Someone Wants to Say "Hello" to You from Maine

[Andrea B.]

This critter shows up every couple of days to sit out the day snoozing in the top of the spruce tree by our deck. Officially this is Erethizon dorsatum, the North American Porcupine, a nocturnal vegetarian mammal. They are actually rather sweet and docile and very slow moving. I watched it waddle over to the tree and climb up one morning. It reached up to the next branch slowly with each strongly clawed front paw, 'hand over hand'. Took a few minutes. As it happens, porcupines cannot really "throw" their quills. They can slap at any offenders with their tail and embed quite a few of their 40,000 quills, but they will chatter about it first, giving a fair warning.

 

Not so easy to get these snaps shooting into a dark tree against a bright sky. But it was fun trying.

 

Location: Along Somes Sound, Southwest Harbor, Mount Desert Island, Maine, USA

 

Hi there! My name is Puerc d'Espin.

f/8 for 1/500" EV+1.7 @ ISO-3600

D850 + Nikon 70-200 f/4G VR IF-ED

Much color noise. This was bumped up so that the Porcupine's face could be seen. Thus a bit overwrought. "-)

Two of the big orange front teeth are apparent.

 

 

A bit of Puerc's strong teeth can be seen in profile. Porcupines chew twigs, bark and wood.

f/8 for 1/500" EV+1.3 @ ISO-1250

D850 + Nikon 70-200 f/4G VR IF-ED

The quills on the lower back area (rosette) release a bad smell to warn predators. Not enough exposure to bring out the rosette in this snap.

 

 

Quill detail. The quills are hollow. Some of these look like they might have broken off?

 

 

Puerc sleeping in the tree top on a very hazy day and looking like a round dark blob.

No color in that sky to be brought out on that day. Those are Paper Birch on both the left and right. I cannot get close enough to the Spruce to confirm its species. My best guess is White Spruce, Picea glauca.

f/6.3 for 1/250" EV+2.0 @ ISO-400

D850 + Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 VR

It is odd how the birch trunk acted as some kind of chromatic aberration barrier. It's slightly purple to the left of the trunk but not to the right.

 

 

 

 

I'm slowly getting caught up to all the new posts. Might take a while longer!

 

 

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[otoien]

You got some nice light in the first one, Andrea. It does not look over-processed to me, good job with the editing .

[JMC]

Very cool. We get Hedgehogs in the garden most nights (quite rare in the UK), and the Echidnas in Tasmania were among our favourite animals we saw while we're out there.

[Andrea B.]

Øivind, thanks. I might have a bit too much saturation though. "-)

 

Jonathan, do the hedgehogs have little quills? They look as though they do. So cute.

You've been to Tasmania? Cool! There was a fellow on Fotozones who lived there and made some excellent stitched forest portraits to help promote saving them. Alan Lesheim, I think is his name.

[JMC]

Jonathan, do the hedgehogs have little quills? They look as though they do. So cute.

You've been to Tasmania? Cool! There was a fellow on Fotozones who lived there and made some excellent stitched forest portraits to help promote saving them. Alan Lesheim, I think is his name.

 

Here's one of the hedgehogs we get in the garden;

 

This was taken at dusk with a 200mm lens, and then the image cropped from the original file. Certainly no competition winner, but I don't like going out in the garden and disturbing them, so I keep my distance and leave them in peace. They have spines not quills. And yes they are very cute and very under pressure in the UK, because of habitat loss and being killed on the roads.

 

Tasmania is the most amazing place myself and my wife have visited. It is the only place both of us would move to, to live. Shame it's round the other side of the world from us. The Echidnas were brilliant, and much less timid around people. This one woke up and came out to feed as we were going for a walk one evening. It was snuffling round our feet, and even dug under my shoe at one point thinking it was a rock;

 

These do look to have quills not spines, as in the photo there are a few hollow ones.

 

This was where we were staying the night of the Echidna photo - Pumphouse Point hotel. A converted pump house on Lake St Clare. We had a room on the top floor in the old pump house.

 

We also saw a Wombat on our walk that evening. Amazing creatures, but a bit more wary than the Echidna. This one ran off when it saw us (my wife is in the yellow jacket on the right of the shot, being very very excited about seeing the Wombat).

 

If you're never been - just go. Don't think about other holiday destinations, just go.

[Andrea B.]

Wonderful animals - all three. The hedgehogs are adorable. And the Echidna and Wombat fascinating.

I hope we can get to Tasmania to see for reals.

[Andy Perrin]

Fascinating animals, all!