21 posts tagged “wildlife”
and less wild:
An evening hike, and a second encounter with a flock of wild turkeys.
They really are remarkably ugly birds.
Although it snowed just about a week ago, Saturday managed to be an incredibly beautiful day. At about 70F/20C it was far too spectacular to spend indoors, so I took myself off for a hike. The best fall colour has passed, but there are still plenty of stands of colourful scrub oak, mountain mahogany, and sumac.
The prairie dog town I took photos of in the summer has expanded nicely over the season, although the occupants are just as photo-shy as ever.
A highlight of the day though, was watching a flock of wild turkeys parade from the prairie to a stand of scrub oak. The group was well past the limit of the camera's lens, but it is such a special sight, I wanted to post the pictures anyway.
To round out the wonder of the day, I came across this gorgeous fellow soaking up the warmth from the sand in this dry creek bed...I am either remarkably unthreatening, or the bed was far too comfortable for him to give up, as he barely twitched while I flitted about, taking photos. He is in beautiful condition, which made me very happy to see.
A slightly misleading title, as these are cottontails, not jackrabbits, but I liked the name too much to give it up. These two visitors to my yard were not tremendously wary of me, which perhaps explains why one is missing an ear...not quite smart enough to be scared I guess.
Some miscellaneous pictures from here and there as summer has turned to autumn. There is still some quite lovely colour, although I think it will not last long now.
A bit of drama too, sometimes:
A deer or two, so you know it's me:
Some milkweed glowing in the afternoon sun:
And last, but not least, a dinosaur to foreshadow Halloween:
Driving in from the eastern plains late this afternoon, I spotted a herd of pronghorns near the road.
They were extremely shy, spooking away from the truck as I pulled to the side of the road.
I would have liked to have gotten closer for better pictures, but had to be (and was, actually) content with being able to watch them for a while.
**When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. John Muir
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