For Turbowolf, Active Grizzlies

[Chris1le]

In my coyote @ 3200 thread Turbowolf asked if the grizzlies were active. Yes for the first time they were. :D Actually, all the animals were a littl more active than usuall. I believe it is mating season and the big cats were really going at it. It was kind of fun to listen to the parents try to explain to their children what they were seeing. :lol: Anyways here are some pics of the grizzlies. They are not the best due to the fact they were in a corner behind a tree plus they drew a pretty good crowd so I was not able to move around very well.

http://www.pbase.com/chris1le/image/40270236.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/40371611.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/chris1le/image/40371610.jpg

Turbo is right about about it being a great place to photograph animal in a fairly wild setting. With all the tall trees though it really is pretty dark around the exhibits. :(

Here is a link to some more of my Northwest Trek pics. CLICK (http://www.pbase.com/chris1le/nw_trek)

[Turbowolf]

Excellent Smithers....
#2 best of all, great action capture of aggressive mating behavior.

Starting in three weeks (next college quarter) I'll be spending two days a week observing animal behavior at NW Trek. Not sure if I will study wolves, coyotes or the Grizz's...the Professor hasn't limited me yet. Will probably do the bears, if only for a break from wolves since they have been the focus of my forestry studies for the last two quarters.

And since my last paper focused on Yellowstone wolves, using my photo's to illustrate points, she has stated that this time 50% of my grade will be based on 'photo-documentation' of behavior...

[stoneylonesome]

Great shots, Also looks like the safest way to photograph a grizzly. :lol: :lol:

[Chardyboy]

Where were these photos taken??

They're awesome

[Mills]

Incredible shots.

[ssim]

Wow, those are amazing. Bet that had your heart going a little faster.

[Shoreliner11]

Are those the bears at Woodland Park? Good shots by the way. When I went over the summer the glass they were behind was soooo scratched up I couldn't get any good shots.

[Turbowolf]

These are the Grizz's at NW Trek ... http://www.nwtrek.org/

For NW animals this is probably the best zoo to go to if you want them in natural surroundings. These shots were most likely taken at the lower viewpoint. There is an upper one but you don't get as close and shoot at a downward angle ... anywhere from 15 degrees to almost straight down if the bears are on the fenceline.

[Vega$50]

I grew up in the Seattle/Tacoma area, and NW Trek was one of my favorite places to go visit....I was up there a couple of years ago working at Stevens Pass Ski Resort....What a great place that whole area (Western Washington) is for photo opportunities. You guys are lucky indeed...

[Chris1le]

Yeah these pics were taken at the lower viewpoint with the 100-400L. Although they were so close I don't think I went much past 200mm. They were like right next to the viewing area.

That would be cool to sit and watch them for a couple of weeks. Since you will be there for awhile. Maybe you could get some shots of the foxes actually moving. I've only seen them sleep the last three times I was there. :)

[Turbowolf]

That would be cool to sit and watch them for a couple of weeks. Since you will be there for awhile. Maybe you could get some shots of the foxes actually moving. I've only seen them sleep the last three times I was there. :)

Well, for two days now the foxes have slept, and slept ... and slept. No movement other than the occasional head raising or tail twitch.

Made the dumbest mistake on the first day of observation, I left the camera set at ISO 100, resulting in nice blurry action shots of the wolves at 1/20 of a second. At least the 100-400 IS Lens helped kill most of the blur.

Fortunately all I needed the photos for was 15-second interval documentation so that I could compare their behavior against an ethogram, and start to gather dominance behavior data (sorry, taking a break from writing my final research proposal due tomorrow).

Side note - I'm headed back to Yellowstone in May for observation of 'wild' wolves. The pups should be just out of the den by the time I arrive.