A second pic for you on this Moose Monday. This guy clearly did not have the best rut. It appeared he had a pretty significant injury to his right eye when I spotted him yesterday. Adding insult to injury, he had lost his antlers while many of his competitors were still hanging on to theirs. I am sure he will be fine in the end but it doesn’t look like he is having a lot of fun right now.
Curious young moose perks up for its portrait
I headed to the Colorado high country yesterday in hopes of photographing some moose in the snow. It was somewhat successful yielding a total of ten spotted, four bulls and three sets of cows and calves. Most were, unfortunately, not particularly cooperative for pictures but this one was kind enough to give me some nice shots.
While it and its mom were right near the road, they were on the opposite side of a thick stand of willows and I likely wouldn’t have spotted them if mom hadn’t craned her neck up to grab some grub from the top. She soon laid down but her offspring wasn’t ready for nap time and posed quite nicely. Soon it will be celebrating its first birthday and already it is almost as tall as I am.
Big bull moose blends in despite the devastation
This past summer in Arapaho National Forest, the scenes were far different than in year’s past. October 2020 saw a devastating wildfire burn through portions of it, leaving bare trees in its wake. One benefit the following summer was that the moose in the area were much easier to spot. Notice I said “easier”, not “easy.” This is a good example showing how even in that relatively barren landscape, these massive creatures blend in and can hide quite well. I knew the big boys were in this area and I was hiking up the road, focused on finding them and nearly walked right by. If the bull in the center of the image hadn’t picked up his head from grazing, I likely would have missed him. In fact, you may not have noticed, but there are actually two moose bulls in this image.
Monster moose bull on the move
We’ll just stay way back here and give this guy lots of room! That is what I and another photographer were saying to each other as this big boy moved through the willows this past August.
With the sun up and temperatures rising, the bull was done grazing in the open for the day and ready to head off to the cool shade of the forest. As the handsome fellow headed off, he gave us some really nice captures, including this one as he glanced our way for a split second.
Moose are the largest member of the deer family although the sub-species we have here in Colorado, the Shiras moose, are the smallest of moose sub-species. That however does not mean they are truly small. They can stand six feet tall at the shoulder and weigh up to 1,200 pounds!
Mama moose shows her little one the good stuff
I haven’t done #MooseMonday in a while so here is one back from the first of August in Rocky Mountain National Park.
This was actually my first trip into the park since the East Troublesome Fire burned through. The scenery was a bit jolting and sad, however, Mother Nature adapts and so too had these moose. While some foliage was burned and their options limited, this cow and her calf were eating just fine.
It was interesting to notice the cow grabbing the leafier plants and not really eating the grass; I reckon the leafy stuff provides more sustenance. Her calf was keenly aware of what she was doing and taking note and following suit.
Lounging bull moose gets his closeup
I guess we could call this a #ThrowbackThursday image since it was taken a few months ago. 😉
This handsome fellow was one of five bulls that hung out within a quarter mile of our camp for all of the week we were in Arapaho National Forest. It was a ton of fun to be able to readily see and photograph them and they were always ready and willing to be my photo subject.
On this particular morning, the boys were being pretty lazy with most of them lying down and relaxing. Best of all, they were easily within walking distance of our RV. I took my morning coffee and my camera, pulled up a nearby stump, and sat in the forest with them, enjoying the quiet and the companionship.
Bull moose head on into the morning light
Well, the Great Facebook Outage nearly put a kibosh on Moose Monday but it came back up in the nick of time. ?
Here we have a handsome bull moose as it relocates to a different grazing area in the Colorado high country. Three bulls gave me a nice show on this morning back at the end of August. Two were pretty impressive, including this fellow.
Hope your workweek started out well despite the lack of FB!
The eyes have it
Taken on an evening hike in one of my favorite moose hot spots late last month. Three good-sized bulls were lazily grazing on willows, enjoying a mild late-summer evening. They stuck largely to the thickest part of the foliage, preventing a clear shot of their entire body.
However, that also provided some opportunities for some different types of captures like this one. Taking a brief break from munching, the handsome fellow cast a glance right at me, making eye contact for just an instant and giving me this shot.
Moose bull at its high-altitude home
A bonus pic for #MooseMonday showing one of the handsome fellows I spent this weekend with in his home domain. At 10,300 feet, this spot is just below timberline and affords some amazing views of the wildlife and those dominating Rocky Mountains. There was a hint of smoke in the atmosphere on this morning aiding in casting everything in a golden glow.
Moose bull emerges from the shadows
Another weekend spent camping in the Colorado high country is in the books. Once again, moose were the primary focus of my lenses. Each evening and morning was spent watching the big boys as they lazily grazed just below timberline.
For the time being, they are playing nice and getting along but very soon that will change. Within a week or so, the velvet on their antlers will start to come off and soon after that, the testosterone will rage and the rut will be on.
This good-looking guy was initially intent on staying in the shadows making it difficult to get a nice shot of him. Finally, as the sun rose above the horizon, he decided it was time to move on to the cooler environs of the forest and stepped out into the light.