You can’t travel up to Alaska and through Canada without running into the ubiquitous Arctic Ground Squirrel.
Brent found this cooperative ground squirrel near our campsite in Alaska, a brown fuzzy creature against the lovely green grasses in the background, dotted with buttercups.
Photographing these animals is like “shooting fish in a barrel,” as my father used to say. Those that survive close to the campgrounds have become accustomed to people and allow you to get fairly close to photograph them.
Unfortunately, many people treat them like pets and feed them, which encourages them to be a little too comfortable with humans, increases their population as they don’t have to venture far into predator territory to get their food, and encourages bad behavior such as scrambling through garbage, digging into tents, cars, and RVs to chew up wiring and pipes, biting, and just being a big nuisance.
When Brent was working with this fuzzy guy, there were high overcast clouds allowing a soft gentle light on his subject, allowing the lovely texture and detail of the squirrel’s fur to be clearly seen. While he could have gotten closer, he worked with his 500mm lens to stay back. This also helped to compress the background and foreground to better frame the squirrel in the field of green.
A 500mm f4 lens attracts this kind of attention. Brent turned to the woman. “Why? Do you represent them? Are you buying photos for National Geographic?”
You can improve the quality of your natural images by learning about your subject and keeping the following in mind:
The image of a wildlife photographer tramping through the unvisited locales of the world, overdressed in camouflage, is largely a fantasy. Most photographers have more success by visiting areas where animals are habituated to human presence. National parks and refuges are places where, all year long, the animals have learned that people are not a threat. Visit these and photograph behaviors and actions without disturbing the animals by your presence.
Lacking the care and sensitivity of an alert photographer, even the best opportunity can produce mediocre results. Good composition is more than just getting the subject out of the center of the frame. You need to pay attention to the background, the balance of colors and shapes, and the direction of light. You must move forward or backward, higher or lower as your artistic eye dictates. You take the pictures when all the elements come together.
Composition also takes into consideration the balancing act of light. Bright overcast skies are the best for middle of the day wildlife images, including insects and small creatures. Especially with furry creatures, the bright diffused light allows their natural colors to show. Early morning and late afternoon (sunrise and sunset) are wonderful for adding warmth. At this lower angle, the sun is in a good position to provide the catch light in the eye.
When filling the frame with a close-up of an animal, you are challenged with the decision of where to “cut”. We call this compositional consideration “animal butchering.” If you exclude small pieces like feet, people may spend time wondering where they are. Cut off the tip of an antler and we follow it up and out of the frame. We recommend cutting at major joints, just above the hips, knees and such, framing your image for a more comfortable composition.
Great photographs don’t need words to 
leaps into the air to plunge through the snow for his dinner is not the time to learn how to put film in the camera or figure out how to focus. No matter what system you choose, understand how it works, how it sees and what it’s capable of in the field. Practice changing lenses, changing film, working with it over and over again until it becomes a part of you. You need to move without thinking, concentrating on the subject and not the equipment. More photographs are lost due to delays with equipment than any other excuse.
The equipment required for nature photography covers a wide spectrum. For large mammals, like grizzly bears, a 500mm or 600mm f 4 lens is appropriate to get frame-filling images while staying further back. At other times, a 28mm to 35mm wide angle lens is great for a scenic of the grizzly as an element in the image. There is no “right” equipment for nature photography. It depends upon your interest and versatility. Here are some tips and tools for improving your chances of getting that successful wildlife image.
We wish there was a handy button on a camera that, when pushed, guaranteed the best quality image possible. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Good technique is critical, as is choosing good compositional elements with a good looking subject. All falls by the wayside without the understanding and appreciation that comes with learning about your subject and working with it over a long period of time.
There are two main choices for a 500mm lens. One is a regular 500mm lens with the widest aperture an f 4. It is expensive, huge, weighs a ton, and requires a sturdy tripod to support. The 500mm “mirror” lens features a wide aperture of f 8, twice that of the f 4 lens. It is very inexpensive, much lighter and smaller, and requires no special equipment. Sounds like the choice is easy, right?
The life of a nature photographer does have its exciting moments, especially when you get under the sheets with your camera. The use of camouflage can make a difference in how close you can get to nature. Many animals are threatened or suspicious of sights, sounds, and smells they don’t recognize. The human form and scent is one they usually associate with danger.
humans, when a tiger hunts at night, its sight is six times better than a human’s. Most predatory animals rely heavily upon the ability to detect motion rapidly. Frogs and some simple vertebrates may not even see an object unless it is moving. Dangle a dead fly on a string in front of a starving frog and it will not sense it until it moves.
