The circle of life as coyotes and magpies feast on a bison carcass

Quite the scene yesterday and while the pictures aren’t very good, they tell a story of life, and death, in nature.

I had stopped to photograph a pair of bald eagles off in a distant tree and as I focused on them, movement below caught my attention. A bison had died and other creatures were taking full advantage of the meal.

The show was at least a quarter of a mile away so these images are rather poor quality and highly cropped but they are worth sharing. They depict a scene that is played out everywhere in nature every day and while it may not be pleasant to see, it is part of the proverbial circle of life.

The bison’s death, while sad, serves a purpose, giving a much-needed winter meal for many other creatures, helping to sustain them during the harshest of seasons on the Great Plains. The bison likely died of natural causes. Coyotes have been documented taking down calves, but a full grown bison like this would be too big of a target for them.