Handsome pony … stunning view of McKenna Peak and Temple Butte across Spring Creek Basin.
Yep, must be mustang country.
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Happy post-Memorial Day! Thanks to our vets for your service!
Handsome pony … stunning view of McKenna Peak and Temple Butte across Spring Creek Basin.
Yep, must be mustang country.
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Happy post-Memorial Day! Thanks to our vets for your service!
Lovely Tesora shines against Knife Edge, lit up by the setting sun. Check out that wind knot! Pretty impressive for a little girl. 🙂
Soft and prickly – (part of) the beauty of nature’s deserts. 🙂 Claret cup cacti are among my favorites.
Ever vigilant, Storm guards his family from all intruders – even little ones.
I was just walking along when …
This pronghorn buck was napping when I crested a little hill and saw him. He stood up, and I stood still. Apparently, he didn’t detect a threat, so he laid back down.
Note: All the little red bits are blooms of claret cup cacti, which seem particularly spectacular – and prolific – this year.
These photos all are significantly cropped. Pronghorns are much warier of intrusions by two-legged intruders than the mustangs. 🙂
Interesting trivia:
They’re the fastest North American land mammal – actually, the fastest in the entire Western Hemisphere, according to Wikipedia.
Wyomingites call pronghorns “speed goats.”
Pronghorns are not antelope, which is why it’s correct to call them pronghorns (pronghorn/pronghorns for plural animals? that’s one I’m not sure about).
Pronghorns prefer crawling under fences to jumping over them, which is why wildlife-friendly fencing that takes elk calves and deer fawns into consideration also considers this knowledge about pronghorn behavior – stringing the lowest wire strand at least 18 inches off the ground.
Pronghorns aren’t currently hunted in Disappointment Valley because their population is low (likely *because of* previous hunting). They seem to be working toward recovery because while they’re infrequently seen, they ARE seen.
Visit Wikipedia for more information about these cool mammals.
A fantastic book (thanks, David Temple!) is Built for Speed: A Year in the Life of Pronghorn.
Ty seems to be asking Tesora for some help with the gnats. The blasted (and blasting) wind is a big help to keep them at bay, but they’re still aggravating little buggers.
Chrome in all his wild handsomeness, right down to his sweet little mustachio and chewing on a sprig of grass!
Young stallion Tenaz takes his duties very seriously. Elder Bounce seems to just want some company.
Pretty Temple keeps an eye on visitors while grazing in a “high forest” in Spring Creek Basin. The shade really “blued” her grey.
Note the pretty yellow wildflower. Ours are blooming in the high desert. 🙂
Please indulge another pic of handsome Bounce with Knife Edge in the background. It’s not as prominent, perhaps, as McKenna Peak or Temple Butte or Round Top or Brumley Point or the La Sal Mountains of Utah, shining beyond our northwestern borders. But it is long and low and weathered – especially noticeable in this late-spring, late-afternoon light – and especially with a handsome mustang in its foreground.