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Sunday, March 6, 2011

The animal planet

Yesterday morning, I rode my bike past the elk herd. It was about 30 degrees and overcast, yet the herd chose to lie on the snow under the shade of the trees. At this time of year, they start hiding from the sun's warmth and bathing in the snow regularly. It seems that they love cold weather and not these "warm" spring days.
Nearby, I spotted the mountains over a boulder outcropping. Notice that the elk were not hiding from an intense sun!
By late afternoon, they'd come out of hiding to graze. In the photo below, they grazed near a ranching corrale.
Some of the herd oozed over toward a frozen pond.
Overnight, the wildlife proved that they truly own this neck of the woods. A coyote trotted up our driveway in the evening.
Then, a bobcat arrived on the scene in the wee hours of the morning.
He headed toward a stump that I've seen him mark in the past.
He sniffed it.
Then, notice the tail up in the air and the stream of liquid cascading down the stump. Yup, we caught him in the act!
Shortly later, he marched up our driveway, heading to his next appointment.
Finally, the courageous rabbit mugged for the camera shortly before daybreak. With the parade of carnivores in our clearing, I'm amazed that this cute little guy has survived for so long!
Without my wildlife cameras, I wouldn't have had any idea that our clearing had so much animal activity under the cloak of darkness last night. The motion-activated cameras give me a glimpse of the nocturnal world.

K and R informed me that I wasn't allowed to post without including photos of them. K made a funny face, just for you!
R galloped like the wind through a stand of towering Ponderosa Pine trees on a plateau overlooking the elk herd that I was busy photographing.
Enjoy the remainder of your weekend!

18 comments:

  1. such beauty in the forest! great shot of the cat marking!
    thanks for the tongue K!
    xoxo

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  2. We love the wildlife cameras! We also love your pictures very much!! Lots of love, Holly and mom

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  3. It seems that a poor bobcat can't even have his privacy in the bathroom......

    Wonderful photos.

    Mogley G. Retriever

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  4. Looks like your driveway has become the superhighway of wildlife.

    And of course, K and R are so right, how could we ever do with a post with no pics of them:)

    Hope the week ahead is a good one for all.

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  5. We agree with the OP's. What do you have at the top of your driveway? is it a paw-through?

    Amazing wildlife photos!

    Hi to the silly Duo!! No wonder they are leashed before they go out the front door!!

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  6. The weekend went by too darned fast! K, it's good to see your silly side once in a while!

    With all the wildlife that you have around there, it's funny that so many of them decide to go right up your driveway! You'd think they'd have their own major thoroughfare!

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  7. I wanted to let you know how much I love your Blog! I don't have a Blog of my own, but I do enjoy reading other people's Blogs - yours is one of my favorite! Your pics are stunning, and give me such a sense of peace when I look at them at the end of my day!

    Thank you so very much for sharing your life with us!

    Patty

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  8. That's a lot of night time traffic!
    Of course fantastic K & R photos!

    Sweet hugs,
    Sierra Rose

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  9. What wonderful pictures! Looks like you had a great time romping!

    Wags!

    Mr. Nubbin'

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  10. I used to work for a fellow whose highlight of the year was to go west to Montana or CO, and hunt an elk or mule deer. He said they were wonderful eating, (like prime beef was his phrase) and while I never thought much about it then, I am curious if you have an elk hunting season, if meat eaters you know go after them, or the opinion of "out of towners" who come shooting?

    Great pix!

    Jo and Stella

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  11. I love watching this animal planet SO much!

    A member of SiberNet ListServ lost her Sibe to a coyote this week - Maya survived the initial attack but passed away a few days later -

    I think they live in TN - her family is quite devastated right now but when the time feels right for them, her place in their pack will be taken by a RESCUE Sibe!

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  12. Seems like your wildlife cameras are in the hot spot! Great captures:)

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  13. You just make our day when we log on and see all the wildlife that you are able to capture with your special cameras. And share with us.
    Such beautiful animals,.
    And of course beautiful K and R.
    love
    tweedles

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  14. Great pics KB. That's interesting that the elk would lay in the snow with the temperature that cold. Just shows how well insulated they are.

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  15. OOOH so many wild animals just outside your house! K should totally enter that tongue picture of his in the tongue-tastic contest. I think it's a good picture for the contest!

    P/S: No photoshop-ing was done to any of my tongue-tastic pics! HEE

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  16. You have the most fascinating critters around your place. I'm very intrigued by the elk, especially. Until I started reading your blog, I had no idea they congregated in such large herds. I'm looking forward to learning whether they stay in those herds all year long.

    It seems I always have a million questions for you. I'm curious about the ranching pen. Do ranchers graze cattle there in the summer? Is it BLM land? If so, I would imagine that there are some restrictions on the amount of cattle that can graze, and for how long?

    You give me such intriguing glimpses into a world I have read about, but never seen in such glorious detail.

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  17. The activity your wildlife cameras capture always amazes me. I'm sorry our videos didn't work for you. I can't figure that one out, but have to remember it's an issue. If you're having problems with them, I'm guessing other people are too. Hope you all have a good week, free of pepper spray and/or bear repellant. :)

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  18. Envious once again of your rich wildlife encounters. But I laughed out loud when I read the dogs would not allow you to post a blog entry without including them!

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