Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Mammals and Amphibians

This last week has been slow as far as photographing opportunities but when they have come about they were excellent.  Last week at work I got a report of a Little Brown Bat (whose population numbers have nose-dived due to a fungus that spreads through colonies known as White Nose Syndrome - you can read more about it here: Fish and Wildlife Service WNS).  This bat appeared healthy and we re-located it to a more user friendly location (away from the public) and it was clearly none-to-happy.


A trip to Munns Pond Preserve in Hampton Bays provided great looks at 4 (four!) white-tailed fawns.  I have only a couple photos of fawns and am not happy with any of them.  For such a popular species, you'd think I would have more chances but I rarely see them in a photographable setting.  It is my assumption that these fawns were brought to the rehab center on-site and after being given a clean bill of health they were released in the surrounding woods and decided to stick together (white-tailed deer usually give birth to a single fawn per season, though twins aren't unheard of).


After the fawns came the frogs.  I was hoping for the grey-tree frog but it's too late in the season to find them in the water (they have moved up into trees where they are near impossible to find).  There were plenty of juvenile green frogs however and this one gave me a decent photo op.

3 comments:

  1. Great variety of subjects on your site, and some lovely compositions in your shots too. You have some fantastic wildlife in your area!

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  2. Thanks a lot. There is a good variety but effort needs to be put in to find it. Co-workers and friends are often surprised when I show them pictures of certain animals that they had no idea were around. There are a few species I'd really love to capture (river otter, mink, grey fox) but they are very elusive in these parts.

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  3. Late comment to this post. Yesterday (April 8) was hiking a stretch of the Nassau Suffolk Trail between Stillwell and Route 108. Around 2 PM I was relaxing by the stream that runs parallel to 108 when I saw something flying in my peripheral vision. I looked up to see a little brown bat darting around, periodically dropping down to the water for a second (I guess it was going after tiny insects in the water?). It took all of about 2 minutes before it flew away to a tree on the other side of 108. Because it was mid-day, I was surprised to see a bat, of all creatures, but it really ended up making the hike worth it for me.

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