Album Wildlife

[tennistime99]

Black bear in Wells Gray Provincial Park. British Columbia, Canada.

 

[Absarokanaut]

you people are incredibly talented. A few mostly frontcountry shots from this pointandshootaramus over the last few months. Black Bears were on Beulah Lake Trail. Moose fight was pretty cool, wish I'd had one of you along.

 

[KevinBoyer]

Yellowstone

 

[Scott Chandler]

Another piece of amazing wildlife at Dead Horse Point. We had something marauding out visitor center at night so we set a trap. I was not expecting what I found the next morning.

A RINGTAIL - Bassariscus astutus



The poor thing, it was so determined to get out that it hurt itself. The darned thing was absolutely adorable, very well behaved and not aggressive aside from some little huffs. To watch it creep out of the trap and scamper to some rocks at our park boundary was one of the most amazing things I've ever been a part of. I hope its nosy heals well and that Reeses cup it got doesn't mess it up too much.

 

[Artemus]

Black bear in Wells Gray Provincial Park. British Columbia, Canada.

Good one, love the pose.

 

[Artemus]

Another piece of amazing wildlife at Dead Horse Point. We had something marauding out visitor center at night so we set a trap. I was not expecting what I found the next morning.

A RINGTAIL - Bassariscus astutus

View attachment 61466

The poor thing, it was so determined to get out that it hurt itself. The darned thing was absolutely adorable, very well behaved and not aggressive aside from some little huffs. To watch it creep out of the trap and scamper to some rocks at our park boundary was one of the most amazing things I've ever been a part of. I hope its nosy heals well and that Reeses cup it got doesn't mess it up too much.

View attachment 61467 View attachment 61468 View attachment 61469

Nice pics and story. Where did you relocate it to? I remember a couple of times having one in our camp at night in the trees around our heads and campfire in the Dragoon Mountains in S. Az. Not sure I've heard of these in Utah before.

 

[Scott Chandler]

Nice pics and story. Where did you relocate it to? I remember a couple of times having one in our camp at night in the trees around our heads and campfire in the Dragoon Mountains in S. Az. Not sure I've heard of these in Utah before.

I had seen social media bits on them at Zion and apparently the frequent campgrounds around St George but yeah I had never heard of them out this way. My boss said she had seen one in Hanksville and a roadkill one at the park actually.

I took it up to the far northern reaches of the park (up towards Long Canyon but not quite there.) My hope is that it has a nice spot away from people up there for a while.

 

[Scott Chandler]

Some velvet mites

 

[Artemus]

Some velvet mites

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Wow! What do you know about 'em? Size? Prey?

 

[Scott Chandler]

I know this LOL

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/red_velvet_mite

 

[Scott Chandler]

It is actually fairly fascinating... when I look them up I do not find things saying they live in southern Utah....

Questioning my ID

 

[Scott Chandler]

Not sure if they are "Velvet Mites" but they are certainly mites of some sort. Velvet Mites are predatory actually eating insects/eggs smaller than themselves. Other mites eat plant matter, dead skin, yucky stuff. We are talking millimeter long. Tiny.

 

[Artemus]

I know this LOL

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/red_velvet_mite

Ha. Good one!

 

[Dave]

@Scott Chandler That ringtail experience sounds awesome. Very cool critter.

A few herons from Farmington Bay... it's been a blah year for birds out there so far.

 

[Scott Chandler]

@Scott Chandler That ringtail experience sounds awesome. Very cool critter.

The story continued. After a week we found our snack section ravaged again. Ringtail tracks adorned the counters. Caught, we found a semi healed wound on the nose imposed my the trap. Our ringtail was back. Sure traveled a ways for such a little fellow.

 

[Artemus]

Sure traveled a ways for such a little fellow.

How far do you figure? I wouldn't think that the little bugger without wings would have that great a homing instinct. Did you let him look out the window while you relocated him the first time?

 

[Scott Chandler]

Five miles? Really not THAT FAR but like you said, how far does the homing instinct reach? I'm not sure if I could make it to a brand new home if after a day solidly in a new house I were blindfolded, taken away and then let loose to find where I was.

It's quite a bit further away now with a few canyons in the way. Really not sure what the answer will be if it comes back again...

We should probably find where it is getting in.

 

[chandlerwest]

Five miles? Really not THAT FAR but like you said, how far does the homing instinct reach? I'm not sure if I could make it to a brand new home if after a day solidly in a new house I were blindfolded, taken away and then let loose to find where I was.

It's quite a bit further away now with a few canyons in the way. Really not sure what the answer will be if it comes back again...

We should probably find where it is getting in.

I vote for taking it to the east shore of the Colorado River. Then when it finds it way back up to you to publish a article on it.

 

[Wanderlust073]

 

[b.stark]

Another one from the archives, in early 2013. In 2011 the Missouri River flooded in a spectacular way. One of the side effects was that it formed a huge sandbar near some public land. The sandbar was large enough that large flocks of waterfowl overwintered there for a few years (the sandbar has since been basically washed away). The huge flocks of waterfowl attracted a lot of eagles, and there are still many nests in the area, and I think this big flock helped jump start the eagle population here. There were a few eagles before, but only a very few. Now, off the top of my head, I know of five nests, and I've found two new ones (to me at least) in the past few months.

The sound of such a large flock taking off is something completely unique.

Not my best image ever, but it was very neat to watch these birds while they were around. It was surprisingly hard to get close to them.