{"id":5194,"date":"2012-06-17T05:36:33","date_gmt":"2012-06-17T11:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=5194"},"modified":"2026-03-07T07:57:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T13:57:28","slug":"creatures-great-and-small-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/17\/creatures-great-and-small-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Creatures Great and Small – Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are many mammals to see at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana, I haven’t seen them all yet but I hope to one day. On this last trip I saw Moose, Elk, skunks, ground squirrels, chipmunks, foxes, White-tailed and Mule Deer, Yellow-bellied Marmots, and Pronghorns.<\/p>\n

\"MooseMoose with calf in Montana
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a first for me to be able to photograph a Moose (Alces alces<\/em>) with her calf. They had moved up from the gravel road to stand near an aspen grove at one of the cottages at Lakeview where the headquarters of the refuge is located. I envy the residents there because they get to see Moose often but I was extremely happy to have the opportunity to see and create images of them.<\/p>\n

\"UintaUinta Ground Squirrel standing on a log in Montana<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a thrill to photograph this Uinta Ground Squirrel standing on a fallen log just outside Lakeview, the area of the headquarters for Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.\u00a0 I enjoy hearing the squirrels calling and seeing them scurrying around in the grasses and tops of fallen logs.<\/p>\n

\"Yellow-pineYellow-pine Chipmunk at Red Rock Lakes NWR<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m fairly certain that this is a Yellow-pine Chipmunk (Neotamias amoenus<\/em>), I photographed it as it ate a seed head perched on a rustic fence in Lakeview. Chipmunks have been a favorite of mine since I was a small child and to this day they still fascinate me.<\/p>\n

These are just three mammal species that delight me when I have visited Red Rock Lakes NWR. It would be wonderful to see the Wolves, Grizzlies, and Mountain Lions that are in the area too.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

See more of my mammal photos here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

More images and info on Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many mammals to see at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana, I haven’t seen them all yet but I hope to one day. On this last trip I saw Moose, Elk, Skunks, Ground Squirrels, Chipmunks, Foxes, White-tailed and Mule Deer, Yellow-bellied Marmots, and Pronghorns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145729,"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":[12,316,608,1630,1624],"tags":[4425,5772,4426,9349,4383,4442,4286,4070,5370,1631,5071,4962,1632,3969,4037,4035,4424,835,2135,9350,2619,4032,4423],"class_list":["post-5194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-montana","category-moose","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","category-uinta-ground-squirrel","category-yellow-pine-chipmunks","tag-alces-alces","tag-baby","tag-calf","tag-chimunks","tag-chipmunk","tag-cow","tag-eating","tag-female","tag-forest","tag-ground-squirrel","tag-ground-squirrels","tag-log","tag-mammals","tag-montana","tag-moose","tag-nature-photography","tag-tamias-amoenus","tag-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-seeds","tag-seeg-head","tag-uinta-ground-squirrel-2","tag-wildlife-photography","tag-yellow-pine-chipmunk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/moose-calf-mia-mcpherson-8746.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1lM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25522,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/06\/17\/uinta-ground-squirrels-of-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":5194,"position":0},"title":"Uinta 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2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109055,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/28\/some-mammals-i-loved-in-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":5194,"position":2},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-badger-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0292.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/american-badger-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0292.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38355,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/14\/uinta-and-richardsons-ground-squirrels\/","url_meta":{"origin":5194,"position":3},"title":"Uinta and Richardson’s Ground Squirrels","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By doing more research I found out that Uinta and Richardson's Ground Squirrels and the rest of the ground squirrels in North America have been changed to Urocitellus.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Alert Uinta Ground Squirrel in the Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-upright-mia-mcpherson-3749.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/uinta-ground-squirrel-upright-mia-mcpherson-3749.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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I'm excited about the photographic opportunities that will present themselves in 2015.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black-billed Magpie in flight, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-flight-mia-mcpherson-4448.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-flight-mia-mcpherson-4448.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-flight-mia-mcpherson-4448.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/black-billed-magpie-flight-mia-mcpherson-4448.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}