Feb 18 - Antelope Island

 Heading up to Antelope Island this morning to get a hike in. It's sunny and 16 degrees when I leave my house this morning. (Wishing so hard to get some seasonal temperatures instead of the below normal stuff especially in winter.)

It's just a few degrees warmer when I reach the Island. And yes, it's still a frozen tundra. And the flags are blowing; yuk it's cold and windy!

Lots of ducks still today. They are mostly on the SL side because there's only a small opening on the Farmington Bay side and no Bald Eagles :(

I reach the Island and head south towards the Ranch. Thanks to a lady who was pulled over by the rocks, I do spot a small herd that's among those rocks.

It's a quiet drive until after the pit toilets when a coyote runs in front of my car heading west. Scares the crud out of me because it was pretty close!

I continue to the Ranch w/o seeing any Pronghorn or any other bison. So it's time to find the Owl(s). And that's when I find out that I forget my winter coat - no hike for me today :(

I check the barn and no owls. I check the woods doing a counter-clockwise loop and I'm not having much success (and it's really chilly out here)! I exit the woods, around thru the field 

and before I re-enter, I see a Spotted Towhee.

Back in the woods I see an Owl - I'm thinking this is the male due to it seems small. Success!

Back in the car, I head north. Across from Frary Peak I see a Porcupine and he's right off the road. I'm stopping. As I get out of my car, there's a car coming south. I don't want to bring attention to what I'm looking at so once out of the car I just generally look around until the car is well past. Then I head down the slope to basically right under the Porcupine trying not to scare it. Love it that he's moving around.

Awesome!

Then it's back in the car and heading north. When the Visitor's Center is in sight, I see that a few bison have moved over to the east side (behind the VC) and one is standing on the ridge.

On the west side, there are few bison in the field south of the VC. And a few more on the south side of the road. No big herds; just a few male bison hanging out.

I find no Pronghorn on the west side. 

Time to head home. And it's an awesome day despite no hike!

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