Almost Motif: Moose

Okay, so she's not all that well hidden here, but we almost drove right by her, despite being only 30 feet from the road. Here's she's moved a bit from where we just barely saw her.

I like fall and winter for moose watching at Elk Island National Park, because you can see further into the woods from the road. I got out of the car to shoot this from a tripod (staying right at the car, and never between her and the car). As soon as I got out I could feel something wasn't quite right--I could see her clearly, but the loud munching noises were coming from a slightly different direction. Only by looking very closely could I see her calf, and I was never able to get a shot of it.

This was shot with a 28-135 IS lens at 135, full frame on Sensia 100. I'm not happy with the colours here--the slide looks much better, and has much more detail in the fur.

On average, I see moose on about half the trips I make to Elk Island. I was due this time (shot last week), since I hadn't seen one in a few trips. We saw five that day. (Plus 6-8 beavers, a bat, various waterfowl, and the ubiquitous bison.)

Edit: one more thing. Before getting out of your car, turn the headlights off and remove the keys. Moose apparently don't like the noise that cars make to remind you of these things...

-Paul