Reader James Blilie sent a bunch of photos from his perambulations in Glacier National Park. I’ll show about a third of them today, all displaying the magnificent mountain goat in spectacular scenery:
Glacier National Park, 1990: Getting close to Mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus).
More mountain goats, Glacier NP again, 2006:
Here’s their range (from Wikipedia). The mountain goat is the only species in its genus, and although it’s called a “goat”, isn’t in the genus Capra with all the other goats.
JAC: There has been only one human fatality attributed to the attack of this animal. As usual, the park rangers killed the responsible goat. I hate it when they kill an animal for acting like an animal.
Reader Ken Elliott saw a huge fox squirrel in his back yard:
Wikipedia says the fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), also known as the eastern fox squirrel or Bryant’s squirrel, is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America. I believe my wife and I may have the largest fox squirrel in North America hanging around our house. My wife makes sure the squirrels and birds (and perhaps rabbits) have plenty of snacks to munch through the winter with feeders in the yard. As well there’s a berry tree of some sort that has delicious squirrel snacks hanging all over it. This ‘little’ guy was munching on seeds and berries for half an hour or more just outside our kitchen window.
Many years ago I was camping at Grinnell Glacier in the park and encountered mountain goats. Before, I’d only seen them as distant white specs, and was surprised by how tame they were. They’d actually follow me around, and I couldn’t understand why until I had to pee. They were waiting to eat the salt in the urine. I was woken up at night by them chewing on the tent ropes, no doubt also seeking salt. The big males are powerful, heavily muscled creatures, as is apparent in the first photo.
If you ever go to Mount Rushmore you’ll find mountain goats all around the visitor’s center. Very tame, and they get in the way of traffic.
Anybody interested in mountain goats? Check out “The Beast the Color of Winter” by Douglas Chadwick. I read it years ago but still remember it. Lost my rather tattered copy on a trip to Beartooth Mountains.
Cool, I will check it out.
I visited the park several years ago and was also surprised by the “tameness” of the goats. However, at one stop featuring a spectacular view on a steep cliff, there was a group containing a couple of young kids. People were milling about and ending up between the parents and the young who would bleat in dismay. A ranger advised the tourists to avoid doing this since it was stressful to the goats and dangerous for the people them should one of the goats decide to give them a butt. They could have easily been shoved off the edge of the cliff. The people complied a bit until the ranger left and then they were back at it. I was appalled at the lack of sensitivity and the stupidity of the people. It was easy to imagine that they all came from large urban areas, somehow thought the goats were really tame and they were in a giant petting zoo.
Yeah, people can be pretty silly. I approached the goats and/or moved to compose the photos; but from a safe distance. And slowly/carefully.
The only one of these photos taken with a telephoto lens is the first one, at 200mm (35mm film). The rest are with a standard or wide-angle lens.
When you are face-to-face with those horns, with nothing between you and the goat, the horns seems really big and pointy. 🙂
As you can see from the second photo, sometimes, the goats just walk right past you (wide angle lens).
I’ve been that close to them in Jasper and Banff in Alberta/BC too.
I love the fifth goat picture, with the goat in the foreground near the edge of the cliff and the dramatically layered mountain, patched with snow to remind us why these goats are white, blocking most of the sky in the background. That could be a calendar pic, or better, the cover pic of a book about that ecosystem.
Cool goats, and what a magnificent looking squirrel!
That’s some sqrly tail!
What a fabulous landscape and beautifully photographed!
Great pictures of great goats! But my eyes are even more drawn to those layered rocks in the mountains. I would be trying to get to them, looking for fossils.
I think they are fossil-bearing; but of course you can’t collect them in a National Park.
Great goats and sqrl. Is that a cherry tree or an ash tree?
I wish I knew which type of tree it was. My wife is usually good about knowing what she has planted, but this tree remains unidentified. I don’t think it’s a cherry tree, and am unfamiliar with ash trees. I will do the Google to see if I can ascertain anything of relevance.
The fruits do not look like mountain ash fruits. (Other ashes typically have “spinners” similar to a maple.)
The fruits look like cherries to me (size, shape, color, long stem: apples have short stems and are singles, not small groups, which cherries typically are.
There are lots of wild cherry types in North America. Great food for squirrels!
Thank you for identifying it. It seemed logical to me it could be something close to a cherry tree, but I wasn’t sure, nor was I aware of the many types. The only thing I knew for sure what that Scrappy LOVES those cherries.
I’ve never seen a cherry tree where the fruit would persist into mid-winter, but of course my knowledge is limited. Ken’s tree seems to have small thorns on some visible branches; could it be something like a Washington Hawthorn, which are known to attract birds and squirrels to its persistent berries?
Lots of pictures on web. Anther possibility is Formosa Firethorn. Ken and wife might be able to identify by what its leaves and flowers look like.
I must go to Glacier NP someday…magnificent.
My wife and I are spending a week around Banff this summer (exploiting cheap airfares and the historically low Canadian dollar), and will be driving down to Glacier NP for an overnight stay. Alas, visiting the Burgess Shale up near Field would require a longer hike than we wanted to take, so we’ll just look at it remotely.
Having been to both GNP and Banff/Jasper, I think you are wise to spend most of your time in Jasper/Banff. Similar terrain; but on a much grander scale.
I love them both (areas) but Banff/Jasper are gigantic by comparison.
I visited Glacier National Park as a teenager (back when the glaciers were much bigger). I saw some mountain goats as white specs. I wish I had seen them as close as James! I’ve always loved them goats.
Nice fat squirrel. I’ve seen a lot of winter squirrels; do species in colder climates hibernate? Diana’s photo from yesterday perhaps proves they don’t.
Most of the goat shots are taken in the near vicinity of the Hidden Lake Overlook, which is an easy hike from Logan Pass.
It’s easy: We had a 2-year-old with us! He was a strong hiker then; but a 2-year-old nevertheless.
The goat’s distribution map has subdivided Greenland, but I can’t work out on what basis. Any hints?
Yes, I noticed that too! Check out a site for Denmark, they control it.
Here’s what the Wiki has:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland#/media/File:Greenland-municipalities-2009.svg
I knew it was Danish (I was up for Cairn’s well a few years ago off the West Coast ; didn’t get it, but I know the people who did. Interesting job.)
The link has a coarser division than in the original picture. It too broadly follows the watershed (? iceshed??), but has fewer lateral divisions.
Odd.
And:
https://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_Greenland
Look at that squirrels bushy tail!
“I hate it when they kill an animal for acting like an animal.”
With respect, from reading the link, this particular animal had it coming. It was known to be aggressive, and the victim does not appear to have done anything foolhardy. It’s fortunate the rest of the goats in the park _don’t_ act like this particular animal.
cr