The physical presence of a human can be disguised by changing shape, form, and color. The human form is very recognizable. Changes in the shape and form can be simple such as covering yourself with a sheet or wearing items that change your shape, like tree branches on a hat. By wearing clothing that blends in with the surroundings, your shape can become invisible against the background and foreground.
Take care to cover your face and hands along with the rest of your body as you work to blend into the surroundings. Remove watches, rings, and anything that can reflect light and attract attention to you. Take care with binoculars, camera lenses, and eye glasses as they can also reflect light. Mosquito netting which covers the face and gloves on your hands works well as an alternative to camouflage paints.
small structures. Where wildlife live alongside a highway or road, they become accustomed to seeing vehicles, so a stopped car can become a blind as the animal is used to seeing it. If you step out of the car, they usually recognize a human and run. Anytime a foreign 
structure appears in nature, it is usually avoided by the local inhabitants. Once they have grown accustomed to it, it is forgotten. Sometimes digging a hole in the ground and covering it with a tarp coated with leaves and branches gets a photographer down to the eye level of small animals. Bird photographers often build tree-houses to get to the eye level of their subjects. Some photographers who work with remote cameras and exceptionally sensitive animals will paint empty food cans black to resemble a camera lens and place them nearby for several months, allowing the bird time to become accustomed to the presence of a camera without the risk of leaving an expensive camera outside for months.
Take care in approaching the blind. Walk or crawl slowly and keep your movements few and close to your body, making little noise. Consider spending a lot of time inside a blind after you enter it waiting for the animals to return, or enter it at a time when the animals are elsewhere feeding or sleeping. Pat and Tom Leeson, well-known nature photographers and specialists on eagles, found that eagles could count. If two people went into a blind, and one came out, the birds would stay away, waiting for the second person to leave. They finally came up with a system where two people would enter the blind but then one would leave with a coat on a hanger, resembling the second person, and soon the eagles would return.
A bedsheet in natural and floral print drapped over you and your camera gear hides your movements and blends you into the background.
Camouflaging your scent involves several steps. The first step is the elimination of scents on your body and clothing. Then consider your equipment. Your camera bag and back pack can also carry scents. Food tucked inside can be smelled by some animals even through plastic containers. Sun and hand lotion can rub onto your camera equipment, bringing those scents with you. Take care to clean these items thoroughly with scent neutralizing soaps. Next, consider using cover scents, scents from animals or nature. Take care to choose a scent that matches your surroundings. When you are working with deer or elk, using a wolf scent would not be appropriate, but deer and elk scents are readily available at many sporting goods stores.
Least Bitterns dip and bow their heads in their search for food. Red-winged Blackbirds twitter as they flit between the reeds and cattails. When morning comes, small Green Herons blend in with the green grasses as they slowly stalk their fishy prey. Tall Great Blue and Tri-colored Herons are statues among the lilies and green water. An alligator swims by, its unique silhouette cutting a gentle ripple across the water.
You are not in the wilds of the Everglades or even the tropics of South America. You are in a created wetland and upland habitat area aptly named Wakodahatchee or “created waters” in Seminole Indian language. Located in the central east side of Florida, near Lake Worth in Palm County, and Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, about 45 minutes northwest of Ft. Lauderdale, this unique man-made wetlands services as a haven for native and visiting wildlife and birds, and serves the nearby community as a natural filter marsh turning the local bad water into irrigation water for agricultural lands.
The area was once overrun with invasive non-native vegetation such as the Brazilian pepper, Australian pine, melaleuca and cattails thriving amid the natural percolation ponds, draining and clogging the ponds with their unresisted growth. Using innovative and experimental designs, the Wakodahatchee Wetland Project now consists of 50 acres of converted percolation ponds with eight treatment cells comprising 39 acres of wetland area and 11 acres of upland berms which surround and separate the treatment cells. The individual treatment cells range in size from 2.3 to 10.9 acres. Each cell was designed to support a variety of vegetation types including aquatic, emergent, transitional and upland plants. Therefore, several habitat zones were created including deep water, open water areas, habitat islands, emergent marshes and upland berm areas. The “dirty water” is processed through these natural looking treatment cells which filter and clean the water. The benefit to wildlife is a new home and food source.
