06 July 2011

MT/WY MAMMALS

Continuing in my MT/WY theme, this post is devoted to the different mammals we saw on our recent trip out west.  I was surprised by the overall diversity; we ended the trip with more than 20 species of mammals.

It didn't take long to find some photogenic rodents; these COLUMBIAN GROUND SQUIRRELS at Glacier National Park were rather used to humans:


In Yellowstone National Park, UINITA GROUND SQUIRRELS were very common; here are three at the entrance of a burrow:



Continuing with the rodent theme, I tentatively identified these as LEAST CHIPMUNKS although I wouldn't be surprised if there were YELLOW-PINE CHIPMUNKS included:




We saw several RED SQUIRRELS on the trip as well:



Another new mammal was the WHITE-TAILED PRAIRIE DOG which favors sagebrush.  We saw these in southern Wyoming:


We didn't see many carnivores but the one we did see was rather impressive!  This BLACK BEAR was hunting ground squirrels in Glacier National Park right in front of us:


We saw MOUNTAIN GOATS several times on our trip but always through a spotting scope.  We weren't ever up on the distant rock faces so all my pictures of goats were distant: 




This clump of fur actually belongs to a MOOSE we spotted while driving.  It was a bit too close and obscured to get a IDable photo though!

We saw BIGHORN SHEEP several places as well.  These resting way up on a hillside were in Glacier National Park: