• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Tony's Takes Photography

Wildlife, landscape and weather photography

  • Home
  • Top Shots
  • Latest News & Images
  • Purchase Prints
  • Photo Books
  • Calendars
  • Contact
  • About Tony
You are here: Home / Wildlife / Black-footed ferret keeping watch

Black-footed ferret keeping watch

April 20, 2021 by Tony Leave a Comment

Black-footed ferret keeping watch
A black-footed ferret hangs out near a burrow at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. (© Tony’s Takes)

Another encounter with North America’s most endangered mammal. I have been pretty fortunate to have seen these little guys a few times over the past six months or so.

Most of the sightings, like this one, have been from a pretty long distance and in poor light. Nevertheless, it is a real treat to see something so rare. This past Saturday, this one was hanging out, hovering over a prairie dog burrow. Unfortunately, it wasn’t too inclined to do much as for more than an hour it did nothing more than what you see in the image – just sit there and look around. Nevertheless, I will take what I can get when it comes to these guys.

Once numerous, the small animals were harvested for the fur trade. That, coupled with a loss of habitat and disease, resulted in a declining population and it was eventually declared extinct in 1979. Two years later, a small population of the animal was discovered on a private ranch in Wyoming and a captive breeding program was launched.

Since then, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been gradually releasing the black-footed ferret in eight states in what was once its native region. It was introduced to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge near Denver, Colorado in October 2015 and by all accounts, the program has been successful.

Filed Under: Wildlife Tagged With: Black-footed Ferret

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CAPTCHA
Refresh

*

Primary Sidebar

Connect With Me

Tony's Takes on Facebook Tony's Takes on Twitter Tony's Takes RSS Feed

Recent News & Images

  • Red tailed hawk shows off its catch, opts to dine in private
  • Trio of eagles showcase differences in plumage between ages
  • American kestrel takes a dive
  • Video: Fox takes a nap on a bed of leaves
  • Bald eagle steals the meal

Photo Use Information

All photos © Tony’s Takes. Images are available for purchase as prints or as digital files for other uses. Please don’t steal; my prices aren’t expensive. For more information contact me here.

Galleries

  • Exhibits
  • In the City
  • In the News
  • Landscapes
  • Pets
  • Random Stuff
  • Sun, Moon and Stars
  • Transportation
  • Weather
  • Wildlife

Archives

Search

Tags

American Kestrel Astrophotography Bald Eagle Bear Bighorn Sheep Bison Burrowing Owl Canada Goose Clouds Coyote Deer Duck Elk Fall Colors Ferruginous Hawk Flowers Fox Golden Eagle Great Blue Heron Great Horned Owl Hummingbird Marmot Military Moon Moose Mountain Goat Mountains Northern Harrier Osprey Pelican Pika Prairie Dog Prairie Falcon Pronghorn Rabbit Red Tailed Hawk Snowy Egret Squirrel Sunrise Sunset Swainson’s Hawk Thunderstorm Turkey Turkey Vulture Video

Footer

Connect With Me

Tony's Takes on Facebook Tony's Takes on Twitter Tony's Takes RSS Feed

Search

Photo Use

All photos © Tony’s Takes. Images are available for purchase as prints or as digital files for other uses. Please don’t steal; my prices aren’t expensive and I will work with you to get you the art you desire. For more information contact me here.

Latest

  • Red tailed hawk shows off its catch, opts to dine in private
  • Trio of eagles showcase differences in plumage between ages
  • American kestrel takes a dive
  • Video: Fox takes a nap on a bed of leaves
  • Bald eagle steals the meal
Copyright © 2023 Tony's Takes Photography
  • Home
  • Latest News & Images
  • Purchase Prints
  • Photo Books
  • Calendars
  • Contact
  • About Tony