{"id":107119,"date":"2022-10-11T03:35:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T09:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=107119"},"modified":"2024-07-08T04:00:24","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T09:00:24","slug":"roadside-american-badger-in-the-wasatch-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/11\/roadside-american-badger-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Roadside American Badger in The Wasatch Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

My best photos from yesterday’s journey into the Wasatch Mountains weren’t of birds; instead, they were of an American Badger I found along the side of the road.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Badger butt \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

My first view of the badger was of its backside. I took butt shots anyway. I didn’t know how long the badger was going to be there and I wanted photo documentation.<\/p>\n

\"RoadsideRoadside American Badger \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It only took a few seconds for the badger to turn towards me. I fired off a burst of shots as soon as it did. I don’t have these creatures in my viewfinder as frequently as I would like. To say I was excited might just be an understatement. Okay, it IS an understatement.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Badger at a hole it was digging \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

At this moment in time the badger was digging a fresh hole close to the edge of the dirt road. What I liked about this image is the view of the sharp claws of the badger that enables it to dig in the earth.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Badger with a dirty nose \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then a pickup truck zoomed past and that made the badger scurry behind a mound of dirt where I could see how dirty its nose was from pushing it into the soil.<\/p>\n

\"Peek-a-booPeek-a-boo American Badger \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The American Badger seemed to be playing peek-a-boo with me in this image. It was still hiding from the disturbance the pickup caused.<\/p>\n

Around this time I looked in my rear view mirror and could see a jogger making their way towards me and the badger. Even worse than that, in front of me I could see a large, earth-moving, extremely loud track vehicle heading towards us.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Badger coming out of its burrow \u2013 Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The badger had moved from behind the mound of dirt to its burrow and headed into it. Maybe the furry creature could feel the earth trembling. I don’t know for sure.<\/p>\n

Thanks go to the photo goddess for my backup camera and lens<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I very quickly grabbed my back up Nikon D810 from my backpack that had a Nikkor 18-200mm lens attached, started my Jeep and moved it to the other side of the road where the burrow was located. It only took a few seconds before the badger stuck its head back out of the burrow.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Badger in soft morning light \u2013 Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Just a few moments later the badger came up to the edge of the burrow in the soft morning light. The jogger passed my Jeep on the passenger side and the badger watched the guy run down the road.<\/p>\n

\"HeadHead on look from an American Badger \u2013 Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I was so close to the badger that if I had attached my Nikkor 70-300mm lens that was in my backpack to my D500 I wouldn’t have been able to zoom it all the way to 300mm and fit the entire badger in the frame. With my Nikkor 500mm lens I might have been able to get the eyes and nose of the badger in the frame and not much more. If I could have focused on the badger at all, it might well have been too close to focus.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Badger sniffing the air \u2013 Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I am thrilled with the images I took using the lens that I mostly use for landscapes. All of the images were sharp, my depth of field worked well and the colors were perfect.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Badger in the Wasatch Mountains \u2013 Nikon D810, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Problem?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As I was taking photos of the the badger I could see that my battery charge was getting low. I hadn’t charged the battery in some time because I don’t use the D810 all that often. I had a full battery in my backpack but that would take time to grab, remove the dying battery, and place the fully charged one into the camera.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Badger looking at a vehicle \u2013 Nikon D810, f9, 1\/1600, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And that big, noisy, annoying construction vehicle was still thumping towards me and the badger. I didn’t know how soon the battery was going to die but I kept on taking images rather than losing time with the badger in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

I could see the badger watching the vehicle moving up the road.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Badger in Summit County \u2013 Nikon D810, f9, 1\/1600, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I cursed myself for not charging the batter of the D810 the last time I used it. I kept thinking my camera would turn off when the battery died but I kept firing away.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Badger after a good scratch \u2013 Nikon D810, f9, 1\/1600, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I watched the badger scratch an itch on its rear leg with its teeth, and when it turned around and when I saw this look with just the tips of the badger’s fangs exposed, I laughed out loud.<\/p>\n

I laugh quite often in the field when I see something funny. Just ask anyone who has ridden with me. The laughter just bubbles past my lips. Fortunately my soft laughter didn’t scare the badger back into its burrow.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Badger on an autumn morning \u2013 Nikon D810, f9, 1\/1600, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

That heavy construction machine was still moving forward and by now the low battery indicator on my D810 has started to flash. I kept shooting images of the badger.<\/p>\n

Note: I don’t believe in ghosts but if I could come back as a ghost after I die I’d love to scare the pants off of the guy that was driving that infernal machine for a few seconds. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Badger turning around \u2013 Nikon D810, f9, 1\/1600, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As the noise from that horrible machine grew louder and closer I thought the badger was going to duck into its burrow when it turned its body.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Badger moving away from its burrow \u2013 Nikon D810, f9, 1\/1600, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 200mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, the badger moved away from it and headed into the grass and sage to the west of the burrow. I was puzzled by the behavior of the badger but it may have moved away so as to not get trapped in its burrow by that infernally obnoxious machine.<\/p>\n

I thanked the badger, turned on my Jeep, and headed past that hunk of noisy metal with a big grin on my face.<\/p>\n

My battery didn’t die, I got the photos I wanted of the American Badger<\/span><\/a>, and life is<\/em> good. So good that on some days my entire body trembles with pleasure.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my American Badger photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My best photos from yesterday’s journey into the Wasatch Mountains weren’t of birds; instead, they were of an American Badger I found along the side of the road. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1764,1731,26,773,99],"tags":[4458,970,9879,5819,5128,12335,3940,10612,6945,4620,5023,13367,1632,4378,4099,4069,4784,9885,6895,5300,13368,6439,4459,6867],"class_list":["post-107119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-badger","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","category-wildlife","tag-american-badger","tag-autumn","tag-badger","tag-badger-burrow","tag-badgers","tag-butt","tag-canyon","tag-digging","tag-dirty","tag-fall","tag-head-on","tag-hole","tag-mammals","tag-morning","tag-morning-light","tag-mountains","tag-mustelids","tag-nose","tag-peek-a-boo","tag-roadside","tag-scratch","tag-sniffing","tag-taxidea-taxus","tag-turning"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/american-badger-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0280.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-rRJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":109055,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/28\/some-mammals-i-loved-in-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":107119,"position":0},"title":"Some Mammals I Loved In 2022","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I am sharing some photos of the mammals I loved finding, seeing, photographing and having in my viewfinder in 2022.","rel":"","context":"In "American Badgers"","block_context":{"text":"American Badgers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/american-badger\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Badger in profile, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-badger-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0292.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-badger-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0292.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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share another American Badger portrait that I took back in May of this year on Antelope Island State Park in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "American Badgers"","block_context":{"text":"American Badgers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/american-badger\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Badger portrait, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/american-badger-portrait-mia-mcpherson-4078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/american-badger-portrait-mia-mcpherson-4078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/american-badger-portrait-mia-mcpherson-4078.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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