As told in this month’s Sky Tour astronomy podcast, Orion, the Hunter, dominates February’s evening sky, but he seems unaware of the cosmic prey that surrounds him.

The post February Podcast: Orion and His Cosmic Critters appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

When lighting with small subjects, a speedlight is generally all you’ll ever need. Further, because of the scale and distances involved, even with a small flash you’ll be working at low power settings.

For these photos of some of the resident animals at the Howard County Conservancy, we used a single speedlight generally at one-eighth power, and let the environment of the impromptu studio to the rest of the heavy lifting for light modification.
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We've rounded up some of our favorite flicks with real animal attraction.

Habitat loss and climate change have pushed the antechinus, a marsupial that looks like a small shrew, to the brink. And their sex lives don't help.

With these coats, your kid can play dress up all winter long.

When you set out on a mission to document all 12,000 species of captive animals, it's bound to get a little silly.

Makuta Matata posted a photo:

"Mere jars won't hold these two..."

A companion piece entry for Lego Ideas' alternative nature contest

More photos are on my Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/140765177@N05/

Makuta Matata posted a photo:

"Mere jars won't hold these two..."

A companion piece entry for Lego Ideas' alternative nature contest

More photos are on my Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/140765177@N05/

Makuta Matata posted a photo:

"Mere jars won't hold these two..."

A companion piece entry for Lego Ideas' alternative nature contest

More photos are on my Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/140765177@N05/

A new twist in the ongoing debate over the best Christmas tree: live, natural, artificial, or other?

Nemo was the most important critter on our Arctic journey aboard the Antigua, of course. Here, he's closely tracking our progress through the Arctic seas.

Svalbard reindeer. In this picture, our guide, Kristin, is keeping very quiet and still, being careful not to spook them. In case anyone is getting the wrong idea, the rifle on her back is solely for the purpose of protecting us artists from polar bears.

This little seal was so curious about our Zodiac and kept swimming around us!

The white crescents in this picture are the backs of beluga whales.

We watched these walruses for a long time… And some of them slipped into the water to get a better look at us!

Oh hi.

Does lichen count as a critter? :o)

What about fossil imprints of long-gone critters?

More reindeer.

Good camouflage!

Here is something we encountered over and over and over again. Tracks of polar bears who'd passed through recently. The prints were shockingly gigantic.

It's tiring work being in charge.

We also saw a lot of animals that were impossible to photograph, in particular, an Arctic fox. The animal sightings were frequent and always special. Most of the time, I tried to take a few pictures, but then I reminded myself to put my camera down and enjoy. Consequently, this is only a hint of what we saw, but I hope it gives a nice sense of things.

If you're coming late to my report from my journey aboard a tall ship in the Arctic Circle last fall and want to see more, just search for "Arctic Circle" in the search box on my blog!