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Theodore Roosevelt National Park is an outstanding wildlife park.
Elk, mule deer, bison, Whitehall and pronghorn roam the park's valleys
and flats. One of the more popular animals is the black tailed prairie
dog. These are easy to see as you drive Theodore Roosevelt National
Park. The variety of wildlife to be observed at Theodore Roosevelt
National Park is very good and above average for most national parks.
Coming form the east, this is the first taste of western wildlife.
One of the first things you may notice is the large number of hawks
that soar in the sky.
It's incredibly easy to spot wildlife in the park as much of it
is seen from the park roads. For the most success, time your trips
around early morning and sunset hours. Theodore Roosevelt National
Park is very underrated in terms of wildlife viewing, and if in
this area it's a must stop - easily one of the better wildlife parks
in the lower 48.
Lighting in the canyons can be tricky, so plan for the best light
which is almost always morning and late afternoon/evenings. The
roads in the park are very narrow. Suddenly pulling over to capture
that running elk could cause an accident with those behind you,
or those a few seconds behind which cannot see your car around a
tight corner. When pulled over, use your hazards and be aware of
blind corners. Due to the dusty nature of the park, make sure you
have a lens cleaning kit(about $10 from most stores) and the ability
to blow dust off of your DSLR sensor (rocket blower, about $10 from
most stores). Excitedly checking out your pictures when you get
home only to find them ruined by big dust splotches is not exactly
fun.
Badgers: Near the prairie dog towns (Skyline
Drive)
Bison: all over the park, try Skyline Drive
Bobcats: Very tough to see, inhabit most of the park.
Cougar: Very rare
Elk: Buck Hill area
Eagles/hawks: Overlooks, cliff areas. Bald eagles are transient.
Golden eagles in north unit of the park. Look for nests on cliff
ledges.
Prairie Dogs: Skyline Drive
Mule deer: anywhere in the park during low light hours
Porcupines: small tree clusters
Pronghorn: Boicourt Overlook
Rattlesnakes: paved surfaces on hot evenings
Turkeys: all over park, Cottonwood
Wild horses: Painted Canyon
Whitetail deer: low elevations in low light hours
Theodore Roosevelt is a good park for photographing wildlife.
If you have a 3x zoom and you want some wildlife shots, hang out
around the Skyline Drive area. For those with a DSLR, make sure
you bring a standard zoom and a long zoom. On a 1.6x crop body,
an 18-40 or 50 standard zoom will work very well for landscapes(28-80
on a 1.6x crop) , and you will want at least 200mm for wildlife.
Using the camping photo link to the right helps
support Parkcamper.com.
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Parkcamper: Northern Rocky
Mountains Edition features
the campgrounds of Glacier,
Yellowstone, Grand Teton,
Badlands and Theodore
Roosevelt National Parks.
This 3 DVD set will save
you and your family time,
money and gas when planning
your next great camping trip.
Experience what the
campgrounds are truly like.
Click the DVD to order!
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