January 2, 2015
Striped Skunk, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico

Photography really stunk yesterday in the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Sorry about that, I couldn't resist. It was actually sweet, and I was thrilled to have an opportunity to photograph this Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis). It was my second opportunity to photograph a wild skunk, and this one was in a much better setting than the first one. I discovered it trotting down a side administrative-use-only road towards the main auto loop road and of course I slammed on the brakes and started photographing it from the window. As it approached the junction with another administrative-use-only road on the other side of the canal, it made a small detour into some thick brush and I thought that might be the end of the encounter. Fortunately, it came out and cut across the junction which is when I made this image. I couldn't photograph it for very long on the other side of the junction due to heavy brush between the auto loop road and the canal, but the encounter was sure great while it lasted!