Spotty Deer Season

 

June heralds spotty deer season. A mama white-tailed deer gave birth to twin fawns in my friend's yard. The babies keep a low profile during the day while she is gone.

All babies need lots of sleep. This little fawn was distracted by the ants that used her as a highway to get back to their colony under the tree.

Eventually sleep caught up to her.

Fawns have excellent camouflage that helps them blend in with the sun-dappled forest — or a residential back yard.

Grizzly Encounter

I had a great encounter with a young grizzly during my visit to Montana in April. The bear leaned against a tree like a honeybear.

It's hard to age and sex a bear, but I think it's a 4-year-old female judging from her size.

She likely is one of the twins I photographed in the same meadow two years ago in April when they were following their groggy mom down the mountain in northern Yellowstone. She would have been a two-year-old in this pic. I got to photograph them on four consecutive days during that visit.

 

Now she's a full-grown grizzly living on her own.

She emerged from hibernation in great physical condition, ready to take on the spring.

But first a little butt scritch against a favorite tree.

I saw a dozen bears during my trip, but this encounter was especially cool. 

Junction Butte

A yearling wolf pup bolts through an unkindness of startled ravens in Yellowstone National Park. I found the black wolf feeding on something small just off the road near Slough Creek.

I parked my truck and killed the engine at a pulloff looking down where the wolf was busying itself with its meal. I thought the sighting was going to be an all-timer. The wolf was reasonably close enough for my long lens to capture nice portraits and observe its behavior. But after swallowing the last morsel, the young wolf bolted straight away from me without glancing back once and didn't stop until it disappeared over the far ridge. I couldn't believe my bad luck!

The little wolf was one of six black puppies from last year's litter in the Junction Butte pack. One morning I got to watch the rambunctious siblings play around a distant (very distant) pond. 

Happy Birthday, David Attenborough!

As a kid growing up surrounded by the boring suburban parks of Ohio, I watched every wildlife show I could find. The nature programs narrated by David Attenborough were the gold standard. When one came on, you knew you were going to see something totally new and amazing from every corner of the world. No other person has inspired more appreciation for nature. My dad was an avid outdoorsman, too, and we often watched together.

That childhood wonder has taken me to all seven continents. In honor of his 100th birthday, here are some of the experiences that David Attenborough inspired.

Cape May County, New Jersey.

Monteverde, Costa Rica.

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda.

Judean Desert, Israel.

South Georgia Island.

Belize.

Samburu, Kenya.

Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

Arctic Ocean, Alaska.

Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica.

Queensland, Australia.

Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Antarctica.

Lake Nakuru, Kenya.

Kruger Park, South Africa.

Gunflint Trail, Minnesota.

The Watcher

 

A cautious fox watches me from the safety of the forest in Montana. I went looking for this habituated blonde fox just outside Yellowstone where I photographed her two years ago. And I was delighted to find her just where I had hoped. But she wasn't the trusting sort, which made the shot framed by evergreens such a delight.

Flying squirrels!

 

I took part in Fernald's spring “squirrel sit” to look for southern flying squirrels. And for just the second or third time in my life, I saw one. These tiny, elfin creatures are unbelievably fast, darting around trees and branches while foraging. And they are strictly nocturnal, which explains why I never see them.

Flying squirrels have a thin membrane of skin stretching from their wrists to their ankles that allows them to glide from tree to tree. But most of the time they move around like other squirrels, albeit faster than you can imagine. I think I saw one at Miami Whitewater when I was a kid. A small animal flew down onto the trail in front of me before bounding away into the bushes. I only caught a glimpse. Many years later, I took these photos at a generous Kentucky wildlife photographer's home. So cool!

During the Fernald event, a barred owl posted up near the feeders, keeping the squirrels away. But one squirrel did give us a brief encounter with one of the most mysterious animals in the Eastern forest.

Thanks to naturalist Luke Thies for hosting the squirrel sit. Flying squirrels really are incredible animals.

Polar Bears!

A polar bear sits in a little pile of snow on a windswept beach along the Arctic Ocean. Like playing alone in an above-ground pool, there just isn't much fun to be had alone in her little snowdrift.

🐻  🐻  🐻

Kaktovik, Alaska (pop. 283) is an Inupiat community at the edge of the Arctic Ocean.

To reach Barter Island, you have to brave the formidable Brooks Range and land on an airstrip surrounded by water. Barter Island was named for its role as an Arctic trade destination.

Inupiat residents of Kaktovik hunt bowhead whales that they tow back to town to butcher at the end of the island at a place called the bonepile. This attracts polar bears. Hunting and fishing helps put food on the table for this remote community.

Bears conserve their energy during the long warm months. Fewer than 1,000 polar bears live along this stretch of Arctic. Seeing so many bears in one place demonstrates how little food there is for them for half the year.

My bear guide was a musher who competed each year in the Iditarod sled-dog race. Playing with his puppies was a highlight of my visit. Which one do you want?

 

Bears sleep on a silty sandbar, which turns their white coat dingy brown. 

s

Besides some gulls, geese and ducks, I didn't see much other wildlife during my two-day stay. But snow buntings with their toasted marshmallow colors were yard birds for one resident who shared some cracked corn. I used to see them most winters in New Jersey.

A bear takes shelter from the icy wind in the lee of a driftwood log. Even frost bears can get cold.

An enormous male polar bear roams the edge of a sandbar. Moms had to be vigilant here to protect their cubs from other bears. 

I got to see the first snowfall of the long Arctic winter. Bears rolled in the snow to regain their glossy, white coats. It would not be long before ice would return to the Beaufort Sea, allowing the bears to return to the ocean to hunt seals.

My guide took me out on his fishing boat to look for bears. Photo conditions were challenging, with dark skies, sustained 30-knot winds, snow and low visibility. We were on our own. The nearest Coast Guard helicopter was 900 miles away in Kodiak.

A bear investigates an enticing scent in the snow.

A cub curls up next to her sleeping mom in the falling snow. This was my favorite pic of the trip.