Indomitable. On 9/11, today and forever. God bless the USA.
Indomitable
The chase!
Sensing danger, the salmon take off as fast as they can – with a 750 pound brown bear in pursuit.
A fun capture that shows the action you see when photographing these massive creatures as they work to fatten themselves up for the winter. This particular bear had three cubs-of-the-year and would stash them in the brush while she came out to fish.
Let me tell you, she was an absolute fishing machine. A half dozen times she fished, each time she was successful on the first attempt. Truly impressive and by far the most efficient of all the bears we saw in Katmai National Park & Preserve.
Her cubs were too young to eat the fish themselves but she of course needed the nourishment to keep herself healthy and making milk for the little ones.
Bull moose gets his closeup as he loses his velvet
It seems the pictures of a moose losing its velvet elicit one of two responses: “cool” or “gross”. Which camp are you in? 😉
This is the same big guy that I shared a pic of this morning, albeit a bit more zoomed in. After having a slow moose season so far, this guy helped to make up for it by allowing me to observe it for more than an hour.
As I said with this morning’s post, I have a big lens and kept a respectful distance. If you get a shot like this with your cell phone, you are WAY too close!
Bull moose head on working off the last of its velvet
Quite an intimidating view of this big boy, eh?
With the bloody remnants of its velvet hanging from its antlers, this moose bull definitely gets your attention. I was of course taking pictures with a very big lens from a safe distance when I saw him yesterday morning in the Indian Peaks Wilderness area.
I haven’t had much luck getting pics of these favorites this year but this guy helped to redeem things a bit. I spent more than an hour watching him as he grazed on the willows just after the sunrise at 10,000 feet.
Getting the velvet off its antlers is the prelude to the annual rut which is just about ready to start. It may look uncomfortable but it is a natural process and one that doesn’t hurt the moose.
Experts say it is more of an irritant than anything to the big guys, even if it looks gross. I think it looks really cool and is perfect for #MooseMonday. 😉
Mule deer fawn pauses in the forest
Back in town after a fantastic weekend in the Colorado high country.
I didn’t take too many pics but did find a few worthy photo subjects. Among them, this good looking young deer I happened across on my hike yesterday morning.
It, its mom and its twin were enjoying the cool weather with a definite chill to it. Its spots are just about all gone as it grows up and gets ready to weather its first winter.
Triple eagles at dawn for Freedom Friday
A fun couple of images from back in February. Nearly two dozen bald eagles had descended on a suburban pond not far from my house, taking advantage of the thawing ice and plentiful fishing.
This happens in this spot every few years and only lasts for a couple of days. Needless to say, it is a ton of fun and yields bunches of photos.
Here, an adult eagle joins two others, one of which was making quite a racket about the new roost member.
With the change of seasons, I am looking forward to seeing many more of my favorite photo subjects in the coming months. Have a great weekend, everyone!
American pika gathers a mouthful as winter approaches
The change of seasons is fast approaching and at high altitude, it will be here very, very soon. These little guys know their summer is short and spend most of their time gathering for the colder weather.
I was photographing the sunrise when I heard the unmistakable ‘bark’ of a pika behind me. Once the sun fully came up, I stood and watched and soon spotted this little one dashing out to some foliage, gathering it, and running back to its home in the talus.
I took a seat on a rock nearby and spent an hour or so photographing and watching it go about its routine.
Pika are small creatures but a fitting one to share for National Wildlife Day as a reminder of the wide variety of wildlife that we share this world with and need to always be mindful of.
Prairie falcon takes flight against the blue, Colorado skies
After a busy weekend and a crazy Tuesday, I am a bit late posting an image for the day so I was randomly clicking through images and came across this one I hadn’t shared.
Taken back on St Patrick’s Day, this cool – but ferocious – little raptor was staking out a field near Brighton Colorado.
As is typical for prairie falcons, it wasn’t too inclined to pose but did give me a few nice shots before heading off to hunt without the prying eyes of a photographer nearby.
Billy shows off in the Colorado high country
What a poser! This handsome fellow looked fantastic yesterday at 14,000 feet and is very worthy my pic for #MountainGoatMonday.
The road to the top of Mount Evans will be closed after today so I knew if I wanted to see the mountain goats before next spring, it had to be now. My destination was set and I was greeted with some pretty nice weather given the altitude. At 40 degrees it was chilly but the wind was actually not that bad, a rarity up there.
Not truly goats, these handsome creatures are found from Alaska down to the Rocky Mountains of the United States. Found at high altitudes, they are sure-footed climbers and built to withstand the alpine areas that they typically inhabit.
Mountain goats are actually not native to the Centennial State. They were brought here over six transplant operations from 1948 to 1972 as game animals and as tourist attractions. Those 50 or so mountain goats grew to numbers in the thousands today.
Orca enjoying a beautiful day in the bay
From our trip to Alaska last month and my first time seeing a killer whale in the wild.
We weren’t more than 20 minute out of Seward into Resurrection Bay when the captain reported spotting them. I saw a total of five from what they said is a local pod although there probably were more.
Not a lot of action beyond them surfacing and blowing but it was very fun to see for this landlubber.
