Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park Wildlife Moments, June 2011

Of all the places we've been so far, nothing beats Custer State Park for wildlife viewing!  We went for our second visit in June of 2011, and we couldn't wait to go for a drive along Wildlife Loop. The variety of wildlife you can see without ever leaving your car is astounding, but stay in your car...those bison aren't as cute and cuddly as they look!

And if the bison aren't cute enough for you, spend some time watching the prairie dogs.  I could have watched them all day, Wayne had to just put it in drive even though I was protesting.  My mother wondered why I found rodents so cute...until she watched them for herself! Again, stay in your car because coyotes and rattlesnakes frequent prairie dog towns, and the adorable rodents are carriers of plague.  We saw quite a few young prairie dogs peeking out of their holes while their mothers foraged nearby, and with patience I finally got a shot of this group of five youngsters.

One time as we were passing a prairie dog town we spied a burrowing owl for a brief second, but by the time we stopped and backed up he was nowhere to be seen.  The pronged antelope are a little harder to photograph as they are a little more skittish as well as fast!  The males seemed to be less wary than the females.

If you look around rock and brush piles carefully you might even spy a marmot or two, but they tend to disappear quickly as well.

When you get tired of driving around Custer State Park, continue on into Wind Cave National Park, where the vistas and the wildlife are just as plentiful. My mom and I went for a short hike one day and besides seeing some cliff swallows we saw this mama turkey and her babies.  What are baby turkeys called? Turklets? Whatever they are called, their orange legs are adorable!

Wayne and I detoured into Wind Cave on a dirt road shortly before dusk one evening and spotted a buzzard at the turnoff, a coyote looking for a snack in a prairie dog town, a baby antelope hiding in the grass while waiting for mom to return and a trio of elk. And since we made that extra effort to take the well maintained dirt road, we had it mostly to ourselves. Pack your camera, buckle your seatbelt and enjoy!

Healthy buzzards...lots of roadkill, perhaps?

coyote looking for a prairie dog sized snack

baby antelope are hard to find...I saw this one's ears poking above the grass

End of our day...but not theirs! Elk love the night life!