Head Down: Into The Woods!
Some animals only spend the summer months up on the alpine tundra, when food and weather conditions are favorable. Some herbivores take advantage of the abundant plants growing on the tundra in summer. Some predators head up to the tundra in summer to hunt the active prey animals. But when weather conditions get too bad, they head back down to spend the winter in more protected areas at lower elevations.
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Elk
love to graze on tundra plants during the summer. In places where they
are used to people, like Rocky Mountain National Park, they are one
of the easiest tundra mammals to see. In other areas you may just find
their tracks or scat as evidence of their presence. Once winter sets
in they head down to lower elevations. |
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Sometimes
you will see elk out on snowfields, even though there is nothing for
them to eat there. Like people, they may
enjoy just cooling down on the snow on hot summer days. They also may
be avoiding biting insects by spending time on snowfields. |
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In
the summer, Prairie Falcons may head up to hunt the open tundra for
small birds and mammals. When winter sets in they stay down on the prairie
where prey remains available to them. |
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Brown-capped
Rosy-Finches nest on Colorado's alpine cliffs and like to forage near
tundra snowfields in the summer. In the winter they drop down into surrounding
sub-alpine forests. Here a Brown-capped Rosy-Finch (left) is joined
by a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch (right) that migrates to Colorado for the
winter ! |