The latest photos by Betsy Seeton

A Brief of Pelicans

4/29/2020

A group of pelicans has many collective nouns, including a "brief", "pod", "pouch", "scoop", and "squadron" of pelicans.

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Short Story

4/22/2020

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Go get more building supplies, honey!

Bringing home the building supplies.

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Moonrise Over Tin Cup, Colorado

10/14/2019

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This moon is two days from being full in October 2019. Taken at eleven thousand feet elevation in the rocky mountains.

All moon photos in this post by Betsy Seeton

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North America does not have antelope. These antelope- looking animals I photographed here, are called pronghorns. Actual antelopes are only found in Africa.

Pronghorns are the fastest land mammal in the western hemisphere. "They can accelerate in seconds to a cruising speed of 40 or 45 miles per hour and keep it up flat-out for four miles or more, with bursts up to 55 or 60 mph in linked strides reaching nearly 30 feet each." (source)

According to the National Geographic, pronghorns evolved to outrun a now extinct cheetah-like predator.

At their peak population, there were upwards of 20 million pronghorns. As settlers expanded westward, the population fell steadily toward extinction until about 1910. The population gained in numbers, and by the 1980's there were an estimated one million.

In Colorado, the population was at a low of 5,000 in the 1940's and has grown to a high of 85,000 statewide mostly coming from Utah and Wyoming. Aside from humans, coyotes and golden eagles are their largest predators.

If you notice their white-haired rump hairs flared up, it means they are warning others of danger.

"In the winter of 1936, pronghorn crossed the frozen Yampa River from Wyoming into Moffat County in far northwestern Colorado. Wildlife managers laid down a fence to let them in, and then put it back up to keep them, according to an account in the “Colorado’s Wildlife Story,” a book by the Division of Wildlife.

In the following years, wildlife managers began transplanting the antelope to other parts of Colorado." ~ From article written by Jennifer Brown of The Colorado Sun —
PH 303-500 5821 jennifer@coloradosun.com

"The first “live antelope trapping” event came in 1941, when officers captured 72 pronghorn that winter by herding them into a corral and using a net. At first, officials boxed the animals individually for travel, but the antelope froze to death, according to the book. They learned then to transport them like cattle, herded into a covered truck and driven far from the Wyoming border.

The most recent antelope trap and relocation took place in 2010, when wildlife managers brought animals from southeastern Colorado to the Gunnison Basin because a particularly harsh winter in 2006-2007 had killed off many antelope there. Some of the animals were transplanted near Grand Junction to bulk up the population in Mesa County." - https://coloradosun.com/2019/01/21/colorado-pronghorn-antelope-recovery/