Check out this cute one and those ears! This mule deer fawn and its twin were hanging out with mom at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge yesterday. While mom and its sibling ignored me, this one was all eyes and ears for me. The young ones were quite small so probably no more than a couple of weeks old.
Mule deer buck grazes under the golden sunrise
Sometimes the simplest of scenes can be quite beautiful. As the sun was cresting the horizon a warm summer’s day recently, this buck lazily ate his way across the plains. While I certainly snapped some pics, I made sure to set the camera down and take the time to just soak in what my eyes were seeing.
Bald eagle struggles to get a grip
You would think turning around on a perch would be a simple thing for a bald eagle and indeed, normally it is. This one however seemed to be having a bit of a hard time with it when I was observing it this past Valentine’s Day.
The overcast skies weren’t particularly ideal but they did provide some nice, even lighting allowing a good deal of detail to be shown of this majestic – if a bit clumsy – creature.
“Can someone please get that wind to stop!”
This mountain goat nanny seemed less than thrilled about the blustery winds atop its 14,000+ foot high home.
The last vestiges of its winter coat were holding on tightly and billowing in the wind behind it. Of course wind at that altitude is pretty much a given with few breaks and daytime temperatures consistently chilly if not cold, even in July.
Not long after I was on Mount Evans getting this picture, word came from Colorado Parks & Wildlife that they were having issues with people and the mountain goats. Bad human behavior including feeding the goats, getting way too close to the animals, trampling the alpine tundra, etc have all been witnessed lately. It is a shame and folks need to respect the creatures and the landscape up there!
Burrowing owls can indeed look mean
Normally a picture of these little guys will solicit a comment along the lines of, “Aww. They are so cute!” Well, that isn’t always the case.
This hard-working dad had spent the better part of the morning providing for his family. On the menu were a variety of bugs and a vole. After sharing the bounty and partaking in breakfast, he flew up and perched on a sign right in front of me.
His face wore the remnants of his meal and indeed, he looked pretty darned serious. Of course having to work so hard to feed seven little owlet mouths might have made him a bit grumpy too. 😉
Dragonfly hanging out at camp
Sitting around the campsite one evening recently, my wife and I were watching this good-sized dragonfly circle around. It proceeded to land on a nearby tree and stayed put for quite a while. This gave me the opportunity to grab my camera and take a bunch of pics of the cool, multi-colored insect.
I’m not really a ‘bug person’ but did find this one way cool! I’m not sure, but doing some searching I think it is a female blue-eyed darner. If anyone knows any different or can confirm, I’d certainly welcome the input.
A fresh little moose calf for Moose Monday
My first moose of the season from this past Saturday. Check out this cutie!
I fully expected to see plenty of these high country residents in Arapaho National Forest this past weekend and indeed I did. Mama and her little one were by far the highlight, even if they didn’t give me any particularly great poses.
They were in a pretty busy area with lots of campers and mom wasn’t too keen to linger with all those pesky humans around. Soon after I spotted her, some other two-legged folks did as well and that was enough to prompt her little one to follow and head off deep into the forest.
American pika soaks in the morning sun
After a couple of hours on Mount Evans recently, it looked like the pika weren’t going to play. I looked and listened but was having no luck spotting these tiny, high altitude creatures.
As I was driving down, I had my window rolled down and heard the unmistakable ‘bark’ of one. Coming to a stop on the side of the road, I got out and walked toward where I thought I heard the noise.
Not seeing anything, I simply sat down and waited. Sure enough, after a bit this little one emerged from its hiding place and gave me a few, quick pictures.
Fox Friday fun with food
I spent many evenings this spring with a fantastic fox family not far from where I live. I took thousands of pictures of them and spent countless hours just watching and smiling.
Flipping through them, I found a number of images with the kits sampling or playing with the meals that the parents brought back to the den. Typical fare ranged from squirrel and rabbit to some sort of feathered creature, perhaps a goose.
Being juveniles though, the kits didn’t always eat and oftentimes just wanted to play with their food. Here are few of the fun shots I got of them with their dinners.
Beautiful blue-eyed fawn
Oh my! Look at this cutie!
I happened across this white-tailed deer fawn and its mom late last week.
While mom didn’t really pay me much attention, the little one was much more shy and wisely kept its distance. It did give me some nice poses including this one. The early morning sun really lit up its eye showing the color in it.
Taken at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge near Denver, Colorado.