Photoclubalpha

I arrived just after the calf was born. The birth site was off in the distance, but there was no time to switch from the 70-400 zoom to the 600mm telephoto. Plus I didn't want to risk causing a disturbance by opening the car door to access the bigger lens. So, the images here are drastic crops.

1. The newborn calf shakily emerges from the protective triangle formed by the mother and two female helpers. In addition to the threats of predation by coyotes, these bison are in the territorial range of one of Yellowstone's wolf packs. The protection clearly gives a survival advantage to the vulnerable newborn.


2. The mother (right) and another female cooperatively clean the new calf.


3. The mother (trailing afterbirth) tends to the wobbly newborn as the other females keep watch. As it is cleaned up and dries off, the newborn will become a "red dog" like the other calves.

A pretty amazing moment in a Bison's life there John - great series.

Good ones John.
Greg
Ps I wonder how long it takes for Wolves to kill something? I doubt that it would be quick, more like a long drawn out biting and chewing deal I think, death by a thousand bites.

John, Excellent shots you got there. It's a pretty amazing and wonderful moment.

Excellent shots

Great shots! Those calves really stick out with their bright color!

Mark

Cool that you were able to see and capture this!

I have been to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons several times -- always wonderful. In May 2004 I was there and I saw lots of bison with calves. At that time I was using a Canon 300D and my longest lens was a Tamron 28-75mm f2.8, but that was enough because they were very close to the road. I just now went into Lightroom and quickly found them and see that some of the photos were taken at less than 75mm even.

bakubo wrote:Cool that you were able to see and capture this!

I have been to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons several times -- always wonderful. In May 2004 I was there and I saw lots of bison with calves. At that time I was using a Canon 300D and my longest lens was a Tamron 28-75mm f2.8, but that was enough because they were very close to the road. I just now went into Lightroom and quickly found them and see that some of the photos were taken at less than 75mm even.

Close-in wildlife is one of the nice things about Yellowstone, and why I used the Sony 70-400mm lens more than any other. As you probably saw, Yellowstone is packed with wildlife photographers, and many are lugging 600mm - 800mm lenses with tcs and big tripods. The non-portability of these heavy rigs anchored these photographers, causing frustration as they lost interesting shots that required more mobility.
---John