Buffalo Lake
December 17th, 2009
Last week I had to go out to Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge for the newspaper, which is between Canyon and Hereford in Umbarger. Its a great little park that sets on 7, 664 acres of land. I spent the afternoon with wildlife biologist Melanie Hartman. She took me all over the property looking for some of the different types of wildlife they have on property for the public to see.
Some of the first we saw were mule deer. The first group we saw had five in it. When we drove by the just stood there and looked at us so I had Melanie stop and I got out of the truck and stood there and shot a couple of frames of this group.
After we shoot for a few minutes we decided to move on and see what else we could find. We next came across a large group of turkey walking across a field enjoying the afternoon sun. They acted as they had no care in the world as we drove by about a 50 yards away. We continued along looking for hopefully some Bald Eagles. The first that we came across were some Red Tailed Hawks.
After that we drove around a curve and had some Bald Eagles take of for the treeline in front of us. As they started to circle to gain altitude we drove near them and I was able to get off a few shots as the flew overhead.
As we continued along we came across a couple of Porcupines up in the trees sleeping and eating bark. We got out of Melanie’s truck and walked right up under them and I was able to get the shot below. I was out at the refuge for about 3 hours and came across many varieties of animals and birds. This was a fun assignment for me at work and it was one that I wish I could have stayed longer. I might have to go back one morning on my day off and spend a morning out there taking more pictures.
