Red Squirrel at Laudholm Farm

As I mentioned the last time I posted an image of a Red Squirrel, way back in the spring, we do not see them much in Southern Maine. They are, obviously, here, but they manage to say well out of sight most of the year. In fact I have not seen a single one since that day this spring. And I spend a lot of time in the woods, comparatively speaking. 🙂 Last Sunday, I went for a photoprowl at Laudholm Farm (The Well National Estuarine Research Center) and almost immediately saw this Red Squirrel scamper from the side of the path into a deep pile of brush, where it was, of course, almost completely hidden from my camera. So I clucked at it…doing my best to imitate an agitated squirrel…and, after a few moments, it popped up on a branch to answer the challenge. Way to go squirrel! It was, however, so dark in there under the old apple trees and in that brush pile that I had to, eventually, reduce the shutter speed to 1/160th before I came close to a proper exposure…and even then I was still maybe two stops under…and that was at ISO 1600. It is amazing how much detail the camera caught even 2 stops under exposed. A little work in Lightroom and this is an acceptable image. Or that is what I think. 🙂 And as a bonus, I saw a second Red Squirrel near the very end of my photoprowl, but despite my best clucking efforts, that one eluded a photograph. 🙁

Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/160th @ ISO 1600 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.