Animal Photos – Page 2

My 2015 nature photography calendars are available for sale

If you enjoy my photos and would like to purchase some, I want to thank you! Simply visit my Zazzle online shop and browse the product offerings. If there’s a photo you would like to purchase but don’t see it in my shop, please contact me by using the Contact form at the bottom of my home page and let me know which photos you are interested in purchasing, and in what format / medium.

Well, I feel like I just crawled out from under a rock. A big, heavy rock. I have been spending the past several weeks studying for several exams that will open up some work opportunities, only now to wait for one more test result that’s not coming in in time for an important meeting tomorrow. Argh, life always has a way to let you know you’re not in charge, no matter how hard you try.

And of course, I’ve been working diligently on creating new photo calendars for 2015 and I’m proud to announce that my 2015 nature photography calendars are now available for sale. If you’re looking for a unique Thanksgiving or holiday gift to give a teacher, a friend, a colleague, or a family member, this is a great choice. All calendars are made to order in the USA so you support the US economy with your purchase, and a starving artist at the same time (me!).

While I’ve decided to keep the same five themes as last year, I’ve updated quite a lot of photos in each 2015 calendar and I hope you’ll enjoy them. Of course, Zazzle has made it very difficult for me to promote these 2015 calendars since their system continues to refuse displaying them in my online store, although I posted them for sale several weeks ago. Their tech support answer? “We’re aware of the problem but we can’t tell you when it will be fixed.” Which means, they won’t fix it. Well, thanks for nothing, Zazzle! So to access these calendars, just click on the links I posted below, including links to pages featuring the photos for each calendar. I really wanted to create a couple more new calendars for this year, but I’ve been so frustrated with the process, I’ve run out of energy, haha!

Zazzle offers discount coupons on many products, so visit Zazzle’s coupon page for their latest promotions. They also display coupon codes just below the top menu. And today only (November 12, 2015), you can use coupon code OJNYFHHWBIBVAVOPYTGM to save $10 when you spend $20 or more.

Click on the calendar links below to purchase the calendars of your choice. Thank you very much for your purchase and your support!

Buy this 2015 12-month calendar – A YEAR IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA – VIEW individual photos in a large slideshow

Buy this 2015 12-month calendar – WATER LILIES – VIEW individual photos in a large slideshow

2015 water lily calendar - front cover — 2015 water lily calendar – front cover

Buy this 2015 12-month calendar – BEES AND OTHER INSECTS – VIEW individual photos in a large slideshow

2015 bee and insect calendar - front cover — 2015 bee and insect calendar – front cover

Buy this 2015 12-month calendar – FLOWERS AND BLOOMS – VIEW individual photos in a large slideshow

2015 flower and bloom calendar - front cover — 2015 flower and bloom calendar – front cover

Buy this 2015 12-month calendar – WATER IN SAN DIEGO – VIEW individual photos in a large slideshow

2015 water in San Diego calendar - front cover — 2015 water in San Diego calendar – front cover

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: the color blue

Today I’m participating in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge and her theme is “the color blue”. I encourage you to click on each photo to see a larger view.

If you like what you see, please subscribe to this blog to receive updates of the new photos I post, usually 3 to 5 times a week.

Blue is by far my favorite color, from very light to very dark, just as it is or with a bit of green or a bit of red in it. I love blue skies, blue waters (where blue skies reflect in), blue jeans – anything nature-made or man-made that looks blue. Here are a few pictures I took this summer that feature the color blue.

The first thing that comes to mind is how blue the sky can look here in San Diego. Well, maybe not downtown San Diego, which tends to be overcast many days out of the year. Inland, where it’s warmer and hotter, the sky can be the brightest blue on good days. This is a mountain peak I photographed while hiking in Idyllwild this summer, a couple of hours northeast of San Diego.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: the color blue - blue sky in Idyllwild, California — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: the color blue – blue sky in Idyllwild, California

I took this next picture with my cell phone camera. That’s all I had available at the time and I thought the very rare clouds and their reflection in the water presented an opportunity I didn’t want to miss.

Blue sky and white clouds reflecting in water - water reflections — Blue sky and white clouds reflecting in water – water reflections

Spend a few hours in an aquarium and you’ll see a lot of blue. I love taking pictures of sea jellies (aka jelly fish), especially when the tank light keeps changing colors. Here’s a blue jelly fish for you!

Blue and yellow are complementary colors, so what’s not to like about yellow seahorses in an aquarium with a bright blue background?

Yellow seahorses in blue background aquarium

Finally, this is one of my favorite photos of a duck I took this summer. This female mallard duck was swimming in very still water, mostly in the shade. The water almost looks like a sheet of bluish metal.

