Fangs

 

Siberian musk deer (Akron Zoo)

large flying fox (Columbus Zoo)

Mexican wolves (Columbus Zoo)

Mustard, a Tasmanian devil (Columbus Zoo)

sand cats (Columbus Zoo)

Asian small-clawed otter (Columbus Zoo)

snow leopard (Toledo Zoo)

Crystal and Borealis (Toledo Zoo)

 

Amur tiger (Columbus Zoo)

Nocturnal, again

A while back I posted pictures of nocturnal animals at the Columbus Zoo. I took them hand-held, and they weren't very good. For round two, on February 14, I borrowed a tripod, which permitted longer exposures without my trying to hold the camera still. In the first round, exposure times were between 0.25 and 0.125s. This time, exposure times were 1.5s except for two of the frogmouths, which were 1s and 0.67s, and the ISO was 1600. For both rounds I used autoexposure. Next time, I'll try for a lower ISO for less graininess.

I focused manually again because I didn't want to annoy the animals with the focus-assist light, although Glen wouldn't notice; autofocus doesn't work well in low light without the focus-assist light; and the range of the focus-assist light is limited, anyway. I had the wits to use the LCD screen instead of the viewfinder this time, and that helped.

In general, it's important to focus on an animal's eye or the picture won't look quite right. I found that my best pictures are of the frogmouths and binturong because of their large eyes. I focused on the reflected sparkle of light in their eyes and had some success.

Glen, a southern hairy-nosed wombat

binturong

Indian crested porcupine

Matschie's tree kangaroo. This animal was quite active, which I usually love, but I needed stillness because of the long exposures. It cooperated a few times.

Possibly a sleeping posture. The pink parts are its hind feet.

Tawny frogmouth. I took number of photos of frogmouths because there are four of them and they didn't move, except to look at me. These birds can be brown or gray.

Feathertail glider. This picture is awful but I included it because the animal is so interesting. It's basically a flying gecko mouse. It's the size of a mouse, has a membrane that lets it glide, and can climb glass. Standing at the glass-fronted exhibit, which holds seemingly a dozen examples, I couldn't tell you what a feathertail glider looks like. They appear out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly. It's startling when one lands on the glass with a sort of "splat" sound and then scampers up.

It's not the toy.

It's the box it came in.

African lion (Columbus Zoo)

black ratsnake (Columbus Zoo)

African grey parrot (Columbus Zoo)

meerkat (Toledo Zoo)

puma (Toledo Zoo)

dromedary camels (Columbus Zoo)

The meerkat and puma were after food. Parrots seem to enjoy tearing things up.

Victoria crowned pigeon

The Victoria crowned pigeon is not one of my favorite birds, but it can be a great subject.

A Victoria crowned pigeon on its nest (Toledo Zoo).

The following pictures are from the Columbus Zoo.

Interesting legs.

Dorothy (lower) are Teddy are a bonded pair. I have seen them multiple times sort of building a nest on this spot. October 22, 2020.

Teddy brings nest material to Dorothy. Sometimes it's just a long, skinny leaf. He drops it, and it falls to the ground. Here, Dorothy seems to accept a stick, but it will fall, too. January 25, 2021.

They have successfully nested at least once, because this is their son.

The handsome fellow. He was standing as above, and I spotted him from a different angle though a gap in the foliage.