by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org

These images and videos were taken just off Farm to Market Road at West Valley Road on 10/26/2020. We see this herd every fall as they make their way up and down the west valley area to graze on the remnants of crops like this alfalfa. In recent years the herd size has been about 30 animals. This year it’s considerably larger–around 70 animals by my count.

This herd probably spends a good deal of the winter in the fields around the Kuhns homestead (see Locations), browsing the leftover agricultural crops and various grasses and forbs (shrubs of willow, aspen, alder, cottonwood, etc.) that occur there, where the elk are protected and undisturbed during winter months.

Here are a few images and a video. (See also Herd on the Move).