Noticing the wetlands built in 1996, birds arrived by the tens of thousands, in all colors, shapes, and sizes. The wetlands and its supervisors, the Palm County Water Utilities, work hard to maintain a balance between the native plants and wildlife. Many birds consume the new plant growth faster than it can replenish. With such an abundance of birds, competition for food is intense. Alligators have begun nesting, resulting in about 60 new hatchlings each year, many of which are consumed before they can reach a defensive size. They are slowly increasing their population rate. Marsh hares, turtles, raccoons, river otters, snakes, and frogs have made a home here, too.
Threaded throughout the different treatment cells is a one-mile boardwalk, sometimes floating on the water and other times piered up above. The birds wander through the cells, appropriate to their food and nesting interests, ignoring the many humans sauntering along the boardwalk. Bird and nature photographers quickly flocked to the area, eager for the easy-to-access bird portraits. Local joggers and walkers also quickly found the area as a change to their street routes. Unfortunately, the two groups have clashed heads more than once as they compete for space on the boardwalk and quiet. Photographers have to fight the thundering vibration of the boardwalk as the joggers pound by, and the joggers have to maneuver through tripods and camera gear laden photographers. The concerns of both parties have reached the local news, causing debate within the community about whose right is more right than the other. Since the birds appear to be unaffected either way, their views on the matter are not considered.
Each treatment cell offers a variety of plant life in addition to the birds and animals. In the deep water areas you are more likely to find lots of coots and ducks. Among the open water areas, you will find water fowl and diving birds. The habitat islands and emergent marshes are excellent locations for finding nests of rails, moorhens, and sparrows, as well as warblers or even least bitterns. Shallow shelves are good for herons and egrets. Islands with shrubs and snags to serve as nesting, roosting and basking sites . The upland berm areas offer forested areas good for some small mammals, too.
Along the railings of the boardwalk you will often catch herons roosting. Soras and limpkins are often found nesting 20 feet from the boardwalk, and the wetlands are a very popular place for viewing Least Bitterns on a frequent basis. These birds are normally very secretive and difficult to find. They are most abundant during the spring and summer. From May to August, there are good opportunities for close photography of the Least Bitterns nesting with their babies.
As the boardwalk is so short, make numerous trips around during various times of the day to catch the different birds and wildlife. Early mornings and late afternoons are prime times for photography because of the attractive light and the activity of the birds and wildlife. There are observation areas which are shaded along the way to rest out of the sun.
Bring lots of film and moderate to long lenses with a solid tripod. Long lenses like 400 to 600mm will often allow closeup portraits of the birds, but moderately long lenses will also allow capturing the full subject fairly up close. In the more wooded areas, you will have low light conditions, especially in the early and late hours, so a lens with a wide aperture is best then. A flash is good for some fill and helping provide a catchlight. During the day, the open water areas are also good for reflections and photographing examples of the flora.
This morning at first light I entered St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge on the coast of the Florida panhandle near the town of Newport. I surprised a whitetail deer just inside the gate along the road. Driving a bit, I found a beautiful wet forest. I stopped to photograph the trees and the marsh habitat. And moving a bit more, spent 20 minutes or so photographing a wetland area with standing water, saw palmettos, grasses, and beautiful morning light.
Wading birds here are abundant, and I saw many White Ibisis, Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, Tricolored Herons, Little Blue Herons, and even saw an immature Reddish Egret posing in the pond just north of the lighthouse at the far end of the drive. I watched this bird fishing, and his approach was very active, moving quickly and scaring fish into motion, until he could catch them. He then flew into camera range on a small island of grasses about 50 feet from the edge of the pond, where he posed for a good half hour. This bird was an identification challenge, as his coloration was mostly gray, with some cinnamon mixed in over his body. The neck was more reddish, but not so much as the adults would be, and the head was even more brownish-red. The bill was almost black, as were the legs. As the field guide I am using (since I can’t find my National Geographic field guide) didn’t show the immature Reddish, I was confused because none of the egrets or herons had a black bill except the Snowy, and I knew it wasn’t that. It must be either a Little Blue or a Reddish. At that point, a Little Blue flew in and landed not 4 feet from the Reddish, and my bird was much bigger. With the help of a few other birders with better field guides, we decided on the Reddish as the most probable bird. I made a few photos for a record.
