{"id":14851,"date":"2014-04-28T06:01:40","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T12:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=14851"},"modified":"2026-02-13T10:11:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T16:11:02","slug":"american-bison-calving-season-on-antelope-island-state-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/04\/28\/american-bison-calving-season-on-antelope-island-state-park\/","title":{"rendered":"American Bison Calving Season On Antelope Island State Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAmerican Bison calf and cow on Antelope Island State Park – Nikon D300, f9, 1\/500, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR at 350mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

American Bison calving season on Antelope Island State Park begins around mid-April and yesterday I was able to get some nice images of the cows and their rusty red colored calves.<\/p>\n

Earlier last week when I first saw them they were too far from the road to photograph them so I was delighted because they were so close.<\/p>\n

There was a small traffic jam on the side of the road because of the cows and calves but everyone that I saw showed the bison respect by staying in their vehicles.<\/p>\n

When the cows have young calves it can stress them when people approach and could even lead to the cows charging the people to defend their calves.<\/p>\n

\"BisonBison bull on Antelope Island\u00a0– Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 228mm, natural light<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

American Bison bulls have nothing to do with raising their young, they leave that to the cows.<\/p>\n

The bulls often form a herd of their own after rut and don’t spend much time with the cows until it is time for their rutting season around the middle of summer.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Bison cow and young calf\u00a0– Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR at 380mm, natural light<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Female American Bison weigh about 900 to 1000 pounds and when they give birth their calves can weigh as much 50 pounds or more.<\/p>\n

Within an hour of their births the calves are up and walking, thank goodness human children don’t so that, right Moms?<\/p>\n

My oldest child walked at 9 months and that was soon enough for me!<\/p>\n

The calves\u00a0in my two images\u00a0are probably less than two weeks old and even though they are nursing they also graze on the grasses and they\u00a0will retain their reddish color throughout their first summer.<\/p>\n

I enjoy seeing and photographing the young calves frolicking in the grasslands on Antelope Island State Park or just watching them rest.<\/p>\n

Considering how close the American Bison<\/span><\/a> came to extinction I am also grateful for those who helped to save America’s largest land mammal. Very grateful.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

American Bison calving season on Antelope Island State Park begins around mid-April and yesterday I was able to get some nice images of the cows and their rusty red colored calves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[443,511,1022,26],"tags":[4004,4463,5772,745,4350,4314,4426,2524,4442,3981,4070,751,4289,165,4193],"class_list":["post-14851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bison","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-davis-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-bison","tag-baby","tag-bison-bison","tag-buffalo","tag-bull","tag-calf","tag-calving-season","tag-cow","tag-davis-county","tag-female","tag-hillside","tag-rabbitbrush","tag-spring","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/american-bison-cow-calf-mia-mcpherson-9220.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3Rx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2884,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/08\/09\/bison-of-antelope-island-state-park\/","url_meta":{"origin":14851,"position":0},"title":"Bison of Antelope Island State Park","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As much as I love going to Antelope Island State Park to photograph birds I also enjoy going there to see and photograph the furry animals that can be found there.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bison calf on Antelope Island, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-2875.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-2875.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-rolling-mia-mcpherson-2192.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-rolling-mia-mcpherson-2192.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-rolling-mia-mcpherson-2192.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-rolling-mia-mcpherson-2192.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37808,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/02\/american-bison-bull-grazing-on-fresh-grass\/","url_meta":{"origin":14851,"position":2},"title":"American Bison Bull Grazing On Fresh Grass","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Seeing this Bison bull grazing on fresh grass isn't an unusual occurrence for me because I see them so often on Antelope Island but I also realize that there are quite a few people who haven't had the pleasure of seeing them in the wild like I do.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bison bull showing sun bleached winter coat, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-shedding-mia-mcpherson-1027.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-bull-shedding-mia-mcpherson-1027.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"An American Bison calf in July, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-9963.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-9963.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-9963.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-bison-calf-mia-mcpherson-9963.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15041,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/05\/24\/bison-babies-and-lewiss-flax\/","url_meta":{"origin":14851,"position":4},"title":"Bison Babies And Lewis’s Flax","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Lewis's Flax are blooming on Antelope Island right now and to my delight there was a large herd of American Bison and their calves resting and grazing among the wildflowers yesterday morning.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Bison calf in a field of Lewis\u2019s Flax, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, 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2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I'm sharing a photo of an American Bison that appeared to be whispering secrets to another bison that I photographed on Antelope Island State Park.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Bison secrets in the snow, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-secrets-mia-mcpherson-2224.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-secrets-mia-mcpherson-2224.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-secrets-mia-mcpherson-2224.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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