“Mammal-ling” With Friends Third Place Winner
I took a trip with some friends to Colorado for a week in July. On Sunday the 19th, I walked down the road before church, looking for badgers. After about a mile, I saw a badger sticking his head up out of a burrow. I stopped and teased him a bit. Further down the road, I watched a herd of pronghorn off in the distance. The ever-present “gophers,” as they call them (actually Wyoming ground squirrels), were all over in great numbers.
On Monday, we went to Rocky Mountain National Park. We found a cow moose and her calf a short distance inside the park. We stopped and watched awhile and got some good pictures. They were in a burned-out forest where a wildfire had burned over 100,000 acres before it burned out.
Further up, above the tree line, we got to the Alpine Visitor Center. There was a short trail up to the top of a nearby peak. Almost at the top, on a cluster of rocks right beside the trail, lay a yellow-bellied marmot in the sun. It was close enough to touch, but it didn’t move. There was also a least chipmunk beside the trail.
After an hour or so, we drove farther up the road and found a large herd of elk on the mountainside, plus some very close to the road. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any bulls. We stopped several more times along the road and saw more marmots and a pika.
After driving almost to the other side of the park, we descended the mountains and found a camping spot where we had lunch. Golden-mantled ground squirrels, Colorado chipmunks, and red squirrels were abundant at this lower elevation. On the way back to the visitor center, we stopped to look at a bull moose bedded down. We got pretty close to him, as he was close to the road, with a trail that came within 60 feet (18 m) of him. A loud crack of thunder got him on his feet, and he turned toward us in a hurry. Needless to say, we didn’t stay long, with him only about 30 feet (10 m) away. Even without taking a step closer, he looked menacing enough with his big antlers.
Monday evening I went way back in Routt National Forest to camp in the mountains. I got back there soon after dusk and explored the trailhead a bit. A snowshoe hare hopped out 10 feet (3 m) in front of me before eventually disappearing into the bushes. I slept several hours, then hit the road back at about 3:30. Going down, I saw an animal in the ditch. It turned out to be a porcupine. After grabbing several quills, I continued on my way. I also saw a white-tailed jackrabbit and a pocket mouse before I got back.
On the train on the way home, I spotted a black bear climbing the mountain. Then out on the foothills before we got to Denver, we saw a big herd of elk in the distance. We frequently saw mule deer too, including some very nice bucks.
And so we concluded our trip.
Mammal List
- American Badger
- American Pika
- Big Brown Bat
- Black Bear
- Bobcat
- Colorado Chipmunk
- Common Muskrat
- Coyote
- Eastern Chipmunk
- Eastern Cottontail
- Eastern Pipistrelle
- Eastern Fox Squirrel
- Elk
- Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
- Hispid Pocket Mouse
- House Mouse
- Least Chipmunk
- Little Brown Myotis
- Meadow Vole
- Moose
- Mountain Cottontail
- Mule Deer
- North American Porcupine
- Northern Raccoon
- Northern Short-tailed Shrew
- Pronghorn
- Red Squirrel
- Snowshoe Hare
- Striped Skunk
- Virginia Opossum
- White-tailed Deer
- White-tailed Jackrabbit
- Wyoming Ground Squirrel
- Yellow-bellied Marmot
Editor’s note: Congratulations on finding the most species of mammals anyone submitted.