Wading birds have the perfect combination of food and water to thrive. White Ibises by the hundreds wade and fly in all directions. Wood Storks, the big white birds with the dark gray heads, are common. All kinds of herons and egrets are there to be seen, including the comical Reddish with its dashing, stir-up-the-fish method of hunting. Roseate Spoonbills move their spoon-shaped bills back and forth sideways through the mud on the bottom of the water, feeling for their prey. When they touch something edible, the bill closes, and they have their meal.
I spent some time today photographing a Green Heron fishing from a spot 6 inches off the water on a mangrove root. He would stand absolutely still until he saw what he wanted, then ever so slowly, he would move his bill closer, until “Splash!” and he had a meal. The cross dike trail, a 1/4 mile walk along mangrove lined water on both sides, was a consistently good spot for Green Herons, and I saw three there several times through the day. Bring a 500mm or longer lens, though, because they are across about 30 feet of water. Check out the Pied-billed Grebes here, too.
At the same spot, I watched the large and tiny fish in the water, saw a Horseshoe Crab move by, and found a Periwinkle about 10 feet up in a tree. Too high to shoot, but pretty to look at. It’s fun to listen to people try to figure out which bird they are looking at, and so many have no real idea. One woman today, and this is common, had the brochure showing 20 familiar birds of the refuge, and the Reddish wasn’t on the sheet. I pointed out which was which, and she was most appreciative. And I let a few people look through the lens at the birds. They are frequently amazed that even with the 700mm lens, the birds may still not be full frame. They think we are photographing eyelashes, and in reality, we may be waiting for the bird to move closer. But a big lens is a definite ego boost, and I think that may be the REAL reason I like to use it (right).
After much searching I finally found one of the last Burrowing Owl nests in one of the remaining barren lots awaiting construction. A sign was posted over the nest and next to the For Sale sign with a SOLD marker on it. I was able to work with the owls for several evenings, capturing their glory in the setting sunlight. I’m sure now, writing this a few years later, 
that the lot is now a home for two or four people and the multi-generations of this owl family are homeless or searching for a home they may never find again.
The first good bird I found was a Red-shouldered Hawk about 35 or 40 feet up in a tree. The light was wonderful and I made a few photos, but he was really too far for a good shot. I continued down the road and found another Red-shouldered Hawk on a much closer perch. The branches were perfect, part of an old leafless snag. The sky was blue between the white clouds. The light was ok to excellent, depending on the movement of the clouds, and it was just a matter of waiting for the right combination of light, sky, and pose for the photos. I was in good company, and before the bird flew, there was about $75,000 of camera equipment in view and lots of photographers to match. Just before he left, he let out a series of about half a dozen squawks, spaced about one second apart, and I shot each. This was a great situation, and I can’t wait to see the results.
At the Cross Dike, I found a Yellow-crowned Night Heron right along the canal beside the trail. He was on the left side, and overlooked by most of the people. I got the big lens, and laid down in the wet dirt to get the low angle I needed. From a standing or sitting position, the reflections on the water was white, which washes out the colors of the bird. Not very attractive. But by getting as low as the tripod allowed (lens about 10 inches off the ground) I was able to place the heron in front of the dark green foliage reflection with full front lighting, and the pictures should be terrific. The heron was a perfect subject, and continued to pose and fish within about 30 feet of me. And then, after about a roll and a half, he turned and fished toward me, until he stood about 5 feet away for the next 10 minutes. I always feel honored when an animal trusts me enough to approach, and I didn’t betray that trust with any sudden movements. After he had flown to join a friend down the canal, I got up, wiped my wet and sandy bottom, and put the equipment back in the case.
One of the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife rangers gave a talk at 11:00 about crocodilians: alligators and crocodiles and their differences. The American Alligator is a very dark green, appearing almost black. It has a shovel-shaped head, and lives in mostly fresh water. It can be found as far north as the Carolinas, and in all of the Gulf states. It can live quite a way inland, and inhabits all of Florida. The American Crocodile appears gray in color, and has a narrower head. It
I found a group of trees with about a dozen Turkey Vultures. Walking the trail, I saw many of the herons, including Great Blue, Little Blue, Tricolored, Snowy and Great Egrets, and many Green Herons clucking or silently walking along the edges of the sawgrass. There was one immature night heron, and I couldn’t tell if it was Yellow- or Black-crowned. I saw two Wood Storks, and several White Ibises, including an immature.
