Nov 6 - Antelope Island Drive

My sister is here this week-end and it's partly sunny so we're heading up for a drive around Antelope Island. Hoping the bison around out; they were corralled last Friday, med checks this week so they should be.

Driving across the causeway there are no hawks/Kestrels yet. But we do see several duck hunters walking back towards the causeway.

We arrive on the island in full sun. There are clouds to the south but for now it's sunny!

There are no bison behind the Visitor's Center and we don't find any until northern-most part of White Rock ridge. There is a small herd of bison about 1/2 way up.

However, there is a bigger herd a little of south of us and they are actually on both sides of the road.

We continue south - there are no deer visible in the usual area.

We do see additional small herds as we drive south with a nice sized herd near the potty before the Ranch. Some are very near the parking lot, some of south of the parking lot crossing to the other side of the road. 

We stop to watch -- pretty exciting! And as we drive past one on the side of the road, we stop and "talk" to him.

Soon we continue on to the Ranch. The dirt road to Sentry Peak is closed. And there are no bison visible to the south.

We stop at the Ranch to look for Owls. We talk to 2 rangers and they say they haven't seen them today and let them know if we see them.

My sister stays back at the building and I go into to grove looking for them. I eventually fine one (probably the male) basically in the northeast corner. He's hard to see until you are under his butt. 

I head out and grab my sister - who tells the Ranger and they all head my way. I get to the area but can't find it but the one Ranger does see it. Everyone has a good look! My sister's 1st wild Great Horned Owls. And I get a thank-you from the Rangers -- they like to keep track of them.

On the way back north, we stop to "talk" to a bison on the side of the road again. Probably the same as before but my sister is closer this time.

We continue up to the Frary Peak parking and a short walk to the edge for a look-see below.

Then we head over to the west side. There are no bison over here. We stop for a short walk on the Lakeside Trail.



Good day!

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