People tend to comment on my animal photos so here is a variety pack of critters I have seen in the recent past:
As I was leaving the South Rim of the Grand Canyon one day last week there were four bull elk blissfully grazing on both sides of the highway. This was out on the main highway, not far from the south entrance.
This one thought it was hiding but I thought “I can still see you…..”
And this one was a little younger than the other three and was off by himself:
Pikas and condors and elk…. Oh my!
I saw this yellow-bellied marmot while I was on my pika hunt up at Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah:
This one is cheating a little bit – a hummingbird in the Hummingbird Aviary at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, not far from where I am staying in Tucson. These were taken earlier today:
I tried getting photos of some of the other hummingbirds but my digital camera tends to focus of the leaves in the tree, not on the hummingbird I have centered in the frame. I have tinkered with other camera settings and can’t get it to work properly – very frustrating!
This is an unknown bird in another aviary at the museum. I looked on the “photo tiles” outside the building to try and determine what it is but it wasn’t included. Maybe it is a foreigner that snuck in with a customer…
This one was a little closer to home – literally. When I got back to my Airbnb this afternoon my hostess drew my attention to this owl in a tree about 50 feet from the back door leading out onto her back porch.
And while I was at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon last week I made another attempt (and spent an inordinate amount of time) searching for a Kaibab Squirrel, which has a white tail. They are only found in the Kaibab National Forest and I tried unsuccessfully to get photos of one when I was there four years ago. I didn’t have any better luck this trip, though a large wildfire last year in the northern part of the Forest may have scared them off. The rangers in the Grand Canyon weren’t very helpful in suggesting spots to find them, though they commented that they haven’t seen very many of them either. Or maybe the condors got ’em all.
I’ve only noticed one roadrunner so far, which ran across the road well in front of my car as I was leaving Casa Grande the other day. I am hoping I will see more while I am here in Arizona and when I head over to New Mexico next week. I’ll probably just have to park next to the road out in the desert and wait for some to come along. They are cute little birds.
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