I watched a Purple Gallinule walking in the grasses along the boardwalk. These birds are beautiful green and bronze and purple and blue, with bright yellow legs and feet, and the longest toes you would believe. I saw him from about 8 feet away, until he walked under the boardwalk. I saw another toward the end of the trail from about 75 feet among the grasses.
We arrived this morning at the Anhinga Trail BEFORE sunrise, and what a difference. I now have an entirely different mental image of swamp. The noises were incredible, most notably the super-low pitched resonant roars and snores of the alligators. From all directions, from the water, from the bamboo, in front of and behind USA, the alligators roared and bellowed. Every 20 or 30 seconds, there was another. At the far end of the boardwalk, we witnessed a big boy making his sound. He would raise his head and point his nose up at about a 30 degree angle. The tail would come out of the water, his throat would expand, and then the noise.
The sunrise was dead, as heavy clouds hung in the east. But a bit later the light broke. I made some good photos of a pair of Anhingas on the nest together, male and female, in their breeding plumage. I found a group of Glossy Ibis at the end of the boardwalk. They are just a bit smaller than and shaped just like the White Ibis, but they are all brown, and much more uncommon. The light was dark and flat, and then they flew. No photos of these. Another bird I wasn’t able to photograph, I almost mistook for an immature Green Heron, but it was a Least Bittern in
And I found and photographed a Great White Heron, the rare white morph of the Great Blue Heron. This bird is found only in southern Florida. It is like the Great Blue in every way, except that it is all white, and has yellow legs and bill. The size is the same, and is a bit larger than the Great Egret. The squawk is the same, also.
In good light, I photographed Black Vultures so close, I had to back up to get them in focus. Head shots with nice out of focus blue and green backgrounds. And every so often, they would let out a hoarse WOOF! I watched a Purple Gallinule eat an Apple Snail in the shadows.
The alligator was about a 6 footer, and was lying in the sun, unmoving. When I was ready to photograph, I would scrape my foot across the ground to make a little noise, and his eye would open for about 5 seconds. I was able to get good alligator and habitat shots including the pond, grasses, far trees and just a little blue sky. Because the day was so bright, I used fill flash set at -1.7 stops, which I have found to give good results at bringing the light and shadows to a range that the film can handle, without making a completely flat photo.
At the end of the boardwalk near the observation tower, I found a group of birds including about a dozen Long-billed Curlews and other shorebirds. The light was awful, and when I came back an hour or so later, the Curlews were gone, but I was able to photograph several Marbled Godwits in perfect late afternoon light with their mirrored reflections below them in the glassy surface of the sky blue water. They were a bit out of range for my 700mm, but had I had a 2X (giving 1000mm) or an 800 prime lens, I could have had great photos. I will try again tomorrow with rubber waders to allow me to move closer. As long as I moved slowly, they did not seem too concerned that I was there.
Continuing my hike, I again startled the Green Heron, and he flew from one hidden part of the pond to another. I waited a bit, but he did not reappear. The Rail Trail connects to the Heron Flats Trail, and I took the cutoff. I wanted to get to the boardwalk area to photograph a typical freshwater marsh habitat in early light. When I arrived, I began to set up the shot that I had chosen yesterday. For some reason, I turned and looked behind me, and saw an American Bittern hunting in the reeds of the wetland. I switched to the 300mm lens and 1.4X (the landscape shot could wait) and made a series of photos of the bittern in wonderful light amongst the grasses, full frame.
In the afternoon, I returned to the refuge (midday is the time for lunch, a quick nap, checking of the field guide, and a few chores). I discovered an armadillo plowing the lawn of the visitor center, looking for edibles just below the surface. Using the 300mm, I was able to get a few shots until he waddled across the parking lot and into the brush. I moved to the other side of the bushes for full front lighting, and waited. Since I could see the bushes move and I could hear him digging, I knew where he was. I was rewarded when he came out and gave me a few good views of his rooting and some full body portraits with the brush in the background. The light was nice, as it was almost 4:00 (sunset is 6:00), and the photos should be good activity and habitat shots of a common southern mammal.
