Monthly Archives: May 2011

They’re flying

By smattheis | Published May 29, 2011

They flew last night. I wasn’t able to get any photos of that night, but this evening I got over there and got some shots while there was still enough light. I hope they stick around a while.


View at Picasa 29-May-2011 20:04, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3S, 4.0, 500.0mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 900


View at Picasa 29-May-2011 20:05, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3S, 4.0, 500.0mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 1600


View at Picasa 29-May-2011 19:58, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3S, 4.0, 500.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 720

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Friday bear

By smattheis | Published May 28, 2011

When I first saw this bear, I wasn’t sure it was a bear. I could just see something big and dark up in a tree that was a couple of hundred yards off of the road. So I put binoculars on it and it looked like a bear asleep in a giant tree – something I’ve never seen before. Grab the gear and hike! So sure enough, it was a bear having a nap. Unfortunately, there was this one pesky branch that was in the way; really distracting for a decent photo.


View at Picasa 27-May-2011 17:12, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3S, 4.0, 500.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 1250

After a while, he climbed down the tree and started walking around eating whatever he could find. I got to shoot him for a quite a while all by myself.


View at Picasa 27-May-2011 17:40, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3S, 4.0, 500.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 800


View at Picasa 27-May-2011 17:40, NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3S, 4.0, 500.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 640

Eventually someone spotted me out in the trees with a big-ass lens and decided I saw something good so they all came out there. The bear didn’t like it too much and wandered off. At least he was polite because he turned around to give me one last look before he disappeared. Otherwise my last shot of the day would have been bear ass.