We went for a short drive on the Old Still River Rd this afternoon and took a few pix.

Interesting beastie on this fall sow thistle.  Several species so I will look at the leaves next time!

This year’s ruffed grouse found a few pin cherries up on this tree.

Some people have asked how I got this photo last week:

When I am shooting scenes which have difficult exposures (such as bears,  whose fur reflects very little light)  I usually bracket the image, using three slightly different (2/3 EV) shutter speeds on each frame …. shot in a burst mode in less than a second.

I realized that I had an interesting shot when I heard the motorbike approaching.  The two cubs were to the LEFT of the mother bear. I wanted all three in the image, (bike, momma, cubs) so timing was quite important.  I prefocused on momma and held a half shutter press.  Then, as soon as I saw the front of the wheel, I finished pressing the shutter and luckily the cubs were still in the frame.  The next frame had the rider but the front of the cubs were out of the picture.  The last of the three captured the motorcycle but no cubs.  I could’ve zoomed out if I had more time but I chose to lift the camera and shoot with what I had …. at 1/500th of a second.   The blur on both the bike wheel and the cubs indicates that things were moving quickly!!!!

Yes.  I shot all of those pix from the safety of the truck.  I find that I can get a lot closer to bears in “the portable blind” than on foot.  Safer too!!!