Wildlife

UP CLOSE

Bison at Yellowstone National Park. This was taken with a normal lens, just a few feet from the animal. Good for me, he remained tranquil. And so did I.

MULE DEER

The name derives from the mule-like largeness of the ears. This one is in Badlands National Park, South Dakota.

BIGHORN SHEEP

These ones in Badlands National Park of South Dakota. The animals can weigh up to 300 pounds. The horns can weigh as much as 30 pounds.

HAPPY HOUR

Bighorn sheep wet their whistles at Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

ME & MY SHADOWS

Groundhog & babies enjoy a spring stroll in the Pocono Mountains of northeast Pennsylvania.

LUNCHING WITH AVATAR

Squirrel enjoys peanuts on deck of a house in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania.

ICE & ROCK CLIMBER

Mountain goat grazing alongside icy wayside of the Road to the Sun in Montana's Glacier National Park.

APPLE RUSTLER

Resident of campground below Devils Tower in Wyoming made off with picnic fare of visitors.

A LONELY SENIOR

Gus lost his companion of many years in June of 2011 at New York's Central Park Zoo. Ida was euthanized at the age of 25, after a vet determined that she had liver cancer. The pair had been the oldest couple at the zoo.

NICKEL POSE

Bison in Yellowstone National Park.

GRASSHOPPER SOUTH DAKOTA STYLE

This metallic-looking one was in the Badlands.

NOSEY VISITORS

Between you and the animals, you're likely to see men and women hauling tripods and cameras with huge lenses. The residents -- here, elk -- are on the far side of the river.

ITCHING POST

This bison was delightedly scratching the lower half of his fuselage on a post at an information kiosk in South Dakota's Badlands National Park.

PRAIRIE DOGS

Signs at Badlands National Park in South Dakota. warn visitors that the rodents can carry plague and should not be fed or touched. As if that were not enough, visitors are also advised that rattlesnakes and black widow spiders may lurk in the holes.

NEW YORK CITY SCENE?

But not any park. It's the Bronx Zoo.

LOWLAND GORILLA

This female was at the Bronx Zoo in New York.

AS PAUL SIMON SANG...

It's all happening at the zoo. Gorillas practice the Heimlich Maneuver at the one in the Bronx.

BADLANDS RABBIT

At the national park in South Dakota.

MULE DEER

In Badlands National Park, South Dakota.

CHERRY BLOSSOM MONSTER

Sometimes found lurking near the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC. A known tourist eater.

COYOTE

Checking his six o'clock at Yellowstone National Park.

Montana cow.

CAMPGROUND NEIGHBORS

These horses grazed next to a KOA in Dillon, Montana.

PRISONER SET FREE

This prairie bluebird had become trapped inside one of the buildings at the preserved ghost town in Bannack, Montana. He was flapping against a window as his mate chirped in despair outside. A rescuer made the gentle capture with outspread hands and released the creature outside. One day this bird will rescue a person in gratitude.

PRAIRIE DOG

In the Badlands National Park, South Dakota.

YELLOWSTONE GRIZZLY

She was unmindful of the traffic jam she created on the loop road.

SAYING CHEESE

Rabbit confronts camera at Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

MONTANA BUTTERFLY

Its antennae are entwined with the antenna of a pickup truck.