13 Aug
Arctic Refuge: Arctic Hare & Mosquito
Posted in Alaska, Arctic Refuge, Landscape, Photography, Stock Photo, Wildlife by JimWith wildlife photography luck is always part of the equation, but you never know how or when it will come into play. While in the Arctic last summer I had the good fortune of photographing an Arctic Hare that was resting in the shade to avoid both the sun and predators. Although the hare was stationary its ears were twitching in order to keep a small swarm of mosquitoes from biting these blood rich organs. I only took a few photos and didn’t think much of them until I got back to review them. This one photo of a mosquito landing on and biting the hares nose immediately caught my attention. I was very happy to have captured this subtle interaction between host and parasite that exemplified the on going battle, small and large, these creatures face on a daily basis to survive.
To see a larger version of this photo and other wildlife photos from the Arctic Refuge visit my Arctic National Wildlife Refuge photo gallery
Technorati Tags: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR, Arctic Refuge, arctic hare, wildlife, Lepus arcticus, photography, photo
Heyjules
on August 13 2007
That is really a once-in-a-lifetime catch. What an amazing photo.
Ron Niebrugge
on August 13 2007
Great timing Jim! It would have been easy to miss this as you edit through thumbnails.
How did you ever find a mosquito?
Ron
jim
on August 13 2007
Jules and Ron thanks for commenting.
Ron as you know mosquitoes are always so hard to come across in the Arctic
latoga
on August 25 2007
Great shot Jim! At times luck is a great photo assistant. And it’s always fun to come back from a shoot and find something like this hiding.