Fauna Collection

This is a beautiful bald eagle I found at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, PA. I love the eagle's head was craned, looking as me as if wondering what a big guy with a camera was doing there through the glass. Could be the status of these birds as a national symbol, but something about them is truly regal and noble, no matter what they do. Still, one amazingly beautiful bird!

My phone died. I needed it to try and find my girl, who I was hoping to meet at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. The only option, rather than giving her a call, was to walk around the building and try to find her. Along the path, what do I happen to come across but this cute little guy! I love squirrels, they're so perky and twitchy and fluffy. This little thing just looked like he wanted a nut. It's too bad I didn't have any, else I'd gladly have provided!

At the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, PA, in the Rainforest open air room, I spotted this amazingly beautiful bird fluttering around, and he landed on a perch nearby. I don't know what kind of bird this is, but I am awestruck by the sheer COLOR displayed in this wonderful little bird. An interesting little tidbit though; I do have another photograph of this guy, that didn't turn out as well as this one did, but in it you can clearly see his beak opened up, with his tiny little tongue visible, no thicker than a toothpick.

My entire life, I've been around dogs; my mother owns a dog grooming business, after all! So, I've felt a kinship with them for as long as I can remember, and it never fails to amaze me just how devoted, precious, and loyal these creatures are to us. Nowhere have I really seen a more pure display of that than when I was recently on the beaches of the Outer Banks, NC. There were just so many dogs, and every one of them was happy and active, running alongside the crashing waves and the footsteps of their best friends. I managed to find this beautifully-preserved paw print freshly placed in the sand, and caught a photograph of it an instant before it, like everything else on the shore, was washed away into memory.

I live right next to a peaceful Pennsylvanian forest; acres and acres of relatively unspoiled, hilly land I spent a sizable portion of my childhood exploring. Sometimes, beautiful things step out of that forest...and this year, I noticed a doe had started moving bravely out from the woods, into the field across from our house...with her two cute little fawns in tow. Virtually every day this beautiful little four-legged family would come out from the woods, peacefully grazing on the grass. One stormy day I even caught the briefest glimpse of these two little cuties pouncing around in a puddle of rainwater, bleating happily. (Boy, do I wish those photos turned out better!) Still, I managed to catch this sight you see here; the two little fawns in a rare moment apart from their mother, enjoying a sunny day.

What else could I name it? This is a very pretty flamingo! I have a real soft spot for flamingos; they're such strange, otherworldly birds, and yet here they are, goofy legs and weird beaks, right before our eyes. This one in particular stood still and patient for me, using its crooked beak to scratch at its long, tubular bendy neck. This was taken several years back at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium, one of my favorite places to go. It's difficult to get tired of watching these beautiful creatures, and even more difficult getting tired of photographing them.

Virtually every year, I make a pilgrimage to the Pittsburgh Zoo; I have done this ever since I was a little kid. What kid *doesn't* love the zoo, really? Well, that fascination with the animals there never left me, and these days I travel there once per year with camera in hand, hoping to catch something magical. This year I got lucky, as this beautiful silverback gorilla had decided to take a seat right beside the glass at the edge of the enclosure. I patiently sat, camera in hand, waiting for just the right moment for him to turn his head toward me...and I managed to snag this shot, as our eyes connected. Here's a fun fact for you. Did you know gorillas are one of the strongest animals on the planet, capable of lifting 10 times their own body weight? Considering that they usually weigh in at around 800 or so lbs, that's a frightening amount of muscle packed into a relatively small space! I would rather not mess with anything capable of lifting 8,000 lbs, when I get tired lugging around my 10 lb camera bag all day.

On an unseasonably hot and sunny day in October 2017, the family and I had taken one of our many trips out to the zoo...only this time, it was at the world-famous Columbus Zoo, a place with easily a much wider variety of animals in it than our own back home in the 'Burgh. While wandering around the African Savannah exhibits, I came across this beautiful cheetah resting lazily, as cats do, against the glass. Of course, every single child within a three hundred foot radius was scrambling to see the 'big kitty' themselves, which made getting this shot particularly challenging! Well, that and the highly-reflective glass. Still, I managed to pull through and nail the shot! I can't get over those eyes, and the steely, golden glance I was given in that fleeting moment...

