Black-tailed Prairie Dog performing the “jump-yip” call. Badlands NP, South Dakota
With all the pictures of Black-tailed Prairie dogs I made over the years there was still one missing, a photo of our favorite gesture. The famous “jump-yip” call can communicate alertness, territorial defense, or can be an “all-clear” signal. (source: https://www.prairiedoghoogland.com/vocalizations )
We just love watching the social behavior of prairie dogs and in the Badlands the numbers seem to increase with every visit we made since 2005. There is no problem to find them in Badlands NP and the photographer can be choosy about location and direction of light.
The “jump-yip” call lasts maybe a second or even less and you never know when they do it. However, a fast frame rate is the key to catch the action. The Nikon Z6II delivers 10 frames per second with my personal settings applied (14 bit depth NEF (RAW), shooting mode: Continuous High, extended). Shooting with 12 bit depth would even allow 14 frames per second, but I do not like to change and rather have more color data in my pixels.
Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, @ 600 mm, 1/1250 s, f/6.3, ISO 400