View And Photography Utah's Wildlife

Utah's Division of Wildlife Resources has kicked off a photo contest and is calling for entries. Winners will receive gift certificates to camera stores.

Photos for the contest should depict either wildlife found in Utah, or people involved in activities in Utah that relate to wildlife.

See the Division website for complete details. Here are excerpts:

Because we're lucky enough to live in a state with an array of wildlife active during each of our stunning seasons, the contest will feature four seasonal themes. You'll submit your photos during the appropriate entry period:

• Fall: October 1 to December 31, 2013
  
• Winter: January 1 to March 31, 2014
  
• Spring: April 1 to June 31, 2014
  
• Summer: July 1 to September 31, 2014
  

Contest rules

• You may submit three entries (photographs) per category, per each seasonal theme.
• Photos must be sent over digitally as jpg files no larger than 3 megabytes.
• Each photo entry should represent a single event in time (no montages).
• Each photograph submitted (wildlife or recreation) must have been captured in Utah.
• The animals in the photographs must be of wildlife found legally in Utah.
• Photos must be submitted during the entry period for each seasonal theme (dates outlined in the table above).

Visit Zion Park To See Wild Turkeys
minitime.com has this interesting article on places to spend the Thanksgiving holiday. It mentions the obvious choices (Plymouth for an authentic reenactment, NYC for the biggest parade...) and then recommends Zion National Park as a great place to see turkeys in the wild. Here is an excerpt.

Largest Gathering of Turkeys: Zion National Park
Now that the national parks are open again, there may be no better place to soak up our nation’s purple-mountain-majesty splendor—and see wild turkeys exercising their own freedom—than at Utah’s Zion National Park. Zion Lodge, which is known for live turkeys wandering its grounds, does an all-day Thanksgiving Buffet and offers plenty of easy access to fabulous ways to walk off the pie and rolls, such as the easy Pa’rus Trail, the popular Emerald Pools hike and the more challenging Angels Landing.

It's true, I often see wild turkeys in Zion Canyon and it would not be surprising for the birds to be seen right at the Lodge. I've seen large flocks along the North Fork Road, on the eastern edge of the park.

-- Dave Webb