I photographed this Black-tailed Prairie Dog with mud on its nose while at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. There is a Black-tailed Prairie Dog Town (Black-tailed prairie dogs live in colonies) on this Refuge and you can always count on seeing several. This Refuge did a controlled burn in the main Prairie Dog Town but the Prairie Dogs were still out and about working on their burrows.

Black tailed Prairie Dog With Muddy Nose
Black tailed Prairie Dog With Muddy Nose

How I Got The Shot – Black-tailed Prairie Dog With Muddy Nose

The main Black-tailed Prairie Dog Town has a parking area with a wooden rail fence in front. I had a Fujifilm X-T3 camera with a Canon EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens attached with a Fringer EF-FX Pro. I braced my camera and lens on the fence to keep it steady.

Camera Settings

  • AV Mode
  • Back-button focus
  • Aperture f5.6
  • ISO 800
  • Shutter speed – 1/850 sec.
  • Auto White Balance
  • Single Point, Continuous Auto Focus
  • Multi Metering
  • Focal Length – 400 mm

Here are a few photos I took this week at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge:

  1. Two Rio Grande Turkeys Displaying
  2. Charon’s Garden Wilderness