Wildlife, landscape and weather photography
My photo excursion didn’t quite go as planned yesterday with the lake I had chosen to go to being totally frozen over. Instead, I explored some back roads and that actually turned out pretty good.
I came across this big herd of Pronghorn, probably the biggest I have seen. There are 22 in this picture but it only shows about a third of the ones that were there. As is typical for these wary creatures, they didn’t hang around long and were soon running away but it was fun to see them.
This is one good looking guy, eh? Taken back at the end of June, I was out for a photo drive while camping on Colorado’s northeastern plains.
Pronghorn are creatures that I think are way cool – heck, they are the fastest land animal in North America and second in the world only to the Cheetah! They also are notoriously difficult to photograph, more often than not just giving you a shot of their bright, white rear end as they run away.
On this day though, this buck was willing to stand relatively close. They are notoriously curious so I employed a bit of a trick I learned long ago of waving a bright handkerchief. You could tell he really wanted to run but he also couldn’t resist momentarily checking out the motion and in doing so gave me a great shot.
This was a fun little bit of action that I had never witnessed with this particular type of creature before. Driving along I spotted five Pronghorn bucks out in a field north of Denver International Airport.
Normally, stopping would send them running but they were more interested in each other. Four of them were engaged in some back and forth battles, locking horns and pushing each other around.
I presume this is all leading up to the annual rut as they start to establish a pecking order for mating season. Fun stuff to see!
I was shooting while driving so am pretty darned lucky the images of this speed demon came out as good as they did. Haha! Taken in Logan County, Colorado.
Pronghorn (often incorrectly called antelope) are the fastest land animal in the Western Hemisphere and second in the world only to the Cheetah. They can sprint at speeds up to 60mph and run for extraordinarily long distances at slower speeds.
It sure isn’t often you find one of these wary creatures laying down. They usually see you coming from a long way away and start retreating immediately. This particular lady was the exception, letting me roll right up and snap some pictures as she laid down on the prairie.
I saw quite a number of these speed demons this past weekend, mostly does but a few bucks. I had hoped to find some new fawns but didn’t have any luck this time.
Before the arrival of western Europeans, it is believed as many as 40 million Pronghorn roamed the open rangelands of North America – possibly more than there were bison. Hunting and fragmentation of their habitat by fences and human settlements took its toll and as few as 20,000 remained at the start of the 20th century. Thankfully conservation and education saved them from extinction and they now number almost 1 million.
It’s not too often you can get these guys to stand still for a picture as their first instinct is almost always to run. However, they are also notoriously curious, oftentimes pausing initially to ascertain a potential threat. I have learned that if you can do something to get their attention, sometimes they stick around just a bit longer and it also gets them to look right at you.
What do I do?
I have a bright yellow cleaning cloth in my truck that I use just for this – holding my camera in one hand, I wave the cloth over my head in the other. Yeah, it probably looks silly but it does work pretty often and that was the case with me being able to get a pic of this guy south of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Sometimes mistakenly called antelope, their closest relatives are actually giraffes and okapi. It is believed Pronghorn developed their extraordinary speed when the now extinct American Cheetah was a threat.
I had to go to Cheyenne for business yesterday and while I had little time to spare given the agenda, I did take two minutes to stop and photograph these two handsome Pronghorn bucks. They were standing right next to the road not far inside the Wyoming border. Best of all, unlike my usual encounters with them, these two didn’t instantly run away and instead posed (albeit briefly).
I personally find these creatures fascinating. They are cool looking of course but the mere fact they can run so fast is incredible. Pronghorn (often incorrectly called antelope) are the fastest land animal in the Western Hemisphere and second in the world only to the Cheetah. They can sprint at speeds up to 60mph and run for extraordinarily long distances at slower speeds.
Before the arrival of western Europeans, it is believed as many as 40 million of them roamed the open rangelands of North America – possibly more than there were bison. Hunting and fragmentation of their habitat by fences and human settlements took its toll and as few as 20,000 remained at the start of the 20th century. Thankfully conservation and education saved them from extinction and they now number almost 1 million.
I had to go to Cheyenne for work this week and had hoped to see some of these speed demons. I did indeed, dozens in fact on the way up but at that time I couldn’t stop. On the way back, I was only able to find a half dozen hanging out in Weld County just inside the Colorado border. As is typical, they didn’t want to hang around and be observed so I only got a few, fleeting captures.
Sometimes mistakenly called antelope, their closest relatives are actually giraffes and okapi. It is believed Pronghorn developed their extraordinary speed when the now extinct American Cheetah was a threat.
They are in fact the fastest land animal in the Western Hemisphere and second in the world only to the Cheetah. They can sprint at speeds up to 60mph and run for extraordinarily long distances at slower speeds. That speed and endurance continues to come in handy for escaping the threats of today – coyotes, wolves and of course man.
It’s been a while since I have seen any of these speed demons so this capture dates back to last July. As usual, he wasn’t too willing to pose for pictures but also didn’t take off at a flat out run giving me a chance to grab a couple of shots.
Before the arrival of western Europeans, it is believed as many as 40 million of them roamed the open rangelands of North America – possibly more than there were bison. Hunting and fragmentation of their habitat by fences and human settlements took its toll and as few as 20,000 remained at the start of the 20th century.
Thankfully conservation and education saved them from extinction and they now number almost 1 million.
The temperature on my truck thermometer said it was 8 degrees when I snapped this image the day after Christmas. That certainly did not make me anxious to leave the warm environs but when a friend texted me to tell me about this herd of speed-demons nearby, I had to go.
Thankfully, unlike usual, they weren’t in too big of a rush to race away and gave me time to hop out and snap a few images. They looked absolutely gorgeous against the fresh snow.
