Some of wildlife I saw during my trip

kamoodle5
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Some of wildlife I saw during my trip

Unread post by kamoodle5 »

My dad mostly took photos of the sites. I did, too, but I also captured some animals I saw. Sorry to disappoint you, Ryno's guild, but I did not see any prairie dogs at the Zion National Park but I did see a prairie dog xing sign. Yet I didn't take a picture of that because I was driving at the time. Also, we did see some animals I did not get a chance to capture because either the photos looked awful or the animals disappeared too fast. We saw wild turkeys, swallows, ground squirrels, other species of deer, and a blue bird at the Grand Canyon I could've sworn was a jay, but it didn't look like a Steller's Jay and the blue jays don't live there (I see blue jays all the time in my backyard). It was also the first time I've ever seen someone having a llama or an alpaca in their farm before.

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My dad didn't think I was gonna get a good shot of these buzzards from far away when we were at the bridge at Glen Canyon, but I did.

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We found these herd of buffalo after the security entrance to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. There were other folks that parked their cars on the side of the road just to get these guys. Don't they look so content sitting there?

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I was glad this robin stayed on that stump just long enough for me to get a shot before it trotted away.

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I dunno if it was out of fright or just wanting to be in the camera, but this lizard I found in the Grand Canyon didn't move when I was three feet away from it to take a picture. He sure looks bored, doesn't he? :P

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This little rodent surely wasn't afraid when both me and my dad took photos of this cutie in front of the North Rim Lodge. In fact, after it finished eating (hence the photo), it trotted quite close to my feet and didn't wince at my presence as it went on doing its normal business. Hi Chip!

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Oh...man...you wouldn't believe how much of a thousand words this photo would describe, more than the other pictures I've took of ravens during our trip. At the Canyon de Chelly in Arizona, this raven was sitting on a dead tree stump at a site, just being the center of attention. I had no idea it would look straight at my camera when I took my shot. Kinda creepy to be having the bird of death looking right at your soul, isn't it? We believed these were ravens because they did caw like crows, but sounded half of what a person would sound. Even I imitated their noises quite well, but they didn't respond. :(

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We decided to stop at a random spot at some nature before the north rim to get these guys. They were grazing happily about 50 yards from the road. I am not sure what kind of deer these are, but I know they are different from what I see normally. These guys almost look like antelope.

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This is a female ruby-throated hummingbird (I had to ask someone). When we were at Cloudcroft, New Mexico, and rented a cabin for the night, we parked right next to someone that had the exact same SUV as we do (except it had a year after ours). While my dad and this man were chatting, me and the man's daughter had fun trying to capture shots of hummingbirds getting a drink from the feeder he had. There were more hummingbirds around, but a male ruby-throated was too busy getting all fussy with the others that wanted a drink. The males were more of a bright orange color, so I guess the name leaned more toward the females. I did see a hummingbird that looked like Flit, Pocahanta's friend hummingbird; a green bird with a white stomach and a fuchsia chest. I can't believe how tinier these birds are, and I thought my birds were tiny.

EDIT: I just learned that these hummingbirds are not native in New Mexico, but the man already told us before that they migrate. They're native in eastern U.S. Again, though, it was strange to find them there, since that is not where they would migrate to at all.
Last edited by kamoodle5 on Tue Aug 03, 2010 12:17 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Teigan
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Re: Some of wildlife I saw during my trip

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Rhyela
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Re: Some of wildlife I saw during my trip

Unread post by Rhyela »

Awesome pics, reminds me of when I used to live in AZ..... :( It was a beautiful place, especially the Grand Canyon. Words can't describe just how amazing it is in person. :)

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Re: Some of wildlife I saw during my trip

Unread post by Acherontia »

Those 'deer' are indeed antelope, Pronghorn Antelope if I'm not mistaken, closely related to goats iirc. Those are awesome pics. I have been to Zion once, ditto Grand/Bryce Canyons, and it was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I'd love to live at Zion. The waterfalls, mysterious gorges, vast wilderness...

Oh, and the crazy, endangered black & white striped squirrels!! :P
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Re: Some of wildlife I saw during my trip

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I'm not 100% certain, but I think the lizard is a male Sceloporus undulatus of some variety.
kamoodle5
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Re: Some of wildlife I saw during my trip

Unread post by kamoodle5 »

I like the way my camera made things look big, even though they weren't, like that lizard. He's really smaller than you think. He is slightly bigger than the anole lizards I see in my backyard.

On a side note, I have two more pics of another lizard that I think was trying to shed its skin. The higher back part of it definitely looked white and ragged, like a piece of clothing.
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Re: Some of wildlife I saw during my trip

Unread post by Fael »

Beautiful photos! I'm so tired and that chipmunk photo took me by surprise, so heart meltingly cute! I love the raven picture as well, it is pretty neat that you got it right at that moment.
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