Bison Calving Plains

New Life on the Big Sky Prairie

This wide-angle feed looks out over the calving grounds of Grasslands National Park, the wind-swept expanse of native mixed-grass prairie where the park's free-roaming Plains bison herd raises its young each spring. The newborns, known locally as "red dog" calves for their distinctive rust-colored coats, stay close to the herd as it grazes across the open horizon.

A Thriving Prairie Dog Colony

Beneath the surrounding grass lies a sprawling Black-tailed Prairie Dog colony, one of the busiest underground communities on the Great Plains. Their extensive burrow networks aerate the soil and support an entire web of prairie life, drawing in the elusive American Badger, a powerful digger built for hunting rodents beneath the sod.

Predators of the Open Range

Roaming Coyotes patrol the fringes of the colony, part of a delicate balance between predator and prey that has shaped this landscape for millennia. Operated in partnership with Grasslands National Park, the camera offers a rare, unobstructed view of one of North America's last intact prairie ecosystems.