Mountain Goat

Mountain Goats, Yellowstone

Photo Mountain Goats Yellowstone

A nanny goat and her kid rest in the Hoodoos Area of Yellowstone.

It’s not easy to see mountain goats in Yellowstone.  There is a viewing location in the northeast part of the park on the road to Cooke City.  Look for the sign that says Barronette Peak.  But the goats are quite a distance away for viewing, even if you have a spotting scope.   Occasionally they show up in the Golden Gate Area which is the Gardner River Canyon you drive through before topping out at Swan Lake Flat.  The area is also called the Hoodoo Area.  Both names refer to the color of the rocks.  I saw these mountain goats in the canyon early one morning.  I posted an earlier article about a billy goat in the same area.

The Park Service says mountain goats are not native to Yellowstone, but the result of the introduction of mountain goats for hunting by the State of Montana in the 1940s and 1950s.  Apparently, they were released not that far from the northern portion of Yellowstone and they became established in the northern portions of the park in the 1990s.  The Park Service also says they may be having a negative effect on bighorn sheep by competing for food.  The Park Service is doing research now with other agencies on mountain goat ecology and to determine the effect of the goats on bighorn sheep.  Here’s a video about the harm caused by Yellowstone mountain goats.

The Park Service uses the time period of when European man arrived in North America as a goal, time-wise, for protecting, preserving and restoring our national parks.  The Park Service is saying the goats weren’t there then.  I don’t have any problem with the Park Service’s idea of striving for conditions like those that existed when European man arrived in this country.  In fact, I totally support that policy.  But the goats are native to parts of the western United States.  What if the goats were in the Yellowstone area 10,000 or 100,000 years ago?  Would the policy still say they aren’t native?  I don’t know, but I would support treating the goats as native in that case.

Blacktail Deer

Blacktail Deer, Point Reyes

blacktail deer point reyes national seashore

Blacktail Buck at Sundown

I was out at Point Reyes recently.  Thistle and other vegetation that I’ll call “weeds” are growing tall, making it harder to spot bobcats.  I only saw one and he wasn’t having any of me.   I shot some video of a coyote who was in a field that had just been mowed to get rid of thistle and other weeds (not silage mowing), but the midday sun was harsh.  As the day was nearing its end I decided to go to the elk enclosure at Pierce Point.  I was there a bit photographing cow elk and yearlings in nice light.  After a while the light was fading and I decided to head home.  Shortly after leaving the elk enclosure I saw this blacktail buck.  He was bleeding a bit on the upper inside of his left foreleg.  I don’t know what that was from.

The sun was disappearing fast when I took this photo and I had to shoot at a much higher ISO than I like, but when I have a nice subject I just keep shooting and worry about the noise in the image later.

Rocky Mountain Elk

Elk Calf, Yellowstone National Park

newborn elk calf

Newborn Elk Calf along the Madison River

I apologize to those who have followed my blog for not having posted anything for many months.  I’m back and one thing I did during the interim was build a new website (and get rid of two former websites).   Hopefully, I’ve done what it takes for everyone to find this site.   Another thing I did in the interim was go through old images, like this photo of an elk calf, which I photographed in 2014.  When I look at old photos I don’t remember much about some, but others I remember very well.  That’s true with the images of this elk calf.

It was mid-June in Yellowstone and I was driving along the Madison River looking for animals to photograph, especially baby animals.  I don’t regularly drive along the Madison because I don’t have much luck there.  That’s partly because the elk herd in the Firehole/Madison area numbers less than 100 animals.  It’s the only elk herd that stays in the park in the winter and that takes its toll.  The animals are also affected by high fluoride and silica levels in the plants and water which wear their teeth out prematurely.  They live about five years less than elk in the rest of the park, according the the Park Service.

Anyway, it was getting late when I spotted a cow elk with this very small calf.  Another photographer was already there and he told me he saw the mother give birth that morning.  He added that a pair of coyotes had made an attempt to get the calf, but the mother had held them off.  I stayed until I couldn’t see and took this photo well after sunset.  By that time I had developed some connection to the calf and its mother and I decided that even though it was far from where I was staying I would get there by first light the next morning to see if the little one made it through the night.  I got there by first light, but there was no sign of the calf or its mother.  I hope it made it.

Badger

Badger Cubs, Yellowstone National Park

Two badger cubs play-fight.
“I’m toughest. No you’re not.”

I spent  lot of time photographing these badger cubs and their mom in the spring of 2014.  I kept waiting for all three of them to show their faces to the camera and do something interesting.  This photo is the best I got.

I think these little guys were enjoying their little fight.  It’s more than just fun though. When their mom sends them into that big world away from her and the den site they’ll need to be able to defend themselves.   When I’ve observed a mother predator with only one offspring, the mother always take the place of a sibling and play-fights with the little one to teach it that life-saving skill of defending itself.

Uncategorized

Secretary Zinke Completes Review of National Monuments

This is a photo of a part of the Temblor Range in the Carrizo Plain National Monument. The San Andreas Fault runs through it.
Carrizo Plain National Monument, California

Well, after waiting all this time, all we learn is that Ryan Zinke didn’t recommend the elimination of any of the 27 monuments to President Trump, but that he did recommend the down-sizing of an unknown number (above and beyond Bears Ears National Monument) and removing use restrictions for some or all of them.  I guess it could have been worse.   (Actually, it could still turn out to be worse.  It’s in Trump’s hands now.)

Mountain Lion/Puma

Puma, Patagonia

Puma finishes a nice yawn.
“Back Off”!  No, I’m just kidding.

This puma may look menacing, but she is just finishing off a nice long yawn.  She is called “Sister” and the few times we saw her she was very relaxed.  In fact, she did a lot of sleeping when we saw her, just like my cat, Rosie, here at home.