Wildlife

Mule Deer Doe in the Stansbury Mountains

By Mia McPherson, on May 7th, 2013%

Mule Deer Doe

I photographed this Mule Deer doe while camping in North Willow Canyon in the Stansbury Mountain Range of Tooele County, Utah. The doe and several others were grazing on the grasses of our campsite when we came back from photographing bird and this doe sort of danced her way towards us, that is about the closest I can come to describing how she was moving. She definitely kept her eyes on us while the rest of the deer nibbled the fresh spring grasses.

The Mulies are losing their heavy winter coats and will soon appear in their sleeker summer coats and giving birth to the fawns.

Mia

More Mule Deer images

Earth Day 2013

By Mia McPherson, on April 22nd, 2013%

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

I wanted to share these images because today is Earth Day. Every plant on this planet matters today and for future generations. This Jack-in-the-Pulpit matters. It can’t grow in the area where I found it in Florida if rampant development continues at alarming rates. Many plants are endangered from development, pollution and because they can’t compete with invasive species.

Female Scarlet Skimmer

The earth needs its insects, from spiders, bees dragonflies and every other insect. Bees are critical for food production yet poisons are being used that kill them and genetically modified plants are playing a roll in that too. Insects matter. This female Scarlet Skimmer helps to naturally control insect pests like mosquitoes. Insects matter, a lot.

White morph Reddish Egret

Birds are my passion, my fascination and I appreciate every bird on this planet. Birds matter. Birds help to disperse seeds and they are valuable to each and every one of us, even for the people who don’t realize it. But many birds on earth are in danger of becoming extinct if we don’t step up to prevent it from occurring as it has with the Passenger Pigeon, the Dodo and many more.

Coyote on Antelope Island State Park

Mammals matter, all wildlife does. But wildlife needs our help, many species are vulnerable and endangered. How can we close our eyes?

Zion National Park, Utah

We need to protect the land, it matters. Protect it from pollution, from over development from the scars of mining and clear cutting forests. The Earth matters.

Mia

Spring time Bison bull on Antelope Island State Park

By Mia McPherson, on April 16th, 2013%

Grazing bull- Nikon D200, handheld, f9, 1/320, ISO 250, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 130mm, natural light

The American Bison on Antelope Island are starting to show signs of shedding their winter coats and for awhile they will look a bit ratty. In this image you can see a couple of patches where the winter coat has been shed, directly behind the Bison’s right front leg, in front of the right back leg and its hindquarters.

Scratching Bison bull- Nikon D200, handheld, f9, 1/640, ISO 250, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light

The Bison do a whole lot of scratching while they shed, on the ground, against the huge boulders that dot the island and if they can they rub against some of the signs. It must feel good to eventually get the loosened winter coat completely off.

Bison bull rubbing its belly on the ground- Nikon D200, handheld, f9, 1/750, ISO 250, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 130mm, natural light

This bull rocked back and forth against the ground in this position for over a minute, I am still not sure what it was doing.

Bison bull standing up- Nikon D200, handheld, f9, 1/640, ISO 250, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 135mm, natural light

Afterwards the bull stood up and started to graze. It is lovely to see the grassy slopes of the island turning green, to see the silvery green new growth on the Sagebrush and feel the warmth of the sun on my own skin.

These images were taken two days ago, yesterday I woke to a very light snow on the ground and there may be snow flurries today. Crazy weather is normal for spring in Utah.

Mia

Springtime Pronghorns on Antelope Island

By Mia McPherson, on April 1st, 2013%

Pronghorn doe in the spring

There may still be snow in the high country in Utah but down in the Salt Lake Valley things have begun to green up and I am already seeing the first wildflowers blooming. These Pronghorn images were taken a few years ago during the spring and I thought I would share them this morning partly because the yellow flowers in these images; Gray’s Biscuitroot (Lomatium grayi), have just started to bloom this year.

Pronghorn buck resting in green grasses

It is wonderful to see the Pronghorn and Bison feeding on fresh, young shoots again after our long, cold and very snowy winter. I saw some Pronghorn yesterday and they; along with the Gray’s Biscuitroot, reminded me of these images.

Pronghorn doe walking through spring grasses

It won’t be long before the Pronghorn does give birth to their young and they are about the cutest little critters in Utah in my opinion.

Mia

More Pronghorn images

Don’t tick the Bison off

By Mia McPherson, on March 30th, 2013%

Bison Bull on Antelope Island

This Bison bull weighs in at about 1,500 pounds, he is wild and you don’t want to tick him off like one man did on Antelope Island last weekend. These behemoths can move fast when they need to which is why when they are running you can hear their thunderous hooves. They aren’t domesticated cows and they aren’t tame.

I’m on Antelope Island a lot and I’ve seen incidents where I thought someone might get trampled a few times. Once it was some women that walked within 20 to 25 feet of grazing Bison. I was very glad the Bison didn’t charge them. Later that same day from a long distance away I saw a man walk too close to a bull and the Bison made a mock charge at him. I was glad the guy didn’t end up flattened like a pancake. Last fall I saw a guy in red pants, his bicycle laying down on the shoulder of the road walk up to it with a tiny point and shoot camera and the Bison charged him but stopped, the guy didn’t even have a vehicle to jump into for protection. That wasn’t smart because before he could have gotten on that bike the Bison would have run over him. Believe it or not the guy walked closer one more time to get more images.

Last weekend a guy from Colorado got too close to a Bison bull and in return the bull slammed him into a chain link fence. You can read about it here: Man walks away from bison attack unharmed

There was a photographer taking pictures of the bull and the man and his image in the article shows the man being slammed into the fence and stated that the man might have provoked the Bison along with other witnesses.

The guy is lucky that he isn’t dead. The article said he was embarrassed.

He ought to be. You don’t tick off a wild Bison dude.

KSL.com interviewed the “A Bison Slammed Me into a Fence” guy and he claimed he was trying to protect some runners in Antelope Island Buffalo Run. You can read what he said here: Man pinned by bison says he worried for racers’ safety

I’m glad the guy is alive.

But I think he should have been cited for harassing that Bison.

Mia

More Bison images