Finding Wildlife pt. 4: Species Profiles
Photos and Text by: Jared Lloyd
Below I am going to put together an outline of basic biological / ecological information and how it applies to a wildlife photographer. This is coming straight out of my “notebook” that I keep just on moose in Jackson Hole.
Moose Diet
- Spring / Summer
o Dietary needs of moose change dramatically as the land begins to green up. Primary needs are increased mineral and sodium for milk, antler, and hair production.
§ Aquatic vegetation can contain up to 500x more sodium than terrestrial plants. This makes shallow ponds and wetlands key habitat for moose this time of year.
· Key areas in Jackson Hole for finding Moose feeding on such vegetation are:
1. The ponds below the “moose overlook” on the Moose-Wilson road.
2. The old beaver pond along the Moose-Wilson road
3. The ephemeral pond off the side of Pilgrim Creek Rd in Grand Tetons National Park. There are two large bull moose that can often be found here in the Spring.
4. Ephemeral ponds across Togwatee Pass (higher elevation, latter timing).
§ With the prevalence of “salt” or “mineral” licks throughout the West however, moose in the Rocky Mountains feed on aquatic vegetation much less than eastern populations of moose.
§ Forbs, or small tender leafy plants, also jump to the top of the list for dietary needs. These species are found in wet meadows where water is plentiful enough in the soil for these plants to grow.
1. All of the Snake River
2. Grassy Lake Rd past Flag Ranch
3. The Moose-Wilson Rd.
4. The meadows atop Togwatee Pass
§ Willows and young aspens also become very important this time of year.
o In the Spring, all effort for photographing moose should be based around wetlands, rivers, and wet areas as this is specifically where the most productive food sources can be found.
- Fall / Rut
o With forbs beginning to die off, species such as silverberry and willow become the primary food sources for moose.
§ Cow moose will concentrate throughout the riparian zones of rivers with extensive willow habitat as they desperately try to pack on as many calories as possible before the winter.
§ September kicks off the start of the moose rut.
§ Bull moose stop eating for the entire duration of the rut as they put every single waking moment into focusing on breeding.
§ Where there are cows, there will be bull moose this time of year.
1. There are 4 or 5 cows in the Gros Ventre campground that will regularly attract large bulls into the area in search of cows in heat. Just remember that when the cow has a calf with her, she will not come into estrus and therefore will not attract bulls but for more than a day.
§ As bull moose are trying to spread their genes far and wide this time of year with as many cows as they can, the bulls cease to be secretive and no longer hang out in the same locations day after day. This time of the year you can find bulls roaming far and wide in search of more cows.
§ The absolute best area to photograph the moose rut in Jackson Hole is in the narrow leafed cottonwood forests along Gros Ventre, and the mixed bottomland forest growing along the Snake River. Both of these locations contain the most food for cows preparing for winter, and therefore the most amounts of bulls working those cows.
§ Don’t spend all your time in the campground. Put boots on and hike the Gros Ventre river down to the Elk Refuge.
§ Be very careful hiking anywhere along the Snake River. Grizzlies are beginning to show up in there for elk. Bulls get injured this time of year during the rut and become easy pickings. Early snows will also start pushing elk out of the Teton Range and they hold up down along that river until November when they start pushing over to the Elk Refuge.
- Late Fall / Winter
o Once the Rut comes to an end the large bull moose move out of the river bottoms and away from the cows. After not eating for nearly two months, their bodies are in desperate need of protein to replenish muscle and fat loss.
§ Bull moose transition to a diet almost exclusively of bitterbrush which can be found out in the sagebrush flats
1. Antelope Flats along the Gros Ventre Road
2. All along Ditch Creek
3. Up the Gros Ventre road to the National Forest
4. Around the airport
5. The area around the Snake River Golf and Racquet Club.
6. The sage flats between Black Tail Butte and the Moose visitor center
§ Cows continue to feed on what is left over of the cottonwood (in the willow family), silverberry, and other food stuffs that can be found in the riparian zone (areas around the rivers).
§ Young bulls that did not have the opportunity to breed with females tend to try and move in on the cows at this point now that the big mature bulls have moved off.
§ Large groups of bull moose (up to 20 or more) can be found by November browsing together on bitterbrush out in the open.
§ As moose are highly dependent upon the temperature and are distinctly stressed by warmer temperatures more so than most animals, feeding out in the open exposes them to the sun.
· Photographing the bulls in these conditions means that you may only have a very short window in the morning and evening when they are up and moving about – often just an hour.
· As temperatures continue to drop, bulls will spend the middle part of the day bedded down amongst the bitterbrush instead of retiring in the stands of aspen to escape the heat.
o At this point, you will need to make a strong mental note of exactly where you saw the feeding in the morning. When they bed down in the bitterbrush they will literally just stand up and begin feeding again. This is opposed to having to make their way out of the trees and to favored feeding grounds which makes them more visible for longer since much of their time is spent getting to where they will feed.
o If you did not see the moose bed down in the morning, then you will only have the glint of the sun off of their antlers from often times hundreds of yard away to try and find them before they get up to feed.
- Late Winter / Early Spring
o This is the hardest time of the year for moose.
§ As key food sources are now buried under feet of snow or have died back for the year, moose are forced to try and subsist upon the needles of spruce and fir trees. Despite the origin of their name, their digestive system has a difficult time handling high fiber food sources.
· This is a major limiting factor on both growth and population size throughout the West. As moose must compete with other large herbivores that have dominated this landscape much longer than they have been present, they are forced to subsist on species of plants that have adapted to being regularly browsed upon. Plants defensively react over time by becoming more fibrous and therefore less digestible in general to all. Some species such as the horse have adapted their own unique way of digesting food specifically so that they can thrive off the stuff others cannot, whereas moose, on the other hand, are generally stunted by this.
o This is why moose in Maine and Alaska get so much larger than moose in the Rocky Mountain West. Traditionally these different populations were considered subspecies. But studies have shown that these moose are just growing alongside of the limits of their habitat and diet.
§ Though this time of year is the hardest time to find moose since they are frequenting dense forests, this is also the best time of the year to find wolf and moose interaction.
· As moose are significantly weakened and hanging on for survival through the months of March, April, and May wolves stand a better chance of taking down a moose this time of the year. If you are looking for that predator prey interaction then winter is the time to be here.
There is more in my notebook about moose. But we will stop there. You get the gist.
Food and sex.
That’s what it’s all about when it comes to finding animals. Each animal is different. Each species holds its own biography that can be written. The primary theme though, is the same. Understanding this, educating yourself on this, and learning how to exploit this is what will significantly increase your chance of finding and photographing wildlife.
Beyond Moose
With so many different species out there, I had to pick one to use as an example for this discussion on finding wildlife. These same concepts apply to EVERY animal. There are more grizzly bears in Glacier National Park than Yellowstone for a reason. And it’s this same reason why grizzlies in Yellowstone react to our presence from 100 yards away while we can sit a mere 15 yards from coastal brown bears without them ever giving us a second thought. When you begin to look at animals in terms of their whole story, you stop leaving everything up to chance.
The primary concept that I hope you take away from this discussion on finding wildlife is that for professional photographers, very little is left up to chance. Chance, of course, does play a large role in photography but it favors the prepared mind.
By understanding exactly what makes animals tick, you can significantly improve the odds of finding yourself in the right place at the right time to photograph wildlife. It’s not a coincidence that the very best wildlife photographers alive today also happen to be some of the most well read and top-notch naturalists in the world.
