Uploads from jfelege

Slothbear Cubs

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:58:39 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-05-22: This past weekend I made a trip down to the Brookfield Zoo located just outside of Chicago. They welcomed 2 new sloth bear cubs back in January and I finally had an opportunity to see them in person. Sloth bears are so unique in the fact their mouths are designed in such a way to optimize the eating of termites. It was so fun to watch these guys roam around their exhibit with mom.

Still best viewed on {L}arge, seriously!

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Move on dude...

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:40:45 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-05-21: The indigo snake pauses from slithering around the exhibit when I stopped by to take the photo at the Brookfield Zoo. This is such a unique snake - the color, scales and the black lines falling from the eyes are so interesting details. I spent a bit too much time with this, and felt like I over-processed it just a bit.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Waiting, Watching.

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:36:58 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-05-20: Many of us have heard the terrible news of Oklahoma City. My thoughts go out to each and one of you affected by this terrible storm. I can only hope that the community is able to grow stronger through this tragedy.

This particular photo was taken during my trip to the Brookfield Zoo. It's of a Chuckwalla. Last year the Chuckwalla had a set of babies which were so fun to watch. This time only a couple of adults were in the exhibit watching and waiting as visitors looked in on them.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Them paws!

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:45:04 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-05-19: Making my way around Illinois, stopping over night in Bloomington then visiting the Milller Park Zoo and made my way over to Peoria to go see the four amur (siberian) tiger cubs who are almost 1 year old now. This little guy is Luka. Man, how they have grown up! But they sure will continue to grow - I mean look at those paws! Luka was kind enough to sit still by the linear-fence which makes it much easier to take photos with minimal wire artifacts in the frame.

What a beautiful weekend, I hope everyone had an opportunity to go out and enjoy the weather. I see several of my flickr friends made trips to their respective zoos - always great to see photos from the adventures.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Introducing the Sloth Bears...

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Sat, 18 May 2013 17:30:22 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-05-18: Made a last minute trip down to Brookfield Zoo, located outside Chicago IL, to check out the new Sloth Bear cubs who were born in January. Zoo keepers believe one is a male and the other female. They seemed to be enjoying the day, romping around their exhibit. Zoo keepers also had a special treat for them as part of Bear Awareness Weekend, pinatas! They were somewhat skeptical of the paper-painted-like-a-bee-hive but eventually mom smacked it onto the ground. It's always great to see successful programs such as this.

Sloth Bears generally enjoy eating termites as their primary source of food. In fact their mouth is unique that they're able to create a vacuum in order to eat. The sloth bears are found on the Indian continent (Sri Lanka area) and are at risk due to deforestation and asian medicine practices.

NOTE: That is definitely not snow falling. Bad day for those with allergies.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Oceanside

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:02:49 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-05-13: At Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39A sits "mothballed" in shuttle configuration allowing the public to tour these once "off limits" facilities for a limited time. The tours take you inside the security perimeter and makes two stops along the way. This was taken in the main exhaust channel of the solid rocket boosters, also next to the water suppression system which dampens the sound wave concussions from hitting the orbiter and destroying it. One regret is that I wasn't able to get a panoramic of the entire landscape due to the number of other guests, however, I love the fact I was able to bring out the detail of the exhaust channel and pipes within the launch pad itself.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Launch Pad 39A

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Sun, 12 May 2013 20:09:19 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-05-12: Just got back from a short vacation visiting my brother down in Florida. I, of course, could not pass up an opportunity to go on the behind-the-scenes tours at Kennedy Space Center now that the shuttle program is over and the agency works through a transition period for the SLS program. One of the tour stops takes you inside the security perimeter of the launch pad 39A which still remains "mothballed" in shuttle configuration. Additionally, they take you behind the launch pad inside the exhaust tunnel which was simply amazing standing near the structure. You could also see chunks of orange foam stuck in the perimeter fence from the various launches. For those who may not know but Kennedy Space Center is located in one of the largest wildlife preserves - and luckily we got to see 2 manatee in one of the waterways during the tour. Was a great trip, had a lot of fun. Would recommend if you're in the area to go on these behind-the-scene tours while they're still available to the public. It sounds like once the transition is complete - these "restricted" tours will be gone. We took the "mega-tour" which did the LP tour along with the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Anyway, hope everyone has a great week ahead.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Leaves...

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Tue, 07 May 2013 18:17:59 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-05-07: The one Mandrill decided to grab a bunch of leaves from outside and decided to take a munchy snack this past weekend. With that said, I'm going to be out for the next few days making a relatively unplanned trip down to Orlando to visit my brother (for good reasons) so I will likely be visiting your photostreams via my phone while waiting at the airport(s). Take it easy everyone!

P.S. I continue to struggle using my 70-200mm f/2.8 (let alone not having a DoF preview to know exactly what is "in focus"). ISO was already at 1600, stopping down the lens further wasn't really an option. VR was also on - but animals move. Any other ideas? Sometimes I've noticed my 85mm f/1.8 lens does really well when shooting at f/2. Is it just me being grumpy after using a D600 sensor in low light and getting much better results?

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

RIP Kajmak

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Sun, 05 May 2013 16:00:26 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-05-05: Visited the Milwaukee County Zoo twice over the weekend and had noticed the two younger tigers were in the outdoor exhibit which is generally reserved for Kajmak. Apparently, he wasn't doing very well and was put to sleep sometime last week. This is one of the last photos I had taken of him pacing around in his exhibit. He would have turned 18 this July. The Milwaukee County Zoo is home to 3 remaining tigers - Amba (9yr), Tula (3yr) and Nuri (3yr).

