Winston Wildlife Safari/New Lens pt. 1

So if you read my last post you know that I traded off some of my camera gear for a new lens. I had to wait until my old gear got to them and they could check it out before they would send me the new lens. Well that was the longest week and a half ever! But the new lens has arrived. It came in late Friday afternoon and I was able to get a couple quick shots that day. I did go out to where I have been getting the Lewis woodpecker shots, but they were camera shy that day. But when I got home the Hummingbirds were more than happy to help me out.
The next day I headed to Winston Oregon to the Wildlife Safari. They have a breading program for Cheatahs, They have had way over 200 cubs there and going strong. The Cheatah was the first thing I got to point my camera at. This is the one they use to have your photo taken with.
That photo turned out pretty well even though I was shooting through a wire fence. You'll see the type of fence below as I was lucky enough to see a Cheatah cub having a snack.
I was able to get a Mountain Lion as well. The last Time I was here the lion was sleeping and I couldn't even get a good shot of it. This day it was awake, laying down but alert, and looking right at me at almost eye level... perfect for a good shot.
The African Lions were hit and miss the first time thrugh the males were awake and had their heads up, but with the fence between us the photos were total crap. Its the distance between the subject and the fence and the fence and the camera that makes or dietroys a photo. This one didn't work out. The females were all asleep and couldn't get a good shot even of them sleeping. I did however get some good ones when some people who had money to thow at being able to feed them stepped up. I was in the walk through area and they had a lookout spot for the Lions. I got a good shot of one of them pacing the fence waiting for the food.
here's a short video of a Tiger i took with my phone.
So this is the end of this post. I will be adding many, many more photos in the posts and days to come. I will be trying to keep it to just one or two subjects per post as I have tons of photos. I took ver 3600 photos that day. I will be doing Giraffes in the next post as they are near and dear to my heart (they were my moms favorite) and I got some really nice shots of them. So I'll see you soon.

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