Mallard female duck swimming in still, blue water

September 25, 2014February 6, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Animal Photos, Bird photos, California Photos, Cloud photos, Landscape Photos, Sky Photos, Water photosTags: blue jelly fish, blue sea jelly, blue skies, blue sky, blue sky San Diego, Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: the color blue, clouds reflecting in water, female mallard duck swimming, idyllwild california, still water, the color blue, water reflections, yellow seahorse, yellow seahorses 8 Comments

How to photograph a frog

You can click on each photo below for a larger view. If you like what you see, I encourage you to subscribe so you can enjoy the new photos I post a few times a week.

So how do you photograph a frog? I have no idea but I’ll tell you something. Don’t bring kids who are running low on patience with you when you want to photograph animals that don’t care about you taking their pictures. My only tip is to find a pond with a lot of frogs in it. Eventually one or two will come out of the water long enough for you to snap a few photos. I believe all of the frogs featured in this post are American bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana).

And be ready for most frogs to come out of the water just this much. Apparently they think it’s good enough.

If you’re lucky, the frog will completely come out of the water, but you still may end up with a camera shy frog. Or maybe it really doesn’t want you to take its picture.

Alright, not all frogs are that rude. These two little frogs didn’t have any problem with me standing there, as long as I kept my distance. Honestly I didn’t really have a choice since they were standing in the middle of the pond.

Small American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) on a lily pad

These next two frogs actually demonstrated their swimming skills for me.

This last frog happens to be the biggest one I saw in the pond. It was so big, I would have had to use both hands to grab it. I think it was the same frog in the first picture that eventually came out of underneath those lily pads.

September 18, 2014February 6, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Animal Photos, Plant Photos, Water photosTags: American bullfrog, frog hiding under lily pad, green frog in water, green frog on lily pad, how to photograph a frog, large frog in water, large yellow and brown frog, nature photography, photos of frogs, photos of green frogs, photos of yellow and brown frogs, Rana catesbeiana 10 Comments

Macro Monday: two June bugs hanging out

Today I’m taking part in the Macro Monday photo challenge. You can click on each photo for a larger view. If you like what you see, I encourage you to subscribe so you can enjoy the new photos I post a few times a week.

My kids and I spotted the two green June bugs below while on a summer stroll in San Diego. At first, they looked like they were tackling each other and it was challenging to even see what type of bugs we were looking out. Honestly I have no idea if they were fighting or actually enjoying each other’s company. You can see I’m not much of a bug expert. And technically, these are called figeater beetles (Cotinis mutabilis), not just June bugs.

Eventually they separated and just stood next to each other for a little while, long enough for me to snap a few pictures.

Close-up of two green June bugs (figeater beetle)

These figeater beetles (part of the scarab family because they’re so big) have been part of our summer about everywhere we’ve been. They tend to flight blindly into everything and everyone. They startle a lot of people by flying directly into their faces and induce a lot of shrieks and rapid movements. My kids tell me they actually can’t see where they’re going and I think they may be right. They sure look a lot nicer when they’re standing still, with their metallic green wing casing closed. I got lucky the day I managed to photograph one of those green June bugs inside a yellow rose.

Are you a fan of green beetles, or would you rather say away?

September 8, 2014February 6, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Animal PhotosTags: close up of a figeater beetle, Cotinis mutabilis, figeater beetle, green beetle, green beetle San Diego, green June bug, June Bugs, Junebugs, Macro Monday, nature photography 6 Comments

WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Adventure

Today I’m participating in the WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is “adventure”. Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view.

If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe and receive nature photography updates a few times a week.

Our adventures this summer kept us close to home. The most adventurous we were was probably the week we spent in the small mountain town of Idyllwild, California. During our visit, we tried a hiking trail new to us called the Ernie Maxwell scenic trail. Scenic is the word because it gave us beautiful views of the mountains and the valleys all around, while hiking mostly in the shade.

View of Mount Jacinto while hiking on the Ernie Maxwell scenic trail

Of course we had a lot of other hiking adventures, mostly in the woods so we could hide from the baking hot Southern California summer sun.

And we enjoyed small adventures by the water, such as this lovely pond where we got to see a lot of birds and some fish.

Talking about birds, we spotted this beautiful violet-green swallow (Tachycineta thalassina) outside our cabin window. It had built a nest right underneath so we got to see it fly back and forth a lot over our week’s stay.

And you can’t hike without meeting cottontail rabbits. This one wasn’t too scared of us, as long as we stayed on the other side of the fence.

Cottontail rabbit hiding behind a wooden fence

Finally, our biggest adventure probably happened at home this summer, when this red coachwhip snake visited our backyard for the third year in a row. Its babies may come visit us next year, but this guy won’t, as it met its end getting tangling in our netting (I guess it didn’t learn its lesson from the first two times…). That was enough adventure for one day!