This beautiful elk was photographed at Yellowstone National Park and just wandered by our campsite, virtually oblivious of us.
This field of elk was also taken at Yellowstone National Park. The elk were resting in a meadow of tall grass and appeared to be partially submerged submarines.
This is "Cathy" the wild turkey. She lives at the bottom of the Grand Canyon at the Bright Angel Campground, near Phantom Ranch. The story is that she walked down from the North Rim years ago and has been a fixture at the campground ever since.
This bison was photographed at Yellowstone National Park. It and its companions were walking in the southbound lane of traffic in an area where a mountainside was on its right and a steep dropoff on the other side of the roadway, so walking on the road made perfect sense. All traffic was stopped of course, and the "evil" eye this bison gave me as I snapped its picture gave me a bit of a startle and I wondered if it were about to butt my vehicle.
This cute fellow is a marmot. They live in the higher altitudes, in this
case at 11000+ feet in the Weminuche Wilderness, and are curious, entertaining
companions when you join them for a night in their domain. I also saw a
cousin of his in Glacier National Park where there are hoary marmots --
the front half of their bodies are white and the back half brown, giving
them an unusual appearance.
These 2 photos were taken in the Pecos Wilderness in New Mexico. The
2 butterflies in the picture immediately above were right in the middle
of the trail, so "involved" with each other that they ignored
us as we stepped over them.
This mountain goat was traveling with her kid and with
another nanny and kid, and they were encountered on the Highline (Garden
Wall) Trail in Glacier National Park, up at the top of the Grinnell Glacier
Overlook spur trail. In fact, they were ON the trail and I had to wait 5
minutes for them to meander off at their own pace, not wishing to anger
mothers with their children.
This contented family of deer lives around Phantom Ranch (note the
brick cabin in the background.)
This emaciated, sickly fox lives around Windigo on Isle Royale. Numerous
foxes live around the campgrounds, scrounging and begging for "people"
food. Unfortunately, they get enough handouts to become lazy and dependent
on scraps and don't bother to hunt for their own food. The diet is, of course,
all wrong, and they become sickly and die. Is there a lesson here? I hope
so!
This family of mergansers numbered 19, comprised of mama and 18 babies.
They were out for diving lessons, with mama leading the way and all 18 kids
following her example. Of course, they were not as good as mom yet, and
after diving, the babies would follow suit, and mama would surface after
30 seconds underwater and they would be far behind her or off to one side
or the other. Upon surfacing, they would frantically locate her and scamper
back to her tail, and the process would begin anew. We watched this for
45 minutes, thoroughly entertained, until the babies grew weary and mama
took them to some rocks for a period of feather primping and a nap.
This alligator was photographed at Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve.
This cottonmouth snake was sunning on a branch above the flooded waters of Wateree Swamp in South Carolina. I was on a volunteer trail project for the Palmetto Trail constructing boardwalk on an old railroad trestle, and was shooting down at the snake from about 10 feet above it.
Another cottonmouth, this one coiled, and also taken from above on the trestle.
This stately gull is one of hundreds of sea gulls which inhabit Isle Royale on the Lake Superior shore.
More Wildlife Photos -- Page 2