Marmot Eating
Another hoary marmot from Mount Rainier National Park in Washington. This guy was clearly more partial to the red indian paintbrush than to the other flowers.
Tricolored Heron
Another photo from Saint Augustine, Florida. This is called a tricolored heron. They are smaller than great blue herons and a bit more colorful as the name suggests. They were obviously very approachable at this location and I was able to get within ten feet for close up portraits.
Armadillo Sniffing the Air
As promised, here’s another armadillo from out on Merritt Island in Florida. As I mentioned in the last post, armadillos are practically blind but they have a very good sense of smell. As soon the wind blew in its direction, the armadillo would sniff the air for a second or two, know that I was there, and then scurry into the woods. The tricky part was getting on the ground quick enough to get a shot.
The Racetrack
Not much wildlife to be found in Death Valley National Park in California, but plenty of landscapes. This was my favorite spot to shoot. It’s an ancient dried out lake bed called The Racetrack. It’s known for the mysterious moving rocks that leave trails in the cobbled mud. There are several theories as to how the rocks move, but the one that gets the most agreement is that heavy winds do the moving during the rare times when the lake bed gets wet (which is hardly ever — Death Valley being the driest spot on the continent). Of course, no one has ever witnessed the rocks moving so this is all just a theory. Another interesting thing about this type of dried lake is that it’s the flattest naturally occurring land surface. The Racetrack is in a remote part of this remote national park and very difficult to get to. A high clearance four wheel drive is recommended. I did it in a Ford Focus. And I now owe the rental car company a hubcap.
Young Mountain Goats
When I was hiking in Colorado recently, I came across a large group of mountain goats. These three young ones were running around playing with each other, unmindful of the fact that most of the adults had moved high up the mountain.
Hoary Marmot
Here’s another shot from last spring at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington. I was hiking up in the alpine tundra when I saw this hoary marmot distracted by a passing fly.
Black Bear Sow Climbing Tree
Here’s one from the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. Pretty cool to see a 300 plus pound animal scale 50 feet of a tree in seconds. Her cubs were already high in the tree and stayed there for a while. She went up and down a few times, trying to stay away from a large male bear that was foraging at the bottom (and didn’t seem too interested in her or the cubs… or me, thankfully).
Bat Stars and Sea Grass
These sea stars are called bat stars. They come in all different colors, but mostly orange (I also saw a few purples and yellow ones). This photo was taken at low tide just before the sun went down at a place called Montana De Oro State Park in Los Osos, California.
Badwater Basin
This one is from Death Valley National Park in California. These are the salt flats of Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level. Repeated freaze-thaw and evaporation cycles gradually push the thin salt crust into these honeycomb shapes.
Great Blue Heron Feeding Young
Here’s another shot from last weekend in Florida at the Venice Rookery. The mother great blue heron is in the process of regurgitating her food to feed to her two young. The two chicks are almost as big as the mother at this point and will leave the nest soon (usually at about 10 weeks old).