White timber wolf (Canis lupus) at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York.
Now that it looks like winter in upstate New York, I headed out to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo to take advantage of their annual Winter Photo Contest which lets people in the zoo for free if you bring a camera with a coupon. It was a perfect winter’s day.
The “dogs” of the zoo were out enjoying the sunny and cold January day. The white timber wolf, red fox and red wolf did not seem to mind the weather. Their thick coats of fur insulating them from the single digit temperatures.
Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York.
While I was watching the red wolves, a siren was heard nearby. They must have thought it was a howl from other wolves as they launched into five minutes of howling of their own in reply.
Red wolf (Canis lupus rufus) howling at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York.
You may have noticed these photos look a little “hot” or overexposed and I did not add the photo’s Exif data as I usually do. The combination of the Nikon D700 camera and Nikon 80-400VR lens kept giving me a flashing Err message on the upper LCD screen and in the viewfinder.
I tried everything to fix it out in the field. Turned the camera off and on, re-seeded and changed the memory card, switched to my backup battery and took the lens off and reconnected it. The error message persisted. It was like the camera was not able to set the lens’ aperture when the shutter was pressed. I do not believe the Exif data in the photos is correct. I did my best to save these photos in post-processing.
When I got back home I looked up to see if others had experienced this issue. Turns out it is well know problem and a simple cleaning procedure fixed it. Whew! I had visions of having to send my camera to Nikon to get repaired.
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Glad you were able to fix it!!
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Me, too, Debbie! Fun bumping into you yesterday. Get any good photos?
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Whew! Glad you didn’t need to send out your baby!
These photos look great…well done with the processing. I wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t told us. That fox photo is my favorite…what a mischievous grin on its face! 🙂
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I had all sorts of things going through my mind. It’s the middle of high school hockey season and I would have to beg, borrow or steal a replacement if I had to send mine in.
The fox was being a bit foxy yesterday.
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You did a great job with your processing Scott. I never suspected a thing. I just love the howling wolf! What a great picture of an animal “doing its thing!”
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He and his partner where going at it. Sure was their thing!
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You should like, totally win, dude ! 😉
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Thanks, Sybil. We’ll see. There were a lot of photographers their yesterday.
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I’m with Karma…if you didn’t mention your camera troubles, I wouldn’t have known. I really love the white backgrounds for these gorgeous critters!
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Thanks, Tracy! I have to thank Mother Nature for those white backgrounds. 🙂
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I love that fox! He looks as warm as can be!
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What fun – awesome captures!
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A real pleasure to look at your pictures, Scott. Such beautiful animals and expressions you captured. The red wolf looks a bit like my beagle when he is protesting… Howling.
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