirteen-lined ground squirrels. These busy little prairie dogs have one of the longest hibernations of any animal. So they have to make hay while the sun is shining. 

A North American beaver restocks her underwater larder with fresh browse outside her lodge. I never get tired of watching them.

I spent a lot of time caring for my niece's new kitty. Of course, I had to do a photo shoot with her stuffed animals. One of these things is not like the others. Poor Snickers.

A summer outing revealed a marsh rarity, a family of soras. A thunderstorm chased me to the safety of my car, but I knew what an unusual opportunity this was to photograph these secretive little rails. After the rains, I went back and got this shot.

I spent a couple weeks exploring Costa Rica during the wettest month of the year. This strawberry poison dart frog was a fantastic photo subject.

A three-toed sloth cradles her baby high in the canopy.

An American crocodile gets warm in the sun after heavy rains.

A red-legged honeycreeper takes flight in a rainstorm at La Fortuna. The rains were impressive. If it wasn't raining, it was about to rain or had just finished raining. October is the wettest month of the rainy season. Me: I think I can make it work. 🙄

An ornate spider monkey gives a helping hand to a juvenile too small to leap across a high gap between pine trees at Arenal Lodge & Observatory. 

A green violetear was a cooperative photo subject in Monteverde. I spent a couple days photographing the hummingbirds that gathered at the coffeeshop outside the park. 

A purple-throated mountaingem was a fantastic find at Monteverde. These little bejeweled birds were the highlight of the trip.

I went to Costa Rica to photograph squirrel monkeys, but finding them would be a challenge. These tiny monkeys are endangered in Costa Rica. They're only found in the country's coastal southern rainforests. I spent an entire day hiking in the rain and asking everyone I met if they had seen any, but they eluded me. The next day I got luckier. And on the third day, I was able to spend hours with a troop on a high-elevation trail. Pura Vida!

These charming little monkeys were a worthy photo challenge. It was really difficult to get a clear shot as they darted through the canopy looking for insects.

A coati peers down from a tree at the base of Arenal Volcano. These relatives of raccoons are extremely friendly around people.