NFR Got any mammal pictures

[RRSmith]

This image is an oldie but a goodie for me. While out of focus - in some ways it's just as I remember it - a blur. I was out checking water at Butte Valley Wildlife Area in the Klamath Basin many years ago and was watching a wad of mallards dry feeding in a grain field. The coyote came out of nowhere. I wished it was more in focus but am kinda glad that it's not.

 

[Greg Armstrong]

This image is an oldie but a goodie for me. While out of focus - in some ways it's just as I remember it - a blur. I was out checking water at Butte Valley Wildlife Area in the Klamath Basin many years ago and was watching a wad of mallards dry feeding in a grain field. The coyote came out of nowhere. I wished it was more in focus but am kinda glad that it's not.

View attachment 99620

Great shot.

 

[Kenneth Yong]

Amazing shot. As dynamic as a still image will ever get, I don't think you could've done better even if you tried. Two thumbs way up!

Thanks much for sharing,
Kenneth

 

[RRSmith]

Amazing shot. As dynamic as a still image will ever get, I don't think you could've done better even if you tried. Two thumbs way up!

Thanks much for sharing,
Kenneth

Thanks - I was shooting my old Canon 20D with a Canon 100-400 lens out my truck window and wanted a shot of the mallards in the grain field. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

 

[Tom Butler]

I've been wondering why this run has been fishing poorly. Three asshat otters were in there fishing, and low holeing them proved fruitless. They didn't like me and bitched and made all kinds of noise.

 

[Kilchis]

 

[Cabezon]

It is better to be lucky than good some times. Part of success in capturing amazing photographs of the natural world is visiting promising places and then being alert to subtle cues and indications. This encounter during my latest visit to Nisqually NWR on Valentine’s Day was total serendipity. I had just passed a small beaver dam in one of the canals adjacent to the north E-W boardwalk of the Twin Barn’s Loop Trail. I glanced behind me and noticed a movement in the grass where the beaver dam meets the far bank. A brown head peaked out, a mink with a rich, brown fur coat. As it proceeded to cross the channel via the dam, I pulled up my camera and snapped a series of shots, a few of which were even in focus.



It puttered around at the water’s edge below us on the boardwalk and then disappeared under the boardwalk. It popped back into view on the gravel road at the top of the dyke, hastened across the road, and the disappeared into the riparian forest along the Nisqually River. Very cool sight.
Steve

 

[Scott Salzer]

Very cool, indeed. The only one I have seen was on the Yak working the shoreline.

 

[RRSmith]

Excellent mink photos - thanks for sharing!

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

Pretty mink! Incredible creatures. A couple years back our cows were acting up the way they do when they see a pesky cat or really, anything small that catches their attention in their pasture. They love to stare and then chase off creatures. I saw the commotion and went out to look. Surprisingly, a beautiful mink was bounding and cutting its way through the cows and heading my way. It hopped by within 10 feet of me and kept going while totally ignoring me fully. Thrilling to see one that close !

Nice shots, Steve !

 

[SKYKO]

 

[DimeBrite]

Get those cameras ready for the coastal wolverine.

 

[fkajwg]

I share the same headache. The revolution in our understanding of evolutionary relationships due to the application of molecular genetics has caused substantial upheaval in taxonomy. The common names of many marine vertebrates and invertebrates have been more stable than the scientific names LOL... [At the same time, I can't believe that the canopy-forming kelp Macrocystis pyrifera from Southern California is the same species as the strictly lower intertidal and nearshore subtotal kelp that has the same scientific name. The geneticists say that they are the same, but ecologically, they are not...]
Some of the changes with bird names (scientific and common) stem from new genetic insights (and the tension between "lumpers" and "splitters"). Other changes stem from a desire not to honor some of the prominent early ornithologists who were NOT good human beings in other aspects of their lives.
Steve

And now multiple species of orca are likely.
Interesting!

New Research Reveals Full Diversity of Killer Whales as Two Species Come into View on Pacific Coast

Long viewed as one worldwide species, killer whale diversity now merits more. Southern Resident Connections - Post 35

www.fisheries.noaa.gov

Jay

 

[RichS]

Watched these two try and catch a Sandhill Crane for an hour this afternoon- no success for them. They didn't come too close to us, but some of the Cranes were very close.

 

[Cabezon]

Desert bighorn sheep. Some wildlife encounters can be predicted, but others are total serendipity (with a measure of good planning mixed in). When we arrived at the Anza Borego State Park Visitor Center in Borego Springs, we contemplated taking a popular 3-mile RT hike to a palm oasis. But the trail was already busy when we arrived [it was Easter week and there were lots of families.]. Following the footsteps of hundreds of other hikers isn’t a winning strategy for seeing wildlife, especially birds. So, we decided to bushwack across the mouth of the canyon to the eastern wall.

We would cross several arroyos that emerge from the canyon. This strategy started to pay off as we began to encounter desert reptiles (side-blotched lizards) and birds (California quail and black-throated sparrows). In her peripheral vision, my wife spotted some birds flushing against the canyon wall. When she scoped the area with her binocs, she saw the source of the disturbance – a desert bighorn ram. We carefully, but quickly, walked across the broken boulder-strewn ground to a rise where we would have a better view of the ram. And that revealed that it wasn’t a lone ram (which would have been weird in retrospect), but a bachelor herd of nine rams. [4 in this picture.]

Their coats were very light tan and they blended in well with the rocks on the canyon edge.

[In many ungulates (including the deer that travel by my home office window), males travel together in bachelor herds, while the ewes and their offspring form their own groups. The groups only mingle during the breeding season.]
We stopped walking closer as soon as we saw the bighorn sheep notice us (elevated heads). We stopped 200-300 feet from the base of the canyon wall. Once they saw that we were not approaching any closer, they went back to browsing the spring vegetation, while we just watched them in awe.



The rams in the herd were a mix of ages as reflected in the degree of curling of their horns. Here is one of the top rams.

This is a relative youngster.

After observing them for a while (lots of pictures…), we continued down and across the wash. A very cool, unexpected encounter.
Steve

 

[SpeyrodGB]

A lone cow. Still amazed how big these critters are.

 

[Scott Salzer]

They are big. Ran into a cow and a calf on a lake in the Okanogan. It was quite a site. They can actually dive up to 15'.