Baby Moose, Journal Entry
June 22, 2009
One of the things I love about living with a 500,000-acre backyard (Chugach State Park) is that animals frequently pass through. A couple of weeks ago it was a porcupine that was gnawing on the side of our house at 1:30 a.m. Why, I have no idea. Last week we were blessed by a cow moose and her two newborn calves (less than one month old). They stayed in our yard to eat, rest, and avoid predators, i.e., brown and black bears. I was able to win their trust after some time and photograph them acting naturally from about 15 feet! The photos where they are very watchful is not because of me, rather it was because another cow moose (without calves) was trying to gain access to our yard. The mother moose promptly chased the intruder away. Photographing wildlife does not get any better than this - wild animals as if they were captive. What a good way to start summer and get back into the rhythm of photographing after ten months of convalescence from an automobile accident.
One of the things I love about living with a 500,000-acre backyard (Chugach State Park) is that animals frequently pass through. A couple of weeks ago it was a porcupine that was gnawing on the side of our house at 1:30 a.m. Why, I have no idea. Last week we were blessed by a cow moose and her two newborn calves (less than one month old). They stayed in our yard to eat, rest, and avoid predators, i.e., brown and black bears. I was able to win their trust after some time and photograph them acting naturally from about 15 feet! The photos where they are very watchful is not because of me, rather it was because another cow moose (without calves) was trying to gain access to our yard. The mother moose promptly chased the intruder away. Photographing wildlife does not get any better than this - wild animals as if they were captive. What a good way to start summer and get back into the rhythm of photographing after ten months of convalescence from an automobile accident.