A young Striped Basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus) perched on a fig root. Snapper Creek, South Miami.

Last month, my collaborator returned to Miami to continue his work with South Florida’s invasive anoles, and he brought two undergraduate field assistants from Harvard. We all got together for a barbecue at my place, so I had a chance to chat with Rick Stanley, one of Jason’s assistants. I learned that Rick is also a photographer, so I was showing him some of my images when he said, “That’s the image that won the Microsoft contest! You’re that guy.” It’s always nice to find out that someone has seen your work before! Shortly thereafter, I learned that Rick had won the prestigious Shell/BBC Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2006 with this awesome image.

A Blue Land Crab (Cardisoma guanhumi) emerges from its burrow. Snapper Creek, South Miami.

Rick was scheduled to leave shortly on a side trip to the Dominican Republic, and he wouldn’t be back in Miami until after my departure, so we managed to squeeze in a quick afternoon photo excursion to nearby Snapper Creek, where I’d seen a number of blue land crabs a few days before. These crabs, like many of South Florida’s animal species, are also found in the Caribbean and the Neotropics. I wanted to get some good pictures of them for my archives. In the end, although the crabs stayed close to their burrows and the light was not on our side, I managed a few decent frames.

To see more of Rick’s beautiful photography, check out his .