philber wrote:
René, I feel like you already showed a picture similar to this (boat in front of a snow-capped mountain), but this one is even better than the one I remember!
chiron wrote:
These pictures have a brief story attached to them. On Monday evening, I came home from work after dark. As I pulled my car into the driveway behind my son's car, I saw two small very young raccoons lying side by side, like logs in a fireplace, looking out at me from under the other car. When I got out of my car, they retreated, but as I stepped back they returned to the edge of the car and began to chew on rubber parts of the car. I looked around for their mother, but could not find her. I worried they had become orphaned. So I went into the house to get some dog kibble and also grabbed my camera on the way out the door. By the time I got back out, one of them was climbing all over the brief case I had left in the driveway, but retreated as I approached. I put down the dog kibble and some water and stepped back. They came forward and began to eat. I took some photographs, which they let me approach near enough to do, and then I left them to go inside. The next evening, Tuesday, they reappeared. I worried that I was accustoming them to human contact, but there was still no sign of an adult raccoon, so I fed them more and provided water, but kept far away from them. They ate heartily, washing the kibble in the bowl of water I had provided. Meanwhile, I tried to read up on raccoon development. It turns out that baby raccoons stay in the den until about 8 weeks, when they begin to forage with their mother. At about 12 weeks, they do a very interesting thing--they forage for a night or two on their own without their mother, but then return to her and forage with her again--sort of like children camping out in the backyard. I think that I came across these young raccoons on their nights-out-without-mother. From photographs I have now seen, these two appear to be about 12 weeks old. Since the two nights they were here, I have not seen them again--they are back with their mother, I assume. Here are some photographs from that first night.
First trip out to the Banff area this week. Lots of rain squalls and clouds and then finally a nice morning. Zeiss 100-300. Temple mountain sunrise near Lake Moraine
I wasn't sure about posting this because it didn't turn out the way I had planned; however, the more I look at it the more I like the result. I visited some family in Kemah Texas this weekend. We got out on a boat to check out the fireworks for the Kemah Boardwalk. I brought my tripod, a7RII and Loxia 21 just in case the waters were calm enough to grab some shots of the fireworks. We were positioned so close to them! Watching the fireworks so close was amazing. Unfortunately, the water was a bit choppy so most shots were garbage but even with motion blur, this one turned out interesting to me. Happy accident.
