The Toughest Jackson Hole Wildlife

By on December 31, 2009 Categories: National Elk Refuge, Wildlife Safari

Swans - Spring Creek Ranch, Jackson Hole, WY
By late December, only the toughest and resilient wildlife remain in this wintery Jackson Hole region. Most of our breeding birds are long gone and the remaining animals deserve our respect for there adaptations allowing them to survive here. We have observed many examples of these animals in recent safaris including bighorn sheep, moose, bison, elk, mule deer, red fox, coyote, golden eagle, bald eagles and trumpeter swans. These two swans somehow looked comfortable as they sat on the frozen ice of Flat Creek yesterday. Moose sightings have been phenomenal lately and for the past two days we have seen bull moose with antlers as well as bulls who have shed their antlers already. Like other antler-bearing mammals, moose shed their antlers yearly, but moose shed earlier than our elk and deer.