This gallery contains 7 photos.
i Love these photo challenges: this one is about animals, enjoy, til Tomorrow MJ Click on any image and follow the arrows for a full-sized slide show, thanks
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Sunset in the Badlands
Friends, yes there are trees in the North Dakota Badlands. These cottonwoods are along the Little Missouri River near Medora and the cedar and junipers are on north-facing slopes.. At sunset. the mule deer bucks head over the hill. Hope you like the sunset in the badlands. til Tomorrow MJ
Immature Eagle
Friends, This immature bald eagle was trying to have a little snack on a roadkill, but i was patiently sitting across the road and he remained in this tree until i went away. smart bird, but he was still snacking a few days later when i passed again, but I had taken this image so I did not stop. The ponds and lakes are all frozen this time of year so his fishing food source is not available. Bald eagles will scavenge what food is available and an occasional deer carcass means survival. His varied feathering marks him as a juvenile bird. The bald eagle gains his all-white head and tail over a period of five years His pate is turning a white but still has a strong eye stripe and a dark bill. I am not a birding expert so I will not venture a guess at the age of this eagle. til Tomorrow MJ
Young Whitetail Buck
Friends, this young whitetail deer is a male and was following some girls that were roaming through our woods in the backyard. We live in the Wisconsin wilds and it is not uncommon to see the female whitetails in our woods. But we rarely get a chance to photograph a buck. I was sitting in my elevated deer stand that is suspended from a tree about twelve feet off the ground, when this boy came into view and peeked around a tree at me. The top image shows his response when the camera started to click and he saw me. Which pose do you like, the relaxed (bottom image) or the all-alert image (top). til Tomorrow MJ
Whitetail water wading
Friends, this female whitetail deer is eating fresh salad in the marsh, she is also trying to escape the relentless biting flies of the northland summer.She didn’t seem to mind that i was observing and taking her photo, too busy chowing down on fresh food. She is probably a young female because there was no fawn following her, this time of year we start to see the youngsters following their mothers everywhere. til Tomorrow MJ
Mule Deer
Friends, yesterday i showed you a white tail deer and today’s image is of a mule deer in the badlands. His antler tines branch and in spring and summer his antlers are covered in velvet, a vascular tissue that causes the antlers to grow and deposit calcium. He loses his antlers every year like the white tail but is a much larger animal. They frequent the rugged ravines and steep hills regions of the National Park. The below image shows the very early stages of antler growth. til Tomorrow MJ
What the trees hide
Friends,The dense tree cover serve to hide the wildlife in the badlands. This male elk is venturing into a clearing after raking his antlers on the brush, scraping the velvet off and polishing his antlers for the fall breeding wars. I know he is in the middle of the image but i wished to emphasize the surrounding trees and the small clearing. The male mule deer (below) is peeking from behind a tree. His antlers are still growing and covered with “velvet” , but his curiosity is over whelming. By setting the deer and elk in the middle of the frame, the emphasis is on the surrounding trees. An experiment in composition. til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 