In the early 1950′s, the Dayak people in Borneo suffered tragically from malaria and the World Health Organization (WHO) helped them by spraying DDT to kill the mosquitoes which carried the malaria. The mosquitoes died, malaria declined, but there were side effects. Among the first was the fact that the roofs of the houses began to fall down. DDT not only killed the mosquitoes, it killed a parasitic wasp that controlled thatch-eating caterpillars. The DDT poisoned insects were consumed by geckoes, which were eaten by cats. The cats died and the rats flourished and the population was threatened by outbreaks of sylvatic plaque and typhus. To handle this mess, the World Health Organization felt “obliged to parachute live cats into Borneo”. [Research by the Rocky Mountain Institute (Lovins and Lovins, 1990)]
No matter how friendly the wild animals seem, no matter how closely they resemble Disney characters, they are not. You have left the security of your known “human” world of paved streets and boxed-in homes to visit their homes. Remember they are wild. You are not meeting Bambi, Thumper, Mickey Mouse, or Winnie the Poo.
Small animals, especially salamanders, frogs, newts, and other amphibians and insects live in a very small and precarious world. Removal to somewhere else may put them in the path of a predator or separate them from their feeding source and family.
Teach an animal that an outreached hand means food and they will return time and time again, ignoring their natural food sources. Human food contains salts and chemicals unnatural to their diet and can poison, harm or kill them. That the outstretched hand or feeding the animals brings them close so you can touch them is no excuse. If you haven’t seen a deer before, stand there and watch it. Don’t touch it or feed it just because it’s cute. It’s against the law. Reaching out to feed it or pet it can result in our getting bitten or attacked. The result is that the animal is either captured and killed or relocated and punished in some way. The human is rarely blamed for their actions.
Consciously or unconsciously, we are inviting the bear back. Being careless with our trash, loose lids on our garbage cans, and the increase in park attendance all shout, “Hey, you are invited to the party! Come join us!” We issue the invitation, then resent them when they show up. Studies show a bear can smell food over long distances even inside a tightly closed cooler. Keep your food locked in your car, pack up your garbage, and if you live near wildlife areas, take steps to keep your trash from becoming breakfast for wildlife. Remember, animals invading your garbage learn to associate you with food. Don’t rely upon the animal to have the brains to stay away. Don’t invite them to visit you.
We watched with amazement as Olympic Marmots crawled up inside car engines seeking tasty rubber water hoses and the sugary taste of antifreeze at a trail head deep within the Olympic National Park. While help for those who return from hiking to find their cars’ radiators and transmissions bone dry is only 25 miles away, it is also 6,000 feet in the mountains above sea level and help.
If you do spend time in the mountains or areas where wildlife consider your vehicle good eating or investigating, consider investing in a removable cover to protect the underside of your vehicle. At a minimum, bring extra water hoses, antifreeze, and water, along with some tools, to repair any damage the wildlife may inflict.
A few careless photographers can give us all a bad name, and park service rangers and other caretakers may be unwilling to share information and access if a photographer has stressed the animals in the past. Be conscious of the effects of your actions so other will have the chance to return.
Found under a leaf alongside the Sol Duc River of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, this red-legged frog remained patient while Brent moved to within four inches of its nose with a 55mm lens. Red-legged frogs are found along the United States coastal areas near permanent waterways and deep, damp forests. Mostly concentrated along the Pacific Northwest, they are even found at higher elevations throughout the Cascades and Olympic Mountains. Unlike many frogs, it prefers the colder microclimates of the mountain forests.
known as tadpoles and later metamorphose into air-breathing adults. While they can live on land, most of them must return to the water frequently to avoid drying out as their skin lacks an effective moisture barrier. Frogs, in general, are considered cold blooded, with their body temperature never much warmer than the environment. They rarely survive in heat over 100F/38C, and will hibernate during most of a freezing winter.
Yarrow is a favorite herb of hares, and this snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) was happily harvesting a huge patch of the herb next to a viewpoint pull-off along Hurricane Ridge Road in the Olympic National Park of Washington State.
Scientists have discovered evidence of rabbits and hares going back more than 40 million years. They are frequently featured in children’s stories and fairy tales. Alice chased a white rabbit down a hole into Wonderland. A race was staged between a tortoise and a hare. Beatrix Potter’s curious collection of rabbits, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter continue to cheer children today, one hundred years later. A modern day rabbit, named Roger, caused all kinds of trauma in a recent Hollywood movie. And Bugs Bunny continues to traumatize Elmer Fudd on television. We just love to romanticize these fuzzy and cute creatures.