Ready, Set, GO!!!

I can't really give you a reason why, but I've always had a thing for little critters.  Squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks and everything else that you can come across in your yard.  I guess it could be due to their size, me being the big lug who is intrigued by such small things.  If you're interested, I took some more chipmunk photos earlier this year.  This is a Mt. Tremblant chipmunk that liked to follow My Lovely Assistant and I around the cottage we were staying at.  Or more accurately, it got a kick out of watching me chase after him with my camera.  He was always more than happy to be seen, but ended up being a little bit camera shy.  I tried to lure him into certain spots by leaving peanuts out for him, but he always refused to take the bait...until I wasn't looking only to later realize that the peanuts were gone.  I finally managed to track him just under my car and then waited for him to get out from under the car and into the sun.  I had my telephoto lens so I was able to stay back a fair distance so that I wouldn't spook the little guy out more than he already was.  As you can tell from the photo, he was ready to run, and after I snapped off a few shots, that's exactly what he did.  I took this photograph at f/7.1, 1/160sec, ISO 400 at 300mm and I cropped the image to 12" x 4".  I then left him alone for the rest of our stay.  I did leave him a few extra peanuts before we left to thank him for being such a fun challenge to get a picture of.