Posts in Category: animals
Portrait of Mrs. Squirrel
I think squirrels are cute…but that does not mean I give them a free pass when it comes to raiding my bird feeders. I have invested in a set of “squirrel proof” feeders and suet cages that, for the most part, defeat the squirrels’ attempts at criminal trespass. That does not mean they don’t try, several times a day, sometimes once an hour. The idea of all that food, right there in easy view, is evidently just too much for them, even when past experience has proven that they can’t get at it. It is entertaining to watch them, and I don’t mind anything they take from the ground under the feeders, even when I scatter seed for the sparrows. If it is on the ground it is fair game. This mother squirrel is one of the pack of 3 or 4 who come to our yard every day. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Praying Chipmunk
There is not much moving in Maine’s forests during March other than chipmunks. I did see my first Red Squirrel two days ago, but not nearly close enough for a photo. This chipper appears to be praying at a mossy alter in the March sun, at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farms, in Wells, Maine. And well it might be, and well we should join it in prayer in these days of spreading Covid-19. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Feisty Chipmunk…
On our first really warm day of spring…hovering just under 70 degrees…this chipmunk at Laudholm Farms in Wells, Maine, was pretty full of himself, feisty even. He was not sure he was going to give me the right-of-way on the boardwalk through the lower woods along the Rachel Carson NWR border…though he did finally take the leap off the edge and into a pile of brush. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos and assembled in Framemagic.
Chipper in the March sunshine
A Chipmunk on the boardwalk through the Maple Swamp at Laudholm Farms (Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve), in Wells, Maine. The chippers are just beginning to be seen out most days here in Southern Maine. This one held this pose for at least a full minute as I took photos. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Lesser Anteater (Collared Ant-eater or Tamandua)
There are always surprises on our Point and Shoot Nature Photography Adventures in Costa Rica. This year’s stand-out so far, edging out the Yellow Eyelash Pit-viper by a nose, is the Lesser Anteater…also called the Collared Anteater or the Collared Tamandua. This one, the first and only I have ever seen, was climbing a tree along the road beside the old botanical gardens at Selva Verde Lodge in the Sarapique River Valley. We watched it devour termites (its main food) from a termite highway leading up the tree to a termite nest above for 15 minutes or more before moving on. Very special! Sony Rx10iv at 150mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Red-eyed Leaf Frog, Costa Rica
On our Point and Shoot Nature Photography Adventure in Costa Rica, the Red-eyed Leaf Frogs have never failed us. We found 5 of them last night on our night walk at Selva Verde Lodge here in the Sarapique River. This is one of my best shots ever as the frog was posing nicely just below eye-level right beside the path. I am using a new flash-shoe mounted light cube that has just the right intensity (adjustable) for shots like this using the Sony Rx10iv’s Anti-motion Blur mode. It is certainly much easier then hand holding a flashlight. (No flash allowed when photographing leaf frogs 🙂 600mm equivalent. Processed in Polarr.
Mammal of the day! Costa Rica
So I posed a bird of the day (Spectacled Owl), and a creature of the day (Eyelash Pit-viper, on Facebook and Instagram) from the 2nd day of the Point and Shoot Nature Photography Adventure in Costa Rica already. This has to be the mammal of the day. A Three-toed (or more properly, 3 fingered) Sloth at Donde Cope…Jose Perez’s home in La Union Costa Rica. He has a pair of Sloths living in his tiny garden. This male was slowly working through the vines just above our heads. I was after dark and raining so this was taken with the light of my little light cube mounted in the flash shoe of my Sony Rx10iv in Anti-motion blur mode. It is only at 254mm equivalent and it is a full frame shot (not cropped) so you might be able to appreciated just how close we were. The difficulty was catching the sloth’s face exposed as it climbed the among the vines. Yes, we are having fun in Costa Rica!
Zebra with foal, variation
Another shot of the mother Zebra with her foal at Lake Mburo National Park, Uganda. I am not sure how old the foal was. The foals are born with brown stripes, which darken as they grow. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. And I missed publishing this shot yesterday.
Warthog piglet
During our Birds and Wildlife Safari in Uganda in September there were lots of young animals around…calves and fawns, cubs and piglets. This is Warthog Piglet at Lake Mburo National Park…not newborn, as they only weigh 1 to 2 pounds at birth…but maybe a few weeks old. This is perhaps as cute as a warthog gets (unless, of course, it is a Disney warthog). Sony Rx10iv at 1200mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Mountain Gorillas, moving out
After about 30 minutes in the presence of our family of Mountain Gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda, the silverback, who had shown signs of being increasingly uncomfortable, decided to move the family on. I put it down to one of the cell phone toting tourists (not one of my group) getting at bit too close and making eye-contact one too many times, but the silverback might well have just gotten bored with us. Once he had disappeared through the heavy vines at the clearing edge the others quickly followed. Mom patiently waited for the youngest to climb aboard before she moved off. She did not seem to mind when the infant grabbed fists fulls of her fur for climbing holds. Sony Rx10iv at about 200mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. For the full story on my Mountain Gorilla Trek, visit here.