Friendly Neighborhood Caribou - Fogo Island

[camperbc]

You may recall when last spring we had a wayward little caribou living in our front yard. At first it was kinda cute to have him around... until he started sharpening his antlers down the sides of people's cars! Then, it wasn't quite so cute anymore. In the end, the game warden darted him and took him away to be with his herd.

Well, now we have another visitor. Thankfully, this one is too young to have his antlers! We have seen him on our lawn several times in the past week, but I have not been well enough to get outside for some shots of him. This morning, after sleeping all night in our front yard, (the caribou, not me!) I grabbed my new A500 and trusty Minolta 100-200mm F4.5 lens and took a bunch of pictures; here are a few of them. This ancient Minolta lens still performs amazingly well.

There is a large population of these caribou on our little island; likely in the vicinity of a couple thousand. Almost as many caribou as people! Care must be taken to avoid hitting them on our roads, in all seasons. Hardly a day goes by without seeing lots of them.

Did you notice that we only have about an inch of snow on the ground? Up until this week we have been looking at green grass!

Glen
http://www.FocusOnNewfoundland.com

[Greg Beetham]

I agree the lens is very good, nice shots Glen.
Greg

[aster]

Finally, seeing Fogo Island covered in Snow, Glen, after moths of springy landscapes! : )

Good to see that winter characteristic to your location showed its face.

The caribou is looking very sweet and collaborative towards where you are. Very cute face and expressions from him. The lens performs well providing lots of fine fur details and that pink gum/tongue.

Thanks for sharing and good to know you're fine. : )


Yildiz

[paulmurphy]

Glad you are feeling well enoughto pick up the camera, nice shots of the young Caribou - are the parents nearby, or do these animals fend for themselves for a young age?

Best wishes

Paul

[Dr. Harout]

Yes, it is a very fine lens in the hands of a great photographer. BTW, congrats on your a500.

[David Kilpatrick]

Perfect post-processing. Jewel-like clarity. Great.

David

[camperbc]

Thanks everyone, for your kind comments. I don't see his mom around anywhere, so I think he may be lost. This happened a few months ago with another young caribou, and eventually conservation officers came around to dart him, and put him back with his herd.
Thanks again,
Glen
FocusOnNewfoundland.com

[pakodominguez]

I don't know how friendly the Caribou is, but here in the North East USA people avoid Dears and relatives because Lyme decease -do you have the same problem in Canada's East coast?. My brother got it almost 3 years ago and he can not get rid of yet (he got the symptoms, again, last week... http://www.elmofle.com/blog/post/2010/0 ... -Lyme.aspx -in Spanish)

It is funny, My brother studied forestry and worked for a while in the Amazonian jungle, and never got any mayor infection or decease. Now, a deer tick bite him and this is worse than having Malaria -at least Malaria turn you crazy, what is somehow interesting...

Regards