Mammals
Pronghorn Antelope, Lost in Thought
Pronghorn Antelope, a Portrait
Woody, a Portrait
Catchin' Some Rays - Sunrise at the Bosque
HEADS UP!!
Adolescence
Adolescence in Profile
Horsefeathers
Nobody Knows What the Nose Knows
Pronghorn Antelope, Lost in Thought
Ouray National Wildlife Refuge, Ouray UT
April 29, 2022
Portrait of an old timer, lost in thought, waiting patiently for me to finish photographing him at the entrance to the refuge. Thanks guy!
Pronghorn Antelope, a Portrait
Ouray National Wildlife Refuge, Ouray UT
April 29, 2022
Pronghorn Antelope, a portrait of an old timer who waited paitently for me to finish photographing him at the entrance to the refuge. Thanks guy!
Pronghorn
The pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American antelope, prong buck, speed goat, pronghorn antelope, prairie antelope, or simply antelope because it closely resembles the antelopes of the Old World and fills a similar ecological niche due to parallel evolution. It is the only surviving member of the family Antilocapridae.
During the Pleistocene epoch, about 11 other antilocaprid species existed in North America. Three other genera (Capromeryx, Stockoceros and Tetrameryx) existed when humans entered North America but are now extinct.
As a member of the superfamily Giraffoidea, the pronghorn's closest living relatives are the giraffe and okapi. The Giraffoidea are in turn members of the infraorder Pecora, making pronghorns more distant relatives of the Cervidae (deer) and Bovidae (cattle, goats, sheep, antelopes, and gazelles), among others.
The pronghorn is the fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere, with running speeds of up to 55 miles per hour (89 km/h). It is the symbol of the American Society of Mammalogists.
Wikipedia: Pronghorn
Ouray National Wildlife Refuge
Ouray National Wildlife Refuge (also called Ouray National Waterfowl Refuge) is a wildlife refuge in central Uintah County, Utah in the northeastern part of the state. It is part of the National Wildlife Refuge system, located two miles northeast of the village of Ouray, 10 miles (16 km) southeast of the town of Randlett, and 30 miles (50 km) southwest of Vernal.
Established in 1960, it straddles the Green River for 12 miles (19 km), and covers 11,987 acres (48.51 km2). A portion of the refuge (3,800 acres [1,500 ha]) is leased from the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation. The refuge was created for the use of both local and migratory birds, and with funds provided by the sale of Federal Duck Stamps.
The site of the refuge also holds the Ouray National Fish Hatchery, which was established in 1996 to help hatch razorback suckers, humpback chubs, Colorado pikeminnows and Bonytail chubs.
Wikipedia: Ouray National Wildlife Refuge
Woody, a Portrait
Red Rock, East Chatham NY
June 16, 2022
Groundhog
The groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. The groundhog is a lowland creature of North America; it is found through much of the Eastern United States, across Canada and into Alaska. It was first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
The groundhog is also referred to as a chuck, wood-shock, groundpig, whistlepig, whistler, thickwood badger, Canada marmot, monax, moonack, weenusk, red monk, land beaver, and, among French Canadians in eastern Canada, siffleux. The name "thickwood badger" was given in the Northwest to distinguish the animal from the prairie badger. Monax (Móonack) is an Algonquian name of the woodchuck, which means "digger" (cf. Lenape monachgeu). Young groundhogs may be called chucklings.
The groundhog, being a lowland animal, is exceptional among marmots. Other marmots, such as the yellow-bellied and hoary marmots, live in rocky and mountainous areas. Groundhogs play an important role maintaining healthy soil in woodland and plain areas. The groundhog is considered a crucial habitat engineer. Groundhogs are considered the most solitary of the marmot species. They live in aggregations, and their social organization also varies across populations. Groundhogs do not form stable, long-term pair-bonds, and during mating season male-female interactions are limited to copulation. In Ohio, adult males and females associate with each other throughout the year and often from year to year. Groundhogs are an extremely intelligent animal forming complex social networks, able to understand social behavior, form kinship with their young, understand and communicate threats through whistling, and work cooperatively to solve tasks such as burrowing.
Wikipedia: Groundhog
Catchin' Some Rays - Sunrise at the Bosque
Bobcat, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio NM
January 6, 2015
I’m not sure what this Bobcat can see through the brush but off to the right is a pond full of overnighting Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese watched in anticipation by a full complement of photographers. I’d like to think the cat is entertained by the scene.
HEADS UP!!
Snow Geese and Coyote, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio NM
January 29, 2015
These geese are alert but they don’t seem too too worried that old three-legged coyote is going to snatch a meal this morning. The coyote isn’t as close to them as my telephoto lens might indicate.
Adolescence
Young White-tailed Buck, Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, Jet OK
October 4, 2014
I met this young buck and its companions out on the trail where we spent a few minutes checking each other out.
Adolescence in Profile
Young White-tailed Buck, Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, Jet OK
October 4, 2014
Horsefeathers
Wild Horse at Cold Creek NV
October 22, 2014
On reflection.
Nobody Knows What the Nose Knows
Wild Horse at Cold Creek NV
October 22, 2014
This is a phrase unkindly used in the presence of a particularly well endowed fellow student at college. I wonder if he remembers...