Morning at the Zoo

 Randy and I visited the zoo today. Winter hours - opens at 10am - lot of parents with kids and some grandparents. 

The visit was a bit shorter than previous ones, however I took some good photos! Sunshine and cool weather made for a perfect time to visit.

Here's my favorites from the day..

American Badger - with a mouse tail sticking out of its mouth.

The beautiful Eagle..

Cutes!  Burrowing owl..

Young giraffe saying HI..

Looking soft and pettable ... Grey fox

Sunbathing or showing off?.

River otter - Cute and intelligent..

Big boy, who is normally swimming, getting a tan!

Look at those Tusks!!! Warthogs can outrun you...

Refuge visit

 Yesterday was a nice day to visit the refuge..no human traffic but unfortunately not much wildlife traffic. But enough to make it interesting, plus just being there is relaxing.

Pheasants were out in force! I saw several males in the various bushes along the way, and on the way out I watched 4 of the males in  the road doing what appeared to be fighting. Unfortunately I was quite a ways away and the photos are challenging. But I’ll show you what I have.

Lots of Western Grebes - noisy little buggers - and a couple of groups of pelicans practicing synchronized swimming as they fished 

Enjoy!

This guy waited until I saw him and then waited until I took his photo.  Beautiful!

Here’s the pheasants in the road..I’m not sure what the dance means, whether they are fighting or mating!

Here are the Pelicans -- first preparing to fish, then fishing. Note the followers in the top photo - Western 

grebes and ducks - they catch a lot of what the Pelicans stir up..

An unknown duck..

The Great Blue Heron - waiting patiently by the stream...

A stern-looking beautiful hawk, tentatively identified as a Red-tailed Hawk..they have a large number of very different colored Morphs..

Antelope Island visit

 Randy and I got to the island as the sun was just rising. Cool morning, clear skies. People were already up and about on the island...bird watchers, bicyclists, hikers, campers. 

We saw lots of buffalo! Probably a couple of hundred overall. With the sun just rising they made a nice silhouette photo. After stopping for photos of them, a beautiful big buck walked out of the brush just behind us. Gorgeous rack, not too bothered by the humans close by. 

The Burrowing owls were MIA, but the antelope came through. A male with a harem of 4 paraded for us for photos, and we saw several in the distance. One coyote made its appearance, very nicely backlit by the rising sun. Overall a good day!

Enjoy!

Morning light on the landscapes...

Quite the rack on this big boy!

Male antelope watching one of his harem..he had 4 females..

Bison!

We watched these two goofballs run down the hill following their Momma! There is a truck stopped behind them...for a time I thought there might be a collision.

And the Hunter..always a treat to see a coyote..

Looking towards the Wasatch mountains, you can see the fence that was installed to keep the bison on the island when the lake level is so low they could walk to the mainland..

Trip to the zoo, page 2..

Too many photos for one blog post..Here’s the rest of them ..

Warthog..ugly but dangerous

Spoonbill..beauty in motion

Young snow Leopard...he played with his sister while we watched..

Mama Snow leopard...hanging out while the kids play..

The Queen ....

Wild looking fox!!

Perfect for July 4th..

Trip to the Zoo

 Randy and I visited the zoo Saturday. Fortunately not too many people there at the start, lots more as we exited.

We toured a new place, for me, that has less exotic and several animals that I’ve encountered. The Badger was a welcome sight, especially behind the fences. I last saw one when I was about 15.

Lots of photos, here’s the ones I liked best. 

Enjoy!

Alligator sunning it’s mouth!

Badger - look at it’s claws..

Bengal lioness..

The Queen!

Billy goat Gruff!

Sleeping Mountain lion..

Not so sleepy mountain lion..

Meditating polar bear..

Red fox..very cute!

Suntanning Rhino!!

Trip to Mill Hollow

 A cloudy July 3rd, Mill Hollow is just as beautiful in the cloudiness as it is in the sun. We thought there might be a lot of holiday traffic up there, but it wasn’t until we were leaving, around 1pm, that the traffic picked up. We wouldn’t go back this weekend..ATV’s, trucks, people everywhere.

The only wildlife we saw was a Yellow-bellied marmot. No deer, moose or elk. Understandable since we were there after the normal hours of movement. 

Loads of wildflowers!!! So beautiful, filling your vision with various colors - red, yellow, white, pink, purple and so on. 

The high Uinta peaks were a bit shrouded in the clouds, but still dominant in the distance.

Enjoy!

Mattie the marmot!!

A sparrow - not sure what type.

Uintah peaks in distance

Wildflowers galore..