Three days ago I spent the morning in a fairly remote area of Box Elder County. Today I thought I’d try to give my readers a feeling for what my morning was like by including a sampling of critters and landscapes I experienced.
None of the following photos will win any awards but collectively they’re a fairly accurate representation of one of the more pleasant mornings I’ve had in the field recently.
This mama Mule Deer and her twins didn’t appreciate my presence, so the moment I stopped my pickup they vamoosed.
These three does just to the south of them were only slightly more tolerant of me. They didn’t run off but they were nervous and highly alert. I saw quite a few deer that morning but none of them were bucks.
I was happy to see that there were still a few Turkey Vultures around. It won’t be long until they’ll be gone for the winter.
I found this vulture on a natural perch. I believe that’s a deer fly hovering just to the right of the bird.
This cottontail may represent part of the reason vultures haven’t left yet. I saw a bunch of cottontails and a few jackrabbits that morning and twice I encountered vultures feeding on rabbit roadkill.
This cottontail was so intent on chomping on the leaf in its mouth it forgot to run off and hide as I approached.
This is a very small part of several loosely associated flocks of 150-200 Chukars that I believe were feeding on insects on the gravel road. I spent nearly 15 minutes driving very slowly toward these Chukars and others in hopes of encouraging them to move off the road so they’d be in better light and in natural habitat but they simply refused. They just kept walking along the road until they eventually flew far away up the mountainside. I hated to make them fly but I couldn’t just sit there all day.
I think I now know what it must feel like to attempt to herd cats.
An immature Red-tailed Hawk in harsh light. I didn’t know it had prey in its talons until I looked at my photos at home.
A silly-looking young male Ring-necked Pheasant with a red bullseye around his eye. This guy was running fast across the road so I was very pleased to get him sharp.
Rabbitbrush is finally beginning to bloom.
But the rabbitbrush doesn’t hold a candle to the blooming sunflowers that are putting on a show right now.
This is part of the fire scar of last week’s Willow Springs wildfire. I was anxious to see where this fire had been because I’m so very familiar with, and fond of, the area. The south end of the scar, which is perhaps a quarter mile behind me, came within about 75′ of the barbed wire fence I had to cut in order to extract Galileo from the wire.
The far away clump of trees at left center is where the rancher lives that apparently owns the wire I cut. He’s the one that was incredulous that I cut the wire – saying something like ” You cut the fence for an owl? We run into those owls with our vehicles all the time”.
The fire scar was a bit of a shock but it’ll recover and it wasn’t enough to ruin the rest of my morning – which was wonderful.
Ron
Thank you for taking us along with you to Box Elder County. It was a lovely way to start my morning.
Good. Thanks, Pat.
WOW! What great shots, ah, I know maybe not in your mind, but for an Easterner they are great! Love the sunflowers and deer, actually love em all!
Thanks, Richard.
Boy Howdy! I get mad again every time you mention that rancher. So callous about life. My favorites were the three does eyeballing you and the young pheasant. He has a long way to go to get to that “what a handsome fella!
Thanks, Arwen. Then I’m glad I included the photo of the three does. I waffled on that one for a while.
That’s quite a variety! These early fall mornings are so enjoyable to get out and view all that’s happening – seems like the “critters” also enjoy fall and are out more. Nice to have the hot days behind us for another few months. Thanks for sharing these.
Thanks, Quentin. After the summer we’ve had, I’m more than ready for fall.
That looks like an EXCELLENT morning.a Minus the fire scar. Many of ours are caused by humans (accidentally or deliberately) and they hurt my head and my heart. I can still see one from our front veranda. Hundreds and hundreds of our wildlife was lost.
This one was human caused too, EC. As has become ‘their’ habit lately, they haven’t announced the specifics. And I don’t expect them to.
Wow, family mystery solved! My grandfather (born 1880, died 1972) swore that he once saw a Greater Roadrunner in Southwest Iowa. Now that I see your young male Ring-necked Pheasant, I would swear that’s what he saw instead. Everyone always questioned it, but what could it be? Now I think I see… Thanks, Ron!
Always happy to contribute to solving a mystery, Ellen!
Interesting post Ron. Being farther south than you our Rabbittbrush and Sunflowers have been in full bloom for quite awhile. Only a bunny, but that is an excellent very sharp photo.
Thanks, Everett. “Only a bunny” but our rabbits are usually very shy and hard to get decent photos of, so I was happy to get that one.
GREAT morning and glad you shared some of the surrounding territory! Those immature rooster pheasants sure are “butt ugly” while making the transition! 😉 “herding cats” – whata giggle! 🙂 Glad you got them off the road anyway. Bet that fire gave the farmer something to worry about besides cut fence……… 😉 The doe muley with twins sure needs to fatten up before winter..
Rain and wind last night and today – we’ll take it! Must have been more upstream as barely running Belt “Crick” has come up quite a bit.
“Bet that fire gave the farmer something to worry about besides cut fence.”
Judy, that fire was human caused, which makes me wonder if he accidentally started it. As you know, farming/ranching activities can easily cause fires sometimes.
Yep – water trucks are common companions to harvesting equipment in this area!
Years ago, the old Cockshutt combine we sold to a neighboring farmer started a field fire. Very scary.
‘I think I now know what it must feel like to attempt to herd cats.’ Hilarious!!! Nice surprise to find prey in the Red Tail’s talons! What a lovely morning.
Kathleen, “herding cats” is exactly what was going through my mind for much of the 15 minutes I was with all those Chukars.
What a terrific photo story of your morning. Thanks for sharing! For me, getting to see the Red-Tail and the glorious sunflower field in the same post is extra satisfying!! Really appreciate you Ron and all you share with us!
Thanks very much, Mark.
A wonderful morning indeed! Really enjoyed all the photos. That first Turkey Vulture photo is a great pose.
Hope you post more shots of the land and tell us about surroundings in the future. I think it helps complete and frame the bird and other animal photos you post. Besides, I don’t know if I will ever get up that way to see it for myself, and it certainly looks like something to see.
“Hope you post more shots of the land and tell us about surroundings in the future.”
Good idea, Michael. I’ll try to remember to do so.
What a GRAND morning you had ! Were the chukars finding ants
on the road? I was trying to think of any other insects likely to be
plentiful there–enough to keep the silly birds in front of a truck.
And do juvenile ring-necked pheasants usually have a red bulls
eye marking around their eyes ? The sunflower fields looked
glorious–in the last 24 hours, the stands of rabbit brush down here
have developed a similar golden showtime—ahhhhhh–autumn !
“Were the chukars finding ants on the road?”
I don’t know what they were, Kris. I never stopped to check. I was too busy “herding cats”.
At this time of year juvenile male pheasants start to develop that red skin on their face, the red skin that becomes so prominent in adult males. But it doesn’t often look this much like a bullseye.