animalphotography - Hamsters and Ground Squirrels in May

Last weekend when we returned from Hamburg and Helgoland we stayed one night in Vienna and visited the Hamsters and Ground Squirrels once again. We had a whole day to take some pictures of these nice animals. Early in the morning we went to the cementary where we take the pictures of the hamsters, we really had luck and they where pretty active. We only had to wait for some minutes for them to get out of their holes.

Hamster in Vieanna. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/200 Seconds
Aperture used	F6.3
Focal Lengh	600mm
Time	07:16 am
ISO	100

The morning and the Evening is the perfect time for taking pictures of animals because it's not so hot in this time and they tend to have more action during this time of the day. When it's getting hotter during the day they tend to stay in their cold holes. They try to find their food during the morning and in the evening but also in the night. I love these cute animals because they look very nice, unfortunately i don't know a place here in Upper Austria where i can find them in wildlife, probably the soil or the temperature is not good enough here for hamsters and even ground squirrels.

Courious Hamster looking out of his earth hole. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/40 Seconds
Aperture used	F6
Focal Lengh	440mm
Time	08:21 am
ISO	100

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/30 Seconds
Aperture used	F6.3
Focal Lengh	600 mm
Time	08:57 am
ISO	100

After a long morning with the hamsters we continued our trip to the ground squirrels in Lower Austria. I was already excited to see them once again. Unfortunately the meadow where they live wasn't mown so it was pretty difficult to shoot some nice pictures without the squirrels hiding in the big gras. Of course it's better for them when they have some additional protection and hide from people who feed them shit like bread or sweets.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/250 Seconds
Aperture used	F6.3
Focal Lengh	600 mm
Time	11:35 am
ISO	100

Normally we would provide food like carrots, wheat and nuts for the ground squirrels but this day we didn't have anything for them. They still where pretty awesome and ate a lot of gras semen and other things they found there.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/320 Seconds
Aperture used	F6.3
Focal Lengh	600 mm
Time	11:44 am
ISO	100