Bringing this thread back from page 2 or 3...
The 500PF continues to be my primary wildlife lens... its combination of weight, focal length, speed, and optical quality remains a benchmark that no other lens can match... ok, that's just my opinion.
Some weekend successes...
Photo of the beaver is a tight crop (final file size is 12MP) in an attempt to emphasize autumn leaves on the lodge adjacent to the the animal.
Note the super high ISO (for me...) on two of the shots, it continues to amaze me how well modern cameras perform at such a high ISO.
There must be some fancy new wildlife Z lenses out there for the 500 pf thread to be on the lower part of page two! Anyway, bumping it back to the top with some local sea lions again. All taken with the D500 in a kayak.
Isn’t this the Mother and yearling from a previous set of 3 you have shown us? I hope the other little one is still alive and is just out of the picture.
And that buck is one of the best I have seen! Is that early snow atop those plants? Still unseasonably warm back home in Maine.
The is a water snake, non-venomous. I only know because she investigated it. Lol!
Thanks for the tip on the spider.
Yes
Genus “Nerodia”
They have a wide range with a variety of colors, depending geo location.
I think this is a Green Watersnake but with my Daltonism I cannot distinguish green from brown in that tone.
Snakes can survive in northern lats by migrating..... vertically, down into cracks in strata rock/ledge where temps are constant all year.
In Maine we have the Northern Watersnake. It is naturally uncommon in Maine but I also think that *some* people kill them simply out of fear/ignorance.
You are right, they are harmless.
I think when you look at a bunch of Nerodia’s over the years, you begin to notice a unique shape to their head.
Lance B wrote:
^^^Love the two deers in the glorious afternoon light, Bruce!^^^
Thank you very much Lance.
For reference, the image was shot just as the sun was rising behind me. I was on a kayak photographing herons in a rookery when I saw three (Mother, fawn, and probably last year's daughter) drinking at the water's edge. It took me a good 10 minutes to paddle in their direction with the lens on my lap. I was invisible to the deer because they are not accustom to seeing people on the water... This morning shoot lasted about 20 minutes until the fawn finally realized that I was not normal... it was an amazing morning with some of the best light anyone could want.
Isn’t this the Mother and yearling from a previous set of 3 you have shown us? I hope the other little one is still alive and is just out of the picture.
And that buck is one of the best I have seen! Is that early snow atop those plants? Still unseasonably warm back home in Maine.
Thank you Robert... and yes you are correct, this is an image shot on the day I floated up to the deer in my kayak. I still have a few hundred images to review from that morning. I posted a recap of the morning in Lance's response just before this (^) . Thanks for the note about the buck.. I hate cutting off an animal in a photo, but this image just seems to work.
I saw him grazing and decided to get low and wait to see if he would work his way towards me... fortunes for those who are wiling to be patient. This buck made it into my 2022 Calendar that will be given out as New Years gifts for friends and families. I sell these as well, but make about as much from the proceeds to buy a few cups of coffee
