Moose in the Spruce

 

Twin moose calves explore their world within the safe orbit of their protective mother. The largest deer, moose are tough, resilient and strong.

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Photographers come from all over the world to photograph moose in Denali each fall. In these spruce forests, the bulls engage in ferocious battles. This enormous bull is surely the warden of the north woods.

Meet Moosasaurus Rex. This is the biggest moose I have ever seen. Wowza.

A bull moose follows a cow through the willows in front of mountains draped in fresh snow. This is one of my favorite photos.

A cow jealously guards her baby in Denali. Normally, I wouldn't venture within six states of a moose and her calf. They will stomp you into the dirt until you are pudding. But some moose in Denali have learned to raise their babies around the comparative safety of the campground where there are fewer predators. The moose are marginally more tolerant of people, but I still took the photos with a long lens from the safety of my rental car to keep from disturbing either of them. 

Timing is everything when it comes to observing moose. In Yellowstone, I spent many summer evenings hanging out with a resident bachelor herd of seven moose on the Mallard Lake Trail behind our dorms. The bulls were completely relaxed, chewing their cud while I sat on a nearby rock and wrote in a journal. But the cows are far more skittish. In the fall, the bulls become far less tolerant — and more dangerous.

I took this photo and it still takes my brain a second every time to figure out what I'm looking at. It's a moose's lips plucking willow leaves. Moose will also eat sedges and other wetlands plants.

A bull moose crosses the Savage River in Denali. The moose did not loiter. Wolves and grizzlies use these glacial rivers to navigate the park. 

A bull moose stands out among the orange fall foliage as the first winter snow begins to fall.

A moose cow nibbles on summer foliage. It's hard to comprehend just how big moose are, but those leaves are nine feet off the ground!

The landscape of Denali dwarfs even a bull moose. Moose are a bellwether for climate change. Their numbers are declining in the lower 48 as they fall victim to invasive ticks and disease that is taking advantage of the warming temps.