Title: Nursing
Location & Date: Trout Lake, Yellowstone National Park | July, 2013
Camera Set-Up: Nikon D800 w/ Nikon 300 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/500
Aperture: 7.1
ISO: 800
Note:
I’ve been on a bit of a kick of late to see how many animals I can photograph nursing. It’s one of those intimate moments between mother and young that so often can breakdown preconceived notions about wildlife and humanize the subject. Remarkably, for the amount of time Jill and I spend with the river otters that inhabit Yellowstone’s Trout Lake, this image, captured in the summer of 2013, was the first opportunity I had to observe the mustelid nursing. We were sitting on an adjoining embankment for almost six hours, waiting for the otter and her pup to emerge from a tree we knew to be their den. When they came out, the otters didn’t immediately go hunting for fish, but instead took a half hour to play, prune and, yes, nurse.
– Simon
