L'elan de Dame

Comments welcomed

Your photos always catch my eye! Can you translate the title for us "English only" folks? Great photo...I love these critters (have you ever looked up close at the size of those nostrils??? They could snort up prairie dogs with those things!)

Thank you Kim. The title translates as "the lady moose." Not very exotic I'll grant you. :)

 

Re the nostrils, I like the way you put that. I have noticed everything about a moose is big. They are huge.

 

By the way we have a prarie dog colony about 1/4 mile away from my home. But its hard to get close enough on foot to get good photos, even with a long telephoto.

You have a nice seris of wild animals. I like them.

Thank you Cherlyn. :)

That's too bad your prairie dogs are so skittish; they would make cute subjects. I usually see them when I'm in a hurry to get somewhere, so I haven't tried stalking them. I'll bet I could, though, since they're all over town, including the high school grounds.

I am laughing @ Kim's comments about snorting up prairie dogs!! The ripples here make a great element to the shot.

Thank you Leann. I got a kick out of that line myself.

 

Kim you are right, prarie dogs are fun to watch. Some of their antics will make you laugh. They also more sophisticated than most people realize. They use a very advanced system of calls to communicate with each other. About six months back I read an article about sounds that were recorded in a prarie dog colony over an extended period of time. The recordings showed that they use sounds with very specific meanings. The sound for a snake is different for that of a hawk. They modify their calls depending on variables such direction, location, or color. For example every member of the community would use one sound if a person showed up wearing white clothing. They would make a slightly different sound if that same person showed up wearing blue. It wasn't a random thing either. It was repeatable. Wild critters never fail to amaze me.

A few years ago my mother had an antique shop in a house on main street, and a prairie dog lived in a hole in the front yard next to the sidewalk, just a few feet from the street. They called it Susie, and watched it every day.

Did you take any photos of Susie?

Larry, I have to admit that back then I only knew how to shoot a prairie dog in one way, and that wasn't pretty :) (no one shot Susie; I don't know what happened to him/her) Digital has opened a whole new world for me...now I go around looking for things to photograph, but it didn't occur to me then. I was just thinking today how photography has greatly increased my enjoyment of the seasons. I've always thought I appreciated the beauty of my surroundings, but I see everything so much better now...I've never liked fall and winter, and that is changing simply because of the camera. I LIKE THAT!

BTW, I saw a moose last night (live one), but it was too dark for a photo. Small bull. Wish it would have been lighter! Next time...

Another nice shot - I like that clump of grass in the lower left. And you've given her enough room too - pity there wasn't some nice sunset light on her little dip in the pond, but still - really nice :)

I am glad you are seeing the world in a different light so to speak. There really is beauty everywhere you look and world class images galore. The trick is learning to see them.

 

One of the nice things about fall is the quality of the light. Not every day is wonderful but when the days are crisp and clear the light can be extradordinary. Of course as luck would have it thats not the way its been lately in Northern Colorado. Most of the last week it has been gray, overcast, and rainy. But this too shall pass.

 

The nice thing about winter is that the golden hours seem to last a little longer. Plus you can stay in bed longer and still be out at first light. Snowy landscapes can be beautiful to photograph. Another benefit is that snow can hide unaesthetic objects from sight. Everytime my fingers and toes feel frostbitten I try to remind myself that. :)

 

I wish we could trade a few bull elk for a few bull moose. From my house its a good long drive to get to moose country. You have the better of me in that regards. By the way my luck in capturing bull moose with a camera has been somewhere between poor and non existant. Every time I have gone hunting for them I have seen nothing but cows, calves, and a couple of yearlings with antlers about as big as the palm of my hand. I am envious. :))

Thank you Kathy. I wish there had been more light too. It was pretty dark around that pond. It had been raining and their was a lot of cloud cover. Plus you don't get direct sunlight in that valley until morning is pretty far along.To show you how dark it was, I had my camera set to ISO 400 and this was exposed at 1/100 sec at f5.6. I have a number of shots where the grass is sharp but the moose is blurry because she moved just as I clicked the shutter. She had a calf with her too. When I first got there it came running up and started nursing. Unfortunately I had a 300mm lens mounted and that was just too long for that scene. I took one shot anyway but part of mommas butt was clipped. By the time I could change lenses the calf had stopped nursing and had disappeared behind some bushes. Such is life and photography.

I know what you mean about the weather lately - yesterday was bright, but no clouds at all. Everything I found to shoot was a complete waste. Today it's clouded over again, and it was only an hour ago things started to clear up. Might go out today, but looks like the day is mainly shot. I'm glad you saved the shot of mama moose though :)

Larry, you can't have everything where you live, I guess. One crisp New Year's morning a few years ago, I stepped out the cabin door without looking up, and when I looked up I was face to face with a large bull moose, about 10 feet away. Scared us both. I could have gotten a great photo if I would have looked outside before I went out! I've also been chased by moose twice...once by a cow, through a creek and up a hill...and two small bulls "treed" me atop a large boulder for half an hour once, while they pawed the ground below me. The problem is, one of my favorite places on the mountain is also a favorite hangout of the moose. I'm always trying to stay far away from them instead of get closer, though! I only want pictures if the getaway Jeep is very close!

I remember reading a comment you made some time ago that you liked moose except when they chased you. Now I understand. Glad it turned out okay.

 

I am not sure what I would do if one of these critters wanted to play tag. Probably die of fright if there wasn't a rock to climb up. Then again if there wasn't a rock I might not have that option. :)

Just make sure you have a getaway, if one gets irritated with you! I'm such a wimp in the mountains...I'm never sure whether to be more afraid of the moose, the bears, or the cougars. I'd have made a lousy pioneer!

Kim I disagree : you would have made a good one because except for the "not looking outside first" incident your fear would be awareness to what is around.

Thanks Leann, but I don't think my senses are good enough to see that mountain lion before it's too late! I guess you just adapt to whatever your circumstances are.