It happened I got Kissed!

Yes, I did. It wasn’t a buffalo or a pronghorn, it wasn’t even Roy. You ask who or what was it then. My resident burro stalker. The only Jack in the herd had to have a crush on me. I am not sure that burros can recognize cars or people my bet they do. He was the first burro I fed, and I only did it to get close to the baby he was protecting. Every time that we fed them there, he was on my side of the car. I would get out of the car and there he was. I will come back to my kiss later on.

Our day started early we were on a mission to find where the whole herd of buffalo were hiding and to find and feed the burros again. We also had a chance to have a scout for a small group of pronghorns and then the small group crossed in front of us.

So, about the buffalo I have to say it was one of those times when it seemed most of the herd was in one place. Everywhere you looked you could see buffalo. I caught them rolling around, coming towards us on the road crossing in front of us. After we turned around to head out of the herd, we have a car speed by us and park in amongst the herd. As you can see from the video I think they are a special breed of stupid. When we drove past the car we did see that the crew were from the park. I guess they have to get in among the herd to get those epic shots people enjoy. Speaking of shots here are a few of the ones I took that day.

After the herd we took a short cut to see if the burros were where they usually hang out. This was where we were lucky enough to watch the pronghorn scout turn into crossing guard.

After we got back underway again, we found the burros. The baby is learning the art of begging early as you can see. Here are a few photos of Roy feeding them. The last picture he ran out of carrots.

So, about my stalker. I was out of carrots and wanted to take some pictures because other people had stopped to feed them and that act always make for good photos. I get out of the car and he starts to follow me. I decide to ignore him, as you can see from the video, he did not like that.

After a full morning of animal fun, we decided to grab a bite to eat then head home. Looking at each other we said the only thing missing from the animal sightings were the big horn sheep. Ask and look what appeared around the corner. Our day was complete.

stupid

Buffalo on Parade

They sure were and we were the end float in the parade. It was funny we try and do the wildlife loop in Custer State Park at least a couple times a week. I like being one directional when we do the loop in the same direction every time. Once in a while Roy will change directions. I am so glad he does, I also think he has a direct line to the head buffalo. This day we happened to be first in line behind the herd. Most of the action was in front of the car and was captured on the dash cam. (best $100 buy ever).

Don’t Argue

The first complete stop occurred when this little calf decided to come hang out in front of the car. Roy started to inch up to get it on its way. Mom was having nothing of the sorts as it was nursing time. I look over and this cow is snorting and huffing to get to her calf.

I do think the calf on the left was wondering if he could partake in a lunch break also.

drink up

It is amazing how a group that large moves with a single purpose and nothing else matters. I did try to get a few pictures of the action happening on the side of the road but it was more like where’s Waldo.

My efforts then turn to watching the road where we were treated to some more bonding of cow and calf. This video is titled ‘Enter stage right’

grand entrance

This little one was just brutal he was not giving up for anything.

mine

It was funny watching the head butts and the determination.

Heading down the road a little further we start getting crowded by the big guys. I am posting the video I took and then the dash cam and you can see why I was quite jerky. The buffalo was a tad close. I was thinking that might leave a mark.

close enough

With the action being active on the road I decided to add to my mirror pictures from a mirrorless camera, here are two of those.

After about a half hour we decided to move on down the road. As it seems the timing was perfect. We passed a mower that clips the weeds on the shoulder of the road going towards the buffalo.

I did not take odds on who won the battle.

I can enjoy these parades all the time.

Two Straight Hours

No, I was not quiet for that long. What happened was we saw prairie dogs, burros, bison and big horn ship in that amount of time. I captured it all on dash-cam with a few photos to boot. It was one of those beautiful afternoons we went for a drive around wildlife loop, and I of course forgot the apples for the burros. This is only an 18-mile drive but each time we take it you see something different.

On wildlife loop we first came upon prairie dogs with 3 bison mixed in. The bison were some of the good old boys who just as happy to lay around alone. This area of the loop is covered with 100s of prairie dog burrows. This is where I entertained myself for hours last time we were here, I plan on doing that again. These guys are so dang cute. Check it out!

While we were hanging watching the prairie dogs I took another shot out the side mirror. She was taking pictures of the dogs, and I caught her looking at them on her cell phone

We had not seen any burros the whole trip, so I lost hope. The herd has had some difficulty in recent years, low birth rates and a malfunctioning jack. Hopefully that will change this year they added another jack and two jennies to the herd. This is what a ranger told me. Here is what Wikipedia says about Custer State Park

found them

The animal that everyone wants to see on the loop is of course the buffalo. That was clearly the case with this little girl. I never saw her face, but you could just tell from the way she stretched out the back window of her car.

Side note it is so cool to see people standing up and out of their sunroofs to catch sight of the animals. I will not do this because I can picture me getting stuck, and Roy laughing his butt off. Back to the story

they are big I tell you.

The herd of buffalo were everywhere even taking over the road. I think one of them was willing to play chicken with Roy or at least that is what it looks like here. Or he was pulling a Clint Eastwood on us saying ‘Go ahead make my day”.

After we got passed the traffic jam Roy did a u-turn which was cool. I can never get enough buffalo. If he hadn’t I would have missed this picture. I also would have missed the big horn sheep we saw.

As for the big horn sheep we also had not seen any yet. There is a spot in the road where they lick the salt from the winter that is left down the middle of the road. Sometimes like today they get stubborn and nothing you do will get them to move. I was however surprised at the amount and small size of the babies in the group. Here are two videos just to show you what we saw. In the first video there was some head butting going on. The second video does show they will move for motorcycles.

The treat was to see so many animals in such a short amount of time. I leave you with this photo of two babies and their mom. The looks are priceless.

When at first you don’t succeed

try again.

This trip has been all about being in the right place at the right time for photo ops. Today was our second to last day on the Kenai. It was gloomy and rainy, so we went out looking for something to photograph. We were hoping to see a local fish ladder in use. No such luck. We then wanted to see if we could see salmon from another bridge. Could not find the road it was on. Striking out on those two adventures we head to a drive-up coffee place and ordered a coffee milkshake made with real frozen expresso.

Off to Deep Creek to see if there are any boats out on the water. There were two and we were just in time to see them dock. This is the beach that you have to get pulled out by tractors. The first boat revved his engines and made the perfect launch into his trailer. The second boat not so lucky. See for yourself. I am so glad Roy told me to video it.

The Line

The Miss

try again

success

We have had such a blast this year on the Kenai. Now we resupply in Anchorage, then, up the Parks Highway. We should be in Fairbanks in time for the start of Northern Lights season.