Posts in Category: animals
Colorado! fawn
White-tailed Deer (fawn): Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, Commerce City, Colorado, USA, July 2024. We were gifted a doe and fawn White-tailed Deer feeding in the angle between a well-used cycle trail the walking trail into a pond at the RMANWR when we visited. They calmly continued to feed as we walked slowly toward them, not bothered by us or the even closer passing cyclists. Sony a6700 with Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird and wildlife modifications. Animal subject detection. Processed in Photomator.
Colorado! Handsome and he knows it…
Mule Deer: Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, Commerce City, Colorado, USA, July 2024 — We took the granddaughters to RMANWR yesterday to see the Bison, and whatever else we could see. This handsome Mule Deer Buck was bedded down for the heat of the day in the shade of a cottonwood right beside the road. This is a shot from the passenger seat through the open driver’s window. Notice the antlers are still in velvet. Sony a6700 with Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 172mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird and wildlife modifications. Animal subject recognition. Processed in Photomator.
Colorado! Centennial Hare
Eastern Cottontail Rabbit: Centennial, Colorado, USA, July 2024 — Centennial is home to a variable population of Eastern Cottontail…despite my fanciful title. Last year at this time they were everywhere…on lawns, in parks around schools, in the medians of suburban streets. This year we have seen only two, but this one was right in the little lawn patches of the culdesac where my daughter lives in the late afternoon. My granddaughter came running to find me because it was actually in the front yard patch of her house, but it had moved a yard over by the time I got there with my camera. Still, a very cooperative rabbit. She wanted to get it a carrot, but grandpa said no. It deserved a carrot, but that is the way bad habits are formed…both in rabbits and granddaughters. 🙂 Sony a6700 with Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving birds and wildlife modifications. Animal subject detection. Processed in Photomator.
New Mexico! Looking at me
Rock Squirrel: Randall Davey Audubon Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. July 2024 — Clearly a nursing mother Rock Squirrel out for a snack and a break from nursing. She was very aware of me but not all that concerned. She evidently has dealt with photographers before. Sony a6700 with Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird and wildlife modifications. Animal subject recognition. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Tell me it isn’t Monday already!
Monday monday. Just for humor’s sake. But Red Squirrels are always super expressive, and an easy canvas to project almost any emotion. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 300mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Photomator and TouchRetouch (to remove a feeder pole across the tail).
Maine! Red again
Red Squirrel: Back deck, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, May 2024 — we had a rainy day visit from the neighborhood Red-Squirrel yesterday. Sometime it runs off as soon as I open the back deck door to take its photo, but sometimes it is bold as brass and just dares me to do something about it. It spent a good hour, coming and going on the deck, and I got the door open far enough for photos a couple of times. Once I had to shoo it off when it was in danger of coming inside. 🙂 OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 246mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications (no need to switch to animal for a squirrel :). Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Close encounter of the Red Squirrel kind
Red Squirrel: Back deck, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, April 2024 — As I have mentioned before, this Red Squirrel does not live in our yard. I suspect it actually lives in the forest along the railroad tracks several suburban lots away, but it comes to visit occasionally, to see what it can find on our back deck under the bird feeders. It is particularly fond of whatever mealworm fragments the birds have left behind. It has been, in past, quite shy, but this week it appeared quickly and then disappeared over the edge of the deck while I was watching, so I went to get my camera and went out to see if it was still in the yard. As I stood on the deck I saw it creep back up under the railings at one corner, not 3 feet from where I was standing. But instead of running off, it came up on the deck, then onto the rail to challenge me. I was clearly in the way of what it wanted to do, and it was having none of that. It was certainly not intimidated by me and my camera at all. I had to step back and zoom out to get it in frame. Lots of tail whipping and feet stamping going on, and if looks could kill. I took a lot of photos. It eventually came even closer, almost between my feet, too close for the zoom even at the widest end, and I slipped back inside so it could have the run of the deck and find its mealworm bits. Close encounters of the Red Squirrel kind. OM System OM-1Mkii with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 200-400mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications (no need to switch to animal mode for squirrels). Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Squirrel Rodeo
Eastern Grey Squirrel: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, March 2024 — The other day I got out for a walk around the neighborhood with my camera, and found quite a few of the local squirrels having a rodeo in a large open lot up the street. There were at least a dozen of them, chasing each other across the yard in close pursuit, round and round the big pines, and high into the branches, juggling buried acorns from last year. It looked like fun, and was certainly fun to watch. OM System OM-1Mkii with M. Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications (works for small mammals just as well). Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Don’t get your tail in a twist
Eastern Grey Squirrel, Mousam River Reserve, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, March 2024 — The squirrels were very active on one of the first moderately warm days of spring, everywhere I went yesterday. And feisty…even for feisty squirrels. This one was doing the whole “You shall not pass!” thing from the Lord of the Rings…his tail whipping around behind him like Gandalf’s cloak. I took a burst of shots hoping to catch the tail in an interesting position. 🙂 OM System OM-1Mkii with 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Frog different
Rosenburg’s Tree Frog (?): Macaw Ranch, Sarapique, Costa Rica, December 2023 — Of course, the Red-eyed Leaf (or Tree) Frog is not the only amphibian of the Sarapique rainforest. We found this brown species in a bush near the ranch house at Macaw Ranch. Tree Frogs are very rare in the daylight. I think it might be a Rosenburg’s. OM System OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.