A morning visitor.

[Blue_In_AK]

This young moose stopped by this morning to breakfast on the bushes that separate our yard from the next-door neighbors'. It's snowing and the lighting conditions are horrible, but I had to run right out and take his portrait anyway. I was about eight feet from him.

[NV Whino]

1. Not as cute as the kitty/bird pics

but pretty darn cute. How big was this guy? Can I assume he's a yearling?

[Blue_In_AK]

2. I agree, hard to top the kitty and the bird.

It must be time for the Rapture, with the "lions laying down with the lambs" thing going on.

The moose was small, probably a yearling. I expected to see his mom somewhere, but if she was around, she didn't make her presence known. He was kind of a cutie ... I didn't feel threatened even though I was basically up in his face.

[sandnsea]

3. Oh he's wonderful

I saw a baby moose on the way to work when I lived in Montana. I didn't see the mom around either and called Fish & Game. They said moose moms wander quite a bit, so I didn't worry anymore. But it sure is a special treat to see them prancing along. Great pics!

[mth44sc]

4. this is what I just love about W's internets

Ya get to see things ya never would have seen otherwise.

Way cool.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. He came back this evening...

Apparently, when the mailman delivered a package to us this afternoon, he forgot to close the gate, because after dinner, when my husband looked out the door onto our deck to see if it was still snowing, this is what he saw.



It looks like Bullwinkle, Jr., here had been nibbling on my little lilac bush that I planted last summer and pawing around in the garden for any left-over broccoli stalks he could find. After he had had enough, he just wandered on down the sidewalk, through the gate and back out onto the street.

[Maestro]

6. What incredible wildlife you have up there!

And habituated to people I see too. Wow! Nice shots. The last two stand out because they are cleaner.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. The moose especially are very habituated to people

There are reportedly 700 to 1,000 moose here in the Anchorage bowl, so we've pretty much learned to live together.

I don't know if you remember the story about "Buzzwinkle," the downtown moose who got drunk on fermented crabapples and ended up tangled in the Christmas lights a couple of months ago, but here's an update.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/wildlife/moose/story/316729.html

Downtown Anchorage's moose, now sober and fresh off a shoot for a national TV spot, was spotted Thursday near Ship Creek with an injury that appeared to be the result of being hit by a vehicle, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The moose known as Buzzwinkle was spotted eating birch twigs near the Ship Creek Comfort Inn with what Anchorage-area wildlife biologist Rick Sinnott described as a "football-sized lump" on his left hip.

Buzzwinkle earned his sobriquet in November, when the dazed and steam-snorting bull moose was spotted in the courtyard of Bernie's Bungalow Lounge, Christmas lights from Town Square tangled in his antlers and apparently drunk after eating fermented crab apples. Inebriation did not appear to be a factor in this week's accident, Sinnott said.

"He's perfectly sober right now -- stone-cold sober," Sinnott said. "But he is kind of slow because of his injuries."

A film crew with the Discovery Channel's "Mythbusters" show was in town last month and tailed Buzzwinkle to get footage of a moose walking the streets of downtown Anchorage, Sinnott said. Buzzwinkle, whom Sinnott called a "role model" for proper street crossings, is deliberate enough to look both ways, the biologist said.

"Here he is showing the proper way to cross the road to the 'MythBusters' people and he still gets hit by a car," Sinnott said. "I guess he didn't look both ways this time."

<snip>

The lump the bull is sporting now could be a sign of a fractured hip, or possibly just swelling from the impact of whatever vehicle hit him, he said. The injury did not appear severe, as the moose was able to put his weight on it, but Sinnott is planning to monitor his condition.

"He looked like he was using his leg enough that he won't have to be put down," Sinnott said. "I think he's going to be OK."

[jhain]

7. Thank you, Blue

So glad you went out there and took these. They are amazing...........He looks like he just came from the barber shop.


The last two, particularly , could be Alaskan Post Cards!

Love, Jude