Recent Wolf Images

The scent post trail cam was checked after a month with several interesting captures of wolves, cranes, and deer. Two wolves came through during daylight and their summer coat is a marked contrast to the winter one. A pair of them marked the scent post one night. This pair wolves firmly established their territory by marking this small oak bush. The sequence is interesting with what appears to be the female waiting for the male to mark first; age before beauty? I don't know enough about wolf behavior to interpret this behavior. My style is to shoot first and ask questions later. For the last several months only 3 wolves were beeing seen in the pack and it appears the pack is back to four animals: a brown, a black, and two grays. If there are pups maybe they will be brought to the scent post for a portrait shoot.
Dale

Butterfly Battles

Several species of butterflies were jockeying for position on this fox scat a few weeks ago. It was a quiet morning and after laying down near the scat for a few minutes the butterflies became very active and tolerant of the camera. This footage was taken on the same day as the previous still images.
Dale

Skipper Behavior

I recently did some dusty belly photography on the Corduroy Dike until a car came along and stopped the fun. Several butterflies were busy at fox scat and this an image shows a skipper depositing a drop of water and then using its proboscis to collect the nutrients in solution. A connection between a red fox and skipper butterfly seems impossible until you see something like this; another example of the complexity of nature.
Dale

Nature's Bounty

While roaming the Meadows last week I found a patch of blueberries already ripening so my husband and I went "pickin" this morning. Thank goodness there was a strong wind as it kept all the bugs away. Just watch out for the Poison Ivy that seems to be mixed in among the blueberries.
Kathy J.