At the Oregon Aquarium near Newport, Oregon, there was a portion of the place with a huge, cylindrical jellyfish tank. Inside the tank were these moon jellyfish, dozens of them...and I have wanted for as long as I can remember to get a decent photograph of a jellyfish. I think I finally nailed it! Just look at the detail...that interesting web-pattern in the jellyfish's 'skin', those thin filaments of tentacle that would beg to be caressed were they not tipped with those nasty stingers...Jellyfish are strange creatures, but nonetheless truly beautiful!

This is the Acinonyx jubatus, or the African Cheetah. Everyone knows that pattern of spotted fur, coupled with the alluring black 'tears' trailing from the inner corners of the eyes. Did you know that cheetahs are one of the only types of big cats that can purr, and that in general they are not hostile to humans? They also are one of the very few types of cats, big or small, that do not have retractable claws. I'd always wanted to have the opportunity to photograph a cheetah, and I finally got my chance just this past October, on a trip to the world-renowned Columbus Zoo, on what had to have been one of the hottest and sunniest October days I can remember.

More kittens! Here we have my brother and his fiancée's other kitten, the bobtailed orange wonder, Kingsley! He's a cute little snuggle factory, fuzzy and fluffy and somewhat tuckered out after spending an afternoon in my product photography tent playing with an off-camera ball of red yarn. Just look into those cute little eyes and, like us, you will want to adopt him and be surprised at how expensive adopting and owning a cat actually is. Still, he and Phil were both worth it, and make my trips over to visit my brother's house a real joy. I just love playing with these little guys!

Here we see one of the most adorable, playful animals on the surface of the planet, the Red Panda, otherwise known as the raccoon bear. These little guys are rambunctious and friendly, running about the trees in their habitats, playing and having fun...and utterly oblivious as I struggled, for what felt like the better part of an hour, to capture one in just the right pose, with just the right lighting, and without the glare of the zoo's glass walls obscuring my view. Who knew capturing cuteness was so difficult? Totally worth it though! I love these guys!

North of the Currituck Lighthouse is a vast stretch of beach, off limits to anything that isn't four wheel drive. It's a more wild, untamed stretch of beach home to the unincorporated community of Currituck, a place unlike any I've actually seen, where the streets themselves are off-road beach territory and the sparse houses are scattered throughout the dunes. It's in this community that a herd of roughly 100 wild Mustangs can be found, their ancestors left behind when visiting Spanish conquistadors returned home. It is actually against the law for any person to be within fifty feet of these beautiful horses, leading to strange situations where wild horses can be found in people's garages, or rolling about in the middle of the sandy streets, or like here where the horses stop and take in the majesty of the Atlantic Ocean. This sight right here genuinely made my day!

It was a foggy morning deep in the heart of West Virginia; we were on our way down to Myrtle Beach again, ready to make more family memories...but along the way, we stopped as we usually do for the lookout point at the New River Gorge Bridge; a sight we simply can never miss! Sadly, the path down to the view point was closed. Along the way though, I noticed this elegantly-crafted spider web caught in the misty morning breeze, covered in tiny droplets of dew. It looked like a billowing sail, hoisted between the tree branches. I could see no trace of the spider itself, but maybe that was for the best!

Who loves kittens? Everybody loves kittens! This is my brother's sweet little kitty Phil, contemplating the universe after playing with his big ball of yarn. Not too long ago my brother and his fiancée had gone to the local animal shelter down in Wilkinsburg, and I'd come along with them. They had a room off to the side where the little kittens could be isolated from the rest of the shelter's feline population, where the fluffy things could relax in relative peace and quiet. Upon seeing this kitten, along with his orange-colored brother, our hearts melted. They were just too adorable, and they couldn't be separated! So....we walked out of the shelter that day with two adorable balls of fluff. Here's one of them, for your viewing pleasure!