Album Wildlife

Thanks for hint. The white/grey throat is hard to see on my picture.
 
The tom turkeys are in the midst of their spring fervor. Found a couple fighting right on the road a few miles from my parents' place yesterday evening. It took a bit of encouragement to get them out of the way.

RX105759-L.jpg
 
From a trip to northern Maine a few years back ... we were canoeing down the river and saw a buck on the shore, then he disappeared into the woods. A couple minutes later we saw him swimming across the river ... these are a couple shots as he approached shore and then posed for us. It was a pretty amazing experience.

buck_jumping.jpg buck_on_shore.jpg
 
A few years ago, I hiked up to Wilcox Pass, along the Banff/Jasper line. I saw a herd of bighorn sheep in the distance, so I headed towards a pond that seemed to be in their path. 20-30 feet from the pond, I sat and waited. Eventually, the herd arrived at the pond. They noticed me, but didn't seem to pay me much mind. They lingered in the area for maybe 20 minutes and then slowly moved on. Several of them passed within 10 feet of me as I sat on the ground. I felt a bit nervous, but it was an incredible experience.
IMG_1346.jpg
 
Last edited:
JDWalters said:
A few years ago, I hiked up to Wilcox Pass, along the Banff/Jasper line. I saw a herd of bighorn sheep in the distance, so I headed towards a pond that seemed to be in their path. 20-30 feet from the pond, I sat and waited. Eventually, the herd arrived at the pond. They noticed me, but didn't seem to pay me much mind. They lingered in the area for maybe 20 minutes and then slowly moved on. Several of them passed within 10 feet of me as I sat on the ground. I felt a bit nervous, but it was an incredible experience.
View attachment 63787
Click to expand...
Nice! Did you take any more shots?
I had a similar experience deep in the Dirty Devil wilderness. I was sitting in the mouth of my tent in a major windstorm with my dog Merlin drinking coffee in the morning when this huge ram of the desert bighorn subspecies sauntered right by a couple dozen feet away. Awesome experience for me and Merlin just like yours.
 
I went out to see Greater Prairie Chickens this last weekend. Not something you get to see everyday. This picture was taken about 20 miles SW of North Platte, Nebraska. It was raining and a little above freezing. We sat in a blind starting in the dark at about 5:30 a.m. until about 9:30 a.m. watching the birds. We were told that we would hear them before we saw them and it happened just that way. In this picture the bird is "booming" - which really sounds more like a 'Whoooo Whoooo' and really isn't all that loud. Sometimes they cluck which sounds the same as a regular chicken. Sometimes they run at each other and stamp their feet. Mostly the birds occupied a large area between 20 and 100 yards from the blind. It was a miserable day for humans but the birds didn't seem to be bothered by it. I put an excerpt from Wikipedia about Greater Prairie Chickens below.
41572863312_270e6daebc_o.jpg
"The greater prairie chicken was almost extinct in the 1930s due to hunting pressure and habitat loss. They now only live on small parcels of managed prairie land. It is thought that their current population is approximately 459,000 individuals. In May 2000, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed the greater prairie chicken as extirpated in its Canadian range (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario). It was again confirmed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada in November 2009. Nonetheless, sightings and encounters continue to occur in the south-central regions of Alberta and Saskatchewan, along with southern Ontario where sightings are extremely rare.

In states such as Iowa and Missouri that once had thriving prairie chicken populations (estimated to be hundreds of thousands), total numbers have dropped to about 500. However, the Missouri Department of Conservation has started a program to import prairie chickens from Kansas and Nebraska in the hopes that they will be able to repopulate the state and increase that number to 3,000.

Greater prairie chickens prefer undisturbed prairie and were originally found in tall grass prairies."
 
Curt said:
I went out to see Greater Prairie Chickens this last weekend. Not something you get to see everyday. This picture was taken about 20 miles SW of North Platte, Nebraska. It was raining and a little above freezing. We sat in a blind starting in the dark at about 5:30 a.m. until about 9:30 a.m. watching the birds. We were told that we would hear them before we saw them and it happened just that way. In this picture the bird is "booming" - which really sounds more like a 'Whoooo Whoooo' and really isn't all that loud. Sometimes they cluck which sounds the same as a regular chicken. Sometimes they run at each other and stamp their feet. Mostly the birds occupied a large area between 20 and 100 yards from the blind. It was a miserable day for humans but the birds didn't seem to be bothered by it. I put an excerpt from Wikipedia about Greater Prairie Chickens below.
View attachment 63853
"The greater prairie chicken was almost extinct in the 1930s due to hunting pressure and habitat loss. They now only live on small parcels of managed prairie land. It is thought that their current population is approximately 459,000 individuals. In May 2000, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed the greater prairie chicken as extirpated in its Canadian range (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario). It was again confirmed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada in November 2009. Nonetheless, sightings and encounters continue to occur in the south-central regions of Alberta and Saskatchewan, along with southern Ontario where sightings are extremely rare.

In states such as Iowa and Missouri that once had thriving prairie chicken populations (estimated to be hundreds of thousands), total numbers have dropped to about 500. However, the Missouri Department of Conservation has started a program to import prairie chickens from Kansas and Nebraska in the hopes that they will be able to repopulate the state and increase that number to 3,000.

Greater prairie chickens prefer undisturbed prairie and were originally found in tall grass prairies."
Click to expand...
Sweet! Thank you for this. These birds remind me much of our endangered sage grouse which gets much more press, at least in the mountain west. It is a great reminder that many animals are facing possible extinction due to human pressure in other parts of the country and not just in our backyard.

Thanks for the reminder and some help appreciating this wild bird.
 
Curt said:
I went out to see Greater Prairie Chickens this last weekend. Not something you get to see everyday. This picture was taken about 20 miles SW of North Platte, Nebraska. It was raining and a little above freezing. We sat in a blind starting in the dark at about 5:30 a.m. until about 9:30 a.m. watching the birds. We were told that we would hear them before we saw them and it happened just that way. In this picture the bird is "booming" - which really sounds more like a 'Whoooo Whoooo' and really isn't all that loud. Sometimes they cluck which sounds the same as a regular chicken. Sometimes they run at each other and stamp their feet. Mostly the birds occupied a large area between 20 and 100 yards from the blind. It was a miserable day for humans but the birds didn't seem to be bothered by it. I put an excerpt from Wikipedia about Greater Prairie Chickens below.
View attachment 63853
"The greater prairie chicken was almost extinct in the 1930s due to hunting pressure and habitat loss. They now only live on small parcels of managed prairie land. It is thought that their current population is approximately 459,000 individuals. In May 2000, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed the greater prairie chicken as extirpated in its Canadian range (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario). It was again confirmed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada in November 2009. Nonetheless, sightings and encounters continue to occur in the south-central regions of Alberta and Saskatchewan, along with southern Ontario where sightings are extremely rare.

In states such as Iowa and Missouri that once had thriving prairie chicken populations (estimated to be hundreds of thousands), total numbers have dropped to about 500. However, the Missouri Department of Conservation has started a program to import prairie chickens from Kansas and Nebraska in the hopes that they will be able to repopulate the state and increase that number to 3,000.

Greater prairie chickens prefer undisturbed prairie and were originally found in tall grass prairies."
Click to expand...

I have a friend who went to life as a vegetarian because she worked around the prairie chickens. Kinda put them on the bucket list to hopefully see one day.
 
Curt said:
I went out to see Greater Prairie Chickens this last weekend. Not something you get to see everyday. This picture was taken about 20 miles SW of North Platte, Nebraska. It was raining and a little above freezing. We sat in a blind starting in the dark at about 5:30 a.m. until about 9:30 a.m. watching the birds. We were told that we would hear them before we saw them and it happened just that way. In this picture the bird is "booming" - which really sounds more like a 'Whoooo Whoooo' and really isn't all that loud. Sometimes they cluck which sounds the same as a regular chicken. Sometimes they run at each other and stamp their feet. Mostly the birds occupied a large area between 20 and 100 yards from the blind. It was a miserable day for humans but the birds didn't seem to be bothered by it. I put an excerpt from Wikipedia about Greater Prairie Chickens below.
View attachment 63853
"The greater prairie chicken was almost extinct in the 1930s due to hunting pressure and habitat loss. They now only live on small parcels of managed prairie land. It is thought that their current population is approximately 459,000 individuals. In May 2000, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed the greater prairie chicken as extirpated in its Canadian range (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario). It was again confirmed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada in November 2009. Nonetheless, sightings and encounters continue to occur in the south-central regions of Alberta and Saskatchewan, along with southern Ontario where sightings are extremely rare.

In states such as Iowa and Missouri that once had thriving prairie chicken populations (estimated to be hundreds of thousands), total numbers have dropped to about 500. However, the Missouri Department of Conservation has started a program to import prairie chickens from Kansas and Nebraska in the hopes that they will be able to repopulate the state and increase that number to 3,000.

Greater prairie chickens prefer undisturbed prairie and were originally found in tall grass prairies."
Click to expand...


While turkey hunting in Nebraska the last few years I have been able to watch/listen to Prairie Chicken dance on their lek. It is definitely a neat sight and the sound they make during the mating ritual can be heard from well over a mile away. Cool pictures!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top