Looking at a maple tree leaves and branches backlit in Autumn color.
Tripod mounted FE 200-600mm f5.6-6.3 G set to 411mm and A7rIII, silent shutter.
ISO 400, f11, 1/30 second.
October 19, 2019
At the top of the Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, PA.
Border country. The perimeter of HM Naval Base at Keyham in Devonport - very long walls, fences and 19th century hubris. The "Keyham Steam Yard" was constructed in the 1850s with the adjacent naval barracks later in the century
Not many places in the world you can just walk over to the Himalayas and start climbing. These are just the low edge-of-range mountains but they get bigger very fast. It's the headwaters of the Suru River, around 4300m.
Eight river otters (2 moms with 6 pups) have been in our ponds for the last couple of days hunting and eating hundreds of koi (carp). When they came out of the pond for a rest, I was able to sneak up close enough to photograph them without disturbing them. I had to shoot through the branches of a fir tree and could not move more than a few inches in any direction without them seeing me. All handheld shots using silent shutter.
When on land, they just love to pile on top of each other to play or rest. A lot of nuzzling goes on, where one will nuzzle the back of the neck of the other and vice-versa.
The only otters on the east coast of Vancouver Island are river otters. Sea otters are on the west coast of the island.
The 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska immediately killed over 1,000 sea otters, and removed hundreds of kilometers of habitat from their potential range.
Really accelerated in the last few years -- now it looks like 40-50% brown.
