Marmot Adventures
With my new focus on wildlife my Dad gave me a tip that a local park near them had a thriving Marmot population. Naturally I was interested and decided I needed to go and check it out.
My first trip to the park was intended to be a scouting trip as I expected I would have to make multiple trips in order to find a marmot. But when my Dad said thriving he meant it. Without too much waiting around I was able to photograph two different Marmots. The first Marmot I found was at a fairly significant distance away. Marmots being smaller creatures even the 100-400 with my 1.4x teleconverter couldn't pull them the Marmot in too tight.
This brings us to a very important lesson unless it is a sunny day and even then, bring your Tripod! As I had figured this would be a scouting trip and was not expecting marmots I had not brought mine. Rookie mistake I know... So I had to adapt and make do with what I had in order to take photos of the second Marmot. This ended up being my makeshift mcgyvered tripod solution.
The crook of a thicker tree branch ended up being my solution, and it actually worked fairly well! Giving the lens a little support with my hand I was able to keep it from weighing the branch down. This setup work and I was able to take fairly steady video and capture in focus shots. That being said on my next trips I brought my Tripod.
I ended up going back two more times until I got a few photos I was happy with. The second trip ended up being a bust with only one Marmot at a distance who was camera shy and quickly ended up back in its hole. The third trip though I managed to get some good shots. I was able to take a few more photos of the second Marmot from my first trip. I only assume it was the same one since it was near the exact same rock cropping on the hillside. While photographing it though I heard noises closer to me. After repositioning I spotted one down in a little valley between where I was and the hillside across. This second marmot was actually so close that I had to pull the lens back a little to fit it in the frame completely!
What I enjoyed most about watching and photographing these Marmots was their personality. How curious they were but also how at the slightest sound or sign of danger they froze so perfectly and not move for minutes. This defense mechanism was great for getting a good shot in low light. Since they were completely still I didn't have to worry about them blurry at slower shutter speeds.
I have been back to the park a couple of times since and can hear them calling out and talking to each other while I walk around the park and every so often I will spend a few moments staring at the hillside until I catch one darting across the rocks.