Amur Tigers are listed as endangered since the species has on-going risk of heavy poaching. The last estimates I've heard there are less than 500 tigers remaining in the wild.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Joey

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Sat, 04 May 2013 23:07:02 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-05-05: Joey is the father of two orangutans born at the Erie Zoo. He and Dasa have raised 2 children where the youngest, Ollie, still calls the Erie Zoo home. Lella , the older sibling, was transferred to the Toledo Zoo in 2012.

Joey was by himself over in another part of the exhibit for a while hiding under a blanket. But, Ollie, decided to have fun with a piece of rock (cracker??) he had been carrying around - and ended up putting it on his dads lips. Joey's facial expression was classic, see it below.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Ollie

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:37:07 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-05-03: Ollie the baby [male] Orangutan born at the Erie Zoo poses for me when I visited the zoo back in mid-March. Ollie was born May 10th, 2010 to parents Joey and Dasa. Their daughter Leela was transferred to the Toledo Zoo in 2012.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Ocelot

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:24:14 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-04-28: Can't believe it's already the end of April. I had to spend a lot of time trying to fix this image of the Ocelot at the Buffalo Zoo. I had an extremely hard time getting the portrait of this guy. Not only was it low-light, the glass was highly reflective. The only few sharp photos turned out when there were a couple of ladies looking at him laying there. Overall I'm happy with this portrait, would love to go back and try again one day.

Thank you so much for your kind comments. It looks like there was a spike of visitors to my photostream lately. I'm hoping to catch up on the rounds on everyone's photos if I haven't already. Have a great week ahead!

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Introducing Mr Anteater!

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:54:37 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-04-25: I've finally gotten around to logging into my desktop to access my zoo photos from my trip to the Buffalo Zoo back in March before the photography conference at Niagara Falls. At the Buffalo Zoo my mom and I had turned the corner and there they were - 2 ant eaters. Even had a chance to see one stick out it's tongue. But as the ant eater rounded the corner I took a few shots of which this one turned out. Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago has an ant eater but it's on the ground floor of an elevated viewing platform and never get a good opportunity to see one face-to-face. Would love to make a trip back there with a better body. Struggled with the low light inside this building that day.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Water be falling...

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:24:54 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-04-24: As many folks in the area know that this part of the country has been getting a ton of rain over the past couple of weeks. But one evening the weather was beautiful so I took a short trip over to the park where there is a pond and subsequent waterfall. I don't think I had ever seen the falls so active. I really liked the shot itself, I was using lots of varying filters to try a long exposure. Ended up converting it to B&W for better detail.

Hope everyone is having a good week - it's already half way over!

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Black Tree Monitor

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 15:12:24 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-04-21: So made rounds over to the Reptile building at the Milwaukee County Zoo today. The past few visits the former King Cobra exhibit had been empty. Well, it is now the home to 3 Black Tree Monitors. I didn't have a chance to get a photo of the animal information panel but they look very interesting. More so the other 2 had themselves stuck themselves against the back wall.

This shot was rather challening, it's a low light exhibit, the lighting was behind the subject, and the monitor is very dark. All processing was done with Camera Raw, Levels and Brightness levels (using mask). Smart fill was used in the lower left corner to restore stone due to reflective glare.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Keep on running...

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 14:52:00 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-04-20: Scruffy, the spotted-hyena, at the Milwaukee County Zoo paces around the outdoor exhibit which rotates between the African Lions and the hyenas. If you haven't visited the zoo lately, Scruffy now has a female companion, Nyota, and have yet to get a photo of the two together. But they seem to be doing well together - pacing the exhibit and interacting with each other.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Pacing Tiger

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:50:18 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-04-19: On Sunday, April 7th, I had such a great time at the Milwaukee County Zoo. All the animals were being active which meant Kajmak, the zoos male amur tiger, was up and moving around.

EDIT 5-5-2013: Volunteer confirmed that Kajmak was put down last week. He will be missed!

EDIT: Does anyone have any information on our 2nd cheetah? Someone mentioned he wasn't doing very well and had noticed the indoor Cheetah exhibit has been vacant the last couple of trips. Update - no activity inside the exhibit for several weeks, didn't confirm yet, but I'm assuming we lost him as well.

Hope everyone is able to have a safe and enjoyable weekend!

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Little Troublemaker

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:00:49 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-04-16: One of the two male jaguar cubs, at the milwaukee county zoo, lying prone ready to make trouble with his brother and mom who were just off to camera right. Poor Stella had to deal with the cubs making trouble. She seemed not to be getting any rest with the two romping around the exhibit and coming back to tackle her. Not to mention the one cub seems to loves to chomp on her tail. Also, on April 13th, the cubs turned 5 months old - all seem to be doing well.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Broken, Shattered

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:40:12 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-04-15: Thoughts and prayers go out to those in the Boston area. Be safe.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!

Potter's Mill

nobody@flickr.com (jfelege) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 16:22:38 -0700

jfelege posted a photo:

2013-04-14: Seems to be that I've had some spare time on my hands to catch up with some photos. This will be #3 within the past 24-48 hours. ;)

There is an old mill building in the town of Bellevue, IA along the Mississippi River that I've always wanted to take a photos of. When my mom and I had made our trip out in search of the bald eagles I finally pulled off and took the time to grab some photos. Except it wasn't until the final few photos that I realized there was a large "For Sale" sign that I don't have the photoshop knowledge of how to remove. So I've been trying to salvaging some of the other random photos taken on the site.

(c) 2013, all rights reserved. Please do not copy and/or redistribute this photo without prior permission (including, and is not limited to, www.tumblr.com/ and pinterest.com as these sites download their own copy of the picture without my consent), thanks for your understanding!