On our way from Saskatoon to Winnipeg we were fortunate to run across many fantastic animals that make up the prairie landscape. Here are a few to give you an idea of what we saw!
Grasslands National Park – A young black-tailed prairie dog calls out a warning to its fellows. Prairie dogs are highly social creatures that live in large colonies. It’s estimated that there are between as many as 17,000 – 23,000 prairie dogs living in Grasslands National Park.
Grasslands National Park – An Eastern Kingbird sits on a branch. Although they are charming to look at, their call has often been compared to the buzz of an electric fence.
Grasslands National Park- An Eastern Kingbird enjoys the sun.
Grasslands National Park – a common checkered skipper.
Grasslands National Park – A purplish copper perches on a flower.
Grasslands National Park – A different view of a purplish copper.
Grasslands National Park – A grey hairstreak butterfly.
Grasslands National Park – A pair of Juba skippers.
Grasslands National Park – A grey hairstreak lands on silver sage.
Grasslands National Park – Nighthawk in the day. A common nighthawk such as this is an insectivore, and contrary to the name only hunts at dusk and dawn.
Grasslands National Park – An inquisitive young mountain cottontail watches carefully.
Pelican Point, Montana – Living up to its name, Pelican Point’s residents included white American pelicans, like this one here. American pelicans have the second largest wingspan of any North American bird, after the California condor.
Pelican Point, Montana – A bighorn ram clears a fence. By 1900, bighorn sheep numbered in the mere thousand, but thanks to the efforts of conservationists they made a recovery.
Pelican Point, Montana – A bighorn ram’s horns can weigh more than the rest of the bones in his body- up to 30 pounds.
Denton, Montana – A golden eagle sits on a telephone pole. Golden eagles are one of the largest eagle species in North America, with females weighing more on average than males.