*Click on images for enlarged version.*

On December 22nd, a sunny but cold day, I wanted to get out of the house so drove to Antelope Island. It had snowed a little bit over the last week, and the weather report said more was coming.  I haven't done a lot of nature photography lately, and recently have been missing it a lot, so took advantage of a day of sunshine.

I looked into bird counts and it didn't look promising; still, you can never fully anticipate what you'll see.  In fact, being surprised with something unexpected is one of the things I love most about nature photography.

I did see a few birds, however: 

American Pipit Northern Harrier (Marsh Hawk) Junco

It's not typical to find smaller forms of wildlife out in the open, so I headed for an area that had a few trees.  I figured I could use the trees as a blind and hopefully find some birds to photograph before they noticed I was there.  I stopped when I reached the treeline, and listened.  Less than a minute had passed when I heard some rustling around in the nearby phragmites.  I poked my head around a tree and saw about half a dozen ring-necked pheasant take flight.  Away from me.  Well!  At least I had found some birds that I would be very happy to get shots of.

However, the pheasants had something else in mind.  I could hear them rustling around again in the phragmites, but I could not see them.  So, I turned back to the trees.  The moment I did, I looked directly at a ball of fur in a tree!

I knew then that I had discovered a porcupine!

Fur ball in a tree! a.k.a. Porcupine!

I had heard that there were porcupines on the island.  So I wasn't totally surprised, but I was really happy to find one, as the only other one I had seen was in Alaska, several years ago.

But, though I was excited to see one, what I really wanted to do was photograph one.  So I circled the tree beneath where the porcupine was resting, and it was apparent that it had no intention of letting me see its face; I couldn't make out any features at all.  I figured I would just take another few shots to document that I'd found one.

Looking for a face

Wait a minute -- I thought I had seen a form with dark fur a minute ago?!  What the....

There was a second porcupine in the tree!

Not 1, but 2 porcupines in the tree

How exciting!  But once again, I lamented not being able to see any of the porcupines' features.

So I continued walking, trying to find the pheasants.  I walked by another tree, and could not believe my eyes. 

A third porcupine!

#3!

I could get even closer to this one, but met the same dilemma - this porcupine, too, was curled in a ball and showed no interest in the exasperated photographer. 

Still, I was pretty delighted - 3 porcupines!  Even if I didn't get photos, I was encouraged that I had been able to find them, and hoped that I could return and try my luck again another day.

I kept walking, and once again the pheasants heard me before I could find them, and they flew away again, much further away this time.  I looked around for other birds but didn't see or hear any, so started to walk back towards my car. 

One more surprise awaited, in the next tree that I approached.

Porcupine #4.

And this one was awake, and moving around in the tree.  YESSSSSSS!

The first thing I typically do, when I encounter wildlife, is fire off some "just in case" shots -- in case the animal flies or runs away.  So I approached the tree and hoped like crazy that the porcupine would not be frightened and scamper down the tree and be gone.  So, some of the following shots are less than stellar as they fall into the aforementioned category of "just in case"!

Porcupine #4 awake and on the move!

Starting to climb down the tree

I can see its face!

Climbing down - those claws come in handy!

OMG! OMG! OMG! Can't believe I'm getting these shots!

Not sure what it's going to do - climb back up the tree when it sees me? Or keep coming down?

Getting shots of its whole body now! I'm beside myself...

I'm behind it now. It looked like a tribble!

The porcupine has landed! I can't believe it, I really can't believe it!

I'm really just amazed that this is happening.  Now that the porcupine has reached the ground, I can't believe it is less than 15' away from me and doesn't seem bothered.  Something else occurs to me.  What is that thing that porcupines do with their quills?  

Hmm.

I sort of recalled that porcupines can't really "shoot" their quills...or maybe they only do that when they feel threatened. 

Allrighty then -- I won't be threatening the porcupine.  Check.

But truly, it is only interested in eating.  I talk to it as I walk around, taking shots from different angles, to let it know I'm there.  As I found out later, porcupines are rather near-sighted, so it probably didn't see me very well.  Still, I'm sticking to the quill-avoidance protocol, and don't want to alarm it in any way.

Time for a snack, then!

These next shots were fun as the porcupine was backlit in them.  I call these its "Pomeranian look".  

By this time, I was concentrating on getting some better shots, including taking some close-ups.  It soon became apparent that this porcupine had some, well, issues.  For example, I could see that it had mange on its face and front legs.  Also, its left ear appeared to be missing or severely damaged.  It did not have an even distribution of quills either.  Still, I was delighted to have it as my subject!

Bison poo = porcupine delicacy?

As is my usual practice, I try to not be too greedy with the amount of time I spend with wildlife.  I don't want to negatively impact it by causing it any stress, for example.  So when the porcupine decided to saunter off to continue foraging, I told it goodbye.  

I hope you enjoyed reading about my porcupine photoshoot!

Happy Trails!

~ Suzanne