Wildlife

For every picture I capture of wildlife we've seen, there are of course at least 20 sightings I haven't captured. There is just no way to get that camera out, get the lens cap off, find the damn critter in the view finder, focus and shoot before the moment is long gone. And then you've missed the beauty of just watching and feeling the encounter. So lots of times I don't try. In addition to those I have pictures of, we have seen many bald eagles, osprey, pronghorned antelope, buffalo and deer, a few moose, longhorned sheep and elk. No bear. No mountain lions. No wolverines.

So the pictures I do get are usually of the animals that are somewhat habituated to human contact. In places like Glacier and Yellowstone there are often animals that hang out in or near parking lots and visitor's centers.  I won't tell you which of these animals are those kind and which we caught out in the wild. None are in zoos or game parks though.

Swans at Pablo Wildlife Preserve. Some of these guys have been tagged to track their movements.

Some kind of a ground squirrel type rodent at Glacier. Not a marmot. Too small.

Mountain goats at Glacier.

Pronghorned antelope at the National Bison Range.

Pronghorned antelope at the National Bison Range.

Today we are going to raft the Flathead River below the Kerr Dam. Should be exciting.