Two unevenly matched bull moose square off amongst the cottonwoods near the Gros Ventre River in Jackson Hole.

East of Yellowstone Lake                                                                              Yellowstone National Park

Fire destroyed the timber, allowing sunlight to once again hit the forest floor.  The crisp days of fall have turned the undergrowth from shades of green to orange and red.

 Yellowstone National Park

Near the Gros Ventre River, Jackson Hole, WY

This bull moose is showing his teeth in a rare display of anger after his mate walked out on him.

Lamar Valley, Northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park
Rich evening sunlight bathes this red fox, causing it to squint, as it looks for a place to store it's freshly aquired snack for a later time.

http://www.ericjvirkler.com/photo-blog/2009/9/14/contest.html

The guesses were

Whale frolicking

osprey

penguin

dog (labrador)

whale's flapper

swimming elephant

nessie

orca

river otter

humpback whale

leatherback turtle

loon

dolphin

osprey going after a fish

beaver

muskrat

not a giraffe

NO EYE DE AH

eel

Many of these guesses were duplicates, so it looks like many of you were thinking along the same lines.  See below for a better angle of the animal.

Does that help, or does it merely eliminate many of the guesses?  See next photo for the answer.

The correct answer is RIVER OTTER.

Congratulations to Keegan E. (formerly of Trinidad & Tobago), whose name was drawn from a plastic hardhat.

An Honorable Mention goes to Dan V. and Robert F. IV who also guessed river otter.

A great side effect of all these cloudy days we get in November is that sunrise and sunset are often spectacular.  Here are sunrise and sunset photos from Monday, with a little bit of wildlife sandwiched in between.  (Not a bad way to start off the week)

Shenipsit Lake, CT

Can you guess what animal I was photographing here? 
The photo was taken within the last year.

Send your guess to ericvirkler@hotmail.com

Winner will receive one 8x10 print of their choice.
(Prizes can only be sent within the U.S. and Canada)

Winner will be drawn from list of correct guesses.

One guess per person.

End date of contest as yet undecided.

With the widespread power outages caused by the storm, I figured I'd take advantage of the dark night skies and try for a local star photo never before possible.