Beginning of a bison dust bath
I photographed a few birds yesterday on Antelope Island but my favorite images that I created yesterday were of this American Bison dust bathing.
American Bison in a dusty wallow
American Bison roll in wallows to groom themselves and remove loose fur.
American Bison bull in a wallow
It is also thought that they take dust baths to chase off the flies that plague them during the warmer months of the year and that the dust left on their skin and fur may help prevent bites.
American Bison rolling in the dust
What ever the reason, I find it interesting to watch the large animals roll around in the dust…
American Bison bull on his back in the wallow
Rubbing their backs on the ground…
American Bison kicking up the dust
And kicking up the dust in the wallow.
Dusty Bison bull
This was a fairly dark bull but its hindquarters look to be the same color as the dust he is bathing in.
American Bison and a cloud of dust
These bulls are large, from 1500 to 2000 pounds and they roll around with great ease.
Dust bathing bison bull
When the bull stopped rolling briefly the dust seemed to hang around in the air.
American Bison bull enjoying a dust bath
And then he started to roll around again.
American Bison and dust
And kicked up more dust.
American Bison covered in dust
Even his dark nose had a layer of dust on it.
American Bison shaking off the dust
And when the bison stood up he shook some of the dust off before he started to move away. The American Bison dust bath at the wallow only lasted about one minute, I wish I could shower that fast some mornings! Especially when I am running late.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my American Bison photos plus facts and information about this species.
Techs for these images: Nikon D810, f7.1, ISO 400, -1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, shutter speeds between 1/320 and 1/640.
Very impressive series here, Mia.It appears that he has his eye on you all the time which is a little daunting. Sometime I have walked past a wallow when the bison are not there and amazed by the size of them.
So groovy!
I saw some once and made some photographs when I was in Wyoming.
Anthromorphism to the fore – he looks like he is totally blissed out.
A wonderful series. Thank you.
Great pictures. Brought back some memories for me. I saw this once when I was in Yellowstone. These are fascinating animals and I loved seeing these up close and personal!!
This bull reminds me of another huge “black” bull that made me sweat bullets as he stood in the middle of the road, daring me to move while he waited for his harem and little red babies to cross….even after they’d all made it safely, he continued to give me the evil eye and challenging me to move….
That’s quite a sight! As usual, no visible ears…(not sure they all have them). An old horse whisperer I used to tag after once told me you can tell how much a horse is worth by how many times it rolls completely over…$100 dollars for each time. I believed everything he told me…
This made me smile. Love these! Thanks, Mia!
Wonderful photos Mia. What a Majestic animal.