The cure for cabin fever is a . . . CAMERA! (images added 3-31)

[Steve Foss]

I'm pretty tired of winter. And winter's not over. Up to a foot of snow coming tomorrow night through Wednesday, with April supposed to be colder than average.

I woke up and the sun rose. Yes, the SUN! Had to go worship it.

These are nothing particularly special. Just had to get out of the house, and thought I'd share. All with the Canon 30D and Canon 200 f2.8L/1.4 TC, except for the pic of the otter slide/wolf tracks/deer tracks, which was with the Canon 10-22.

[finnbay]

Well done, ol' buddy! Chickadees great and you found some open water. Tracks are my fave, though!

[buzzsaw]

Second to last one is my fav! Sorry to hear so much snow is coming up north! Thats why they call it the "great white north" afterall.

[Yellowhead]

I love the last one! The french impressionists have nothing on you!

[ShawnZ]

The jay image with the pano crop/ blurred fg/bg is REALLY striking, wow! The colors and textures of the water in the last two are beautiful.

[Jim Almquist]

Very nice series Steve. I had to laugh because I did almost that same thing and shot some of the same birds up at the bog. Great day to get out and enjoy before the next one hits.

[jonny_redhorse]

Very nice Steve!.....That nuthatch and chickadee are sure nice!.....

[Birdsong]

I lo-o-o-ove the nuthatch. Glad to see I am not the only one that has to stop to take photos of tracks. It was turkey tracks for me this week. Three for one, though! Bonus. Is that seriously an otter slide?? How would one possible know that?

[Steve Foss]

Birdsong, yup, it's an otter slide. They slide on snow almost as much as they run on it. You know it's an otter slide because you see them do it and learn to recognize the sign. Hey, I'd rather take pictures of the animals themselves, but sometimes ya just gotta take what ya get.

But how about I throw in pics of the three animals in question?

Note the cataract in the old buck's right eye. This was shot two weeks after deer gun season, and this fella looks like he had a hard rut. He came in 30 yards downwind of me and knew I was there the whole time. Didn't seem to care at all.

I spent over an hour seven feet from this otter two years ago. It seemed to enjoy my presence. I'd have stayed longer but I'd broken through the creek and was actually standing with my feet on the creek bottom in two feet of water. It was below zero and windy.

And of course the wolf is from my outing with finnbay up the Echo Trail last October. He came within 20 feet before I told him to stop and go into the woods, which he did, and then he posed perfectly in the trees.

Sometimes the animals just let you have your way with them.

[USRanger]

All 3 are great images. Beautiful buck, but like the wolf best.

[Hwood]

It sure was nice to see the sun. That otter looks like he is about to talk. They are fun to watch, good shots.

[ShawnZ]

Holy smokes that wolf shot is topps!

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, Shawn. That was shot at iso1600 and 1/30 sec (it was after sunset) on Ai servo with the 30D and a 300 f2.8L IS off a monopod. There was enough contrast on the face that the AF didn't have any probs, even when that dark out.

I was expecting the series not to turn out, but about 20 percent of them were sharp.

Ken (finnbay) and I drove away and just kept shaking our heads the whole way home because we still couldn't believe what just happened, even though we had the pics to prove it. One of the prettiest wolves we've ever seen, and since it was late October, the fur was perfect.

If I recall, Ken tells a story about a wolf that stood up and put its front paws on the door of his car and looked in at him once between Ely and Babbitt. Moments like that make a feller praise the merits of safety glass.

Here's the same wolf when he stopped in the woods. Same settings except AF was on one shot and SS was 1/20.

[finnbay]

If I recall, Ken tells a story about a wolf that stood up and put its front paws on the door of his car and looked in at him once between Ely and Babbitt.

That's about it - because I was leaning towards the middle of the seat we had about 2 feet between us! I had seen him go off the road ahead of me and when I stopped to look he came back out, around the front of my truck and right up to the driver's side window (rolled half down) with his nose in the air and sniffing at me. I must have had venison polish in the lunchbox that day! That finally spooked me and I took off! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me that day.

[Steve Foss]

How often does a photographer need wide angle lenses to shoot wolves, anyway? I'd forgotten the part about the window being open. Yikes!

[Deitz Dittrich]

the last pict in your first set is awesome steve!.. love that one.. may have to add that one to my list of ones I will own someday.. Still saving up for Ghost Trees. Every now and then you ought to post that one up for me so I can dream about it a little more.

[polarsusd81]

I don't remember "Ghost Trees" but I do remember the one where you had to lay down in the bog to get a shot from under a flower with the trees coming up around it. That is one of my favs of all time, just wish I could remember the name of it.

[Steve Foss]

Dude, I play requests.

[polarsusd81]

What was the name for that one again. Such a beautiful shot.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I dont ever remember seeing that one before steve... dude that is awesome!