Wild and free ferret

Gallery: WildlifePosted February 9, 20152,033 views10 comments

This is a black-footed ferret, credited as being North America's rarest land mammal. I found this individual this morning peeking out of a prairie dog burrow in Wind Cave National Park, where there is a small, but stable ferret population, after a re-introduction several years ago. My stake-out was mostly viewing the top of his head and tip of nose, but he finally rewarded me with two above ground clicks before disappearing by darting down another burrow.

D610, Tamron 150-600 @600, ISO 1600, f7.1 @1/200, -0.7ev. Fairly strong (unmeasured) crop, but leaving me with adequate pixels for printing this version for wall showing, if chosen. This is early morning light and I made a number of small, selective tweaks in wb, brightness, contrast, etc.

Comments welcomed.

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by peter davidson on February 9, 2015 at 3:40 PM

Really nice clean image, the only colour here really is the ferret which of course brings out it's subtle toning nicely and with the eye contact it really makes this picture for me.

Registered on January 29, 2015, 11 Posts, 39 Comments

Comment posted by Josiah Launstein on February 9, 2015 at 4:15 PM

Wow! This picture is really cool. I have never seen one of these guys in the wild and I really want to get a picture of them because they are so cute and cool. and I really like how much detail in the picture there is and it is cool how he is about to go into his home. His markings and colours are really cool.

Registered on January 26, 2013, 52 Posts, 126 Comments

Comment posted by William Bickle on February 9, 2015 at 4:54 PM

Hello Lon

It's great when they give you something ! I had heard about these guys being Replanted in Southern Saskatchewan but not in your Dakota area. Love those well defined ears!

Bill

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on February 9, 2015 at 5:20 PM

Well taken photo of this rare mammal! Glad you were able to get a couple of shots above ground. Alert pose, good color and details. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on February 9, 2015 at 6:41 PM

Nice sharp image of an animal that most of us will never be able to see.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on February 9, 2015 at 6:58 PM

How special! You've got a fine pose, standing on the prairie dog mound and good sharpness on the ferret.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Alberto Patiño on February 9, 2015 at 10:52 PM

Detail held up very well, despite the crop, and the "candid shot" feeling given by the ferret's attitude is really cute.

Registered on December 2, 2014, 278 Posts, 1736 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on February 10, 2015 at 12:44 AM

Lon,
This is great,capturing wonderful images of rarities is always exciting. Thanks for sharing

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Gavin on February 12, 2015 at 12:40 AM

"Earth, A New Wild" contains a section on the interrelationship of prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets. It was filmed in South Dakota. Excellent first installment. By the way, an excellent image, too.

Registered on August 14, 2008, 293 Posts, 1250 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on February 12, 2015 at 2:38 PM

Thanks, all for the comments.

JIM, thanks so much for alerting me to the PBS video "Earth, A New Wild." I found it current and well enough done that I plan to buy copies of it for some landowner/rancher friends!

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments