Album Wildlife

I'm in love with these river otters in Yellowstone :heart_eyes:
I can't tell how often I stopped for them

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I'm in love with these river otters in Yellowstone :heart_eyes:
I can't tell how often I stopped for them

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How long was your lens for these? The KY otters are very shy and usually don't linger for photos like this.
Yellowstone in the winter must be magic, some day I'll see it.
 
Poor quality pic, I know, but there were 40-50 turkeys in the backyard today. I tried to get closer/sneak up on them but they caught me army crawling across the yard and started to move away.

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How long was your lens for these? The KY otters are very shy and usually don't linger for photos like this.
Yellowstone in the winter must be magic, some day I'll see it.
I only had a 350mm lens
But I saw the otters a bit earlier and walked to the river bench. This was close to the confluence with Soda Butte Creek and you look down to the river from the road. I just sat in the snow for about 15 minutes, really quiet and not moving, and then they just popped up just below me. They were about 30 feet away.
And I totally agree, they are super shy. As soon as others came and talked and moved around, they were gone.

I'm a wildlife repellant and move and walk too loud. Everything runs and hides when I come. The only chance to see any wildlife is to quietly sit down for a while and not move at all. It worked pretty well on this trip to Yellowstone.

If you ever get the chance to go to Yellowstone in the wintertime, just do it. I will be back next Christmas and again over the summer, escaping the heat of Southern Utah
 
Y'all have bison, moose and otters with snow and ice, and around here the snakes are out. That's not fair at all!:(

Stole these from an acquantance who builds mtb trails.
Rattler on NYE, and the worm sna...I mean, ALaconda, is from yesterday.
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Y'all have bison, moose and otters with snow and ice, and around here the snakes are out. That's not fair at all!:(

Stole these from an acquantance who builds mtb trails.
Rattler on NYE, and the worm sna...I mean, ALaconda, is from yesterday.
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Where was the rattlesnake? I like hiking in the winter because the snakes are supposed to be sleeping :)
 
Rome, GA. Don't know about the other one. We've got a warm spell going on. Should be over 20F cooler this time next week. It's 71 at my house right now!
 
Rome, GA. Don't know about the other one. We've got a warm spell going on. Should be over 20F cooler this time next week. It's 71 at my house right now!
It has been crazy warm in KY also, but a front is blowing through today and should be a lot cooler tomorrow.
 
I have quite a few pictures of turkeys (there are lots around here, and I like them) but the above picture reminded me of one of the more memorable ones I've taken. Found this turkey sitting on a nest made in deep leaves in a small ravine in the river bluffs many years ago. It surprised me when I realized the hillside had eyes staring at me.

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Edited to add: The turkey spooked (as they usually do when you get close to a nest) so I quickly ran over and took a picture of the eggs before leaving the area to let the turkey settle back in.

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The annual migration of 3/4 million Sandhill Cranes to the Platte River in Central Nebraska is underway. They stay for about 6 weeks fattening up on their way to their summer home in the arctic. They congregate along about a hundred mile stretch of the River between Grand Island and Kearney. It's an impressive sight. This year I decided to rent a spot in a blind for an opportunity to see them up closer. They generally will not tolerate your presence closer than about 100 yards. My blind reservation coincided with a snow storm which dropped about 6 inches locally over about 12 hours. It made getting there a little more challenging.

This photo was taken in the evening during a period of heavier snowfall from the viewing area by the Gibbon bridge. The dark mass in the water beginning near the center of the picture and extending to the right edge are Sandhill Cranes standing on a submerged sand bar in the Platte River. The birds spend the daylight hours feeding on fallen corn in nearby fields and then come to the river in the evening to stand in the water overnight. Experts believe this is a defensive strategy against predators.
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This was taken from the blind about 1/2 hour before sunrise.
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I had hoped that we would be closer to the birds in the blind. It turned out to be about 30 yards to the closest ones. But that was way closer than I've ever been before. The following photos have been cropped a lot but all in all I'm happy with how they turned out.
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This was taken after the birds left the River for breakfast. Just thought it was a pretty view with the snow.
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