A mammal for Monday.

There were lots of chipmunks on the grounds of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. This one was along the path below the Hillside Gardens, between the gardens and the river. He ran across in front of us and then kept just out of sight, or just too fast to catch, as we walked on…until, quite by accident, my wife Carol got ahead of him. Then he didn’t know what to do, so he just froze in this pose long enough for me to work as close as the macro telephoto setting on my camera would allow. The pose, I suspect, is the traditional freeze posture…an instinctive defensive mechanism based on the quite reasonable (considering likely prey) “if I don’t move they can’t see me” premise…since I have other images of chipmunks in this same pose in similar situations.

Nikon Coolpix P500 at 700mm equivalent field of view, f5.7 @ 1/50th @ ISO 200. Close Up mode.

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.