When I’m out in nature I think of myself as a ‘watcher’ as I try to take in all the small details of my environment (remember Tyler, the biologist in Never Cry Wolf?). But sometimes the watcher becomes the watched. (4 photos)
A potpourri of sorts on this Saturday morning. Each of the following photos was taken in the last couple of weeks and all but one were taken in the Wasatch Mountains.
If I ever have to replace the stop and waste valve on my sprinkler system again I’d like to hire this guy for the digging part of it. I’d pay him top wages too.
Yesterday I was very lucky to find these pups with their mother outside their burrow because youngsters are weaned at 22 days of age and their mother almost completely abandons them after weaning. Then they’re on their own so they disperse to establish their own territories. And try to survive.
Yesterday morning I wanted a change in venue so I headed for the Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City. This cute little Uinta Ground Squirrel entertained me for about 15 minutes with its behaviors and antics.
An American Badger here in Utah buried an entire cow carcass and they have it on “video” – (really time lapse photography, speeded up). It’s only a calf but it’s still hugely impressive and the behavior was previously unknown.
Birds are always my focus but I enjoy photographing critters of all types. Early this month I spent a week camping near the Continental Divide between Montana and Idaho and during that time I was able to photograph a variety of mammals, large and small.
Whenever I visit the northwest Montana farm where I grew up I feel like I’m returning home. It’s been 50 years since I actually lived there but I don’t think that feeling will ever leave me.
Today’s post is a change of pace for me involving Rock Squirrels, my own ignorance and my evolution as a nature photographer.
In much of their western habitat ground squirrels are a vital link in the food chain. Carnivores love them but ranchers and farmers have a decidedly different view.
