An American Porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum, in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

It’s always a treat to photograph a species I’ve never photographed before (or at least made any “keepers” of). Our recent trip up near the Nizina Glacier, in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve seemed to be porcupine central. I think I saw 3 in the first 6 hours of the trip. That’s pretty cool, considering I often go the entire summer season without seeing any porcupines at all.

This one wasn’t too concerned about my camera clicking away, and I managed to snag a few images where he wasn’t buried in the thicker brush (Soapberry – Sherpherdia canadensis) and forest they typically might be found.

I’m guessing the young cottonwood saplings were his dinner. I saw a number porcupines out in the gravel bars of the riverbed, where the main vegetation was pretty much what you see here; the cottonwood saplings, Yellow Dryas (Dryas Drummondii) and the Wild Sweet Pea (Hedysarum Mackenzii).

I’ve been hoping to get some decent porcupine photos a while now, in part because I wanted one for my upcoming Wrangell-St. Elias National Park photo book, and I’m pretty glad to have had this guy help me out with that. Hopefully this summer I’ll get some more images of critters I don’t yet have for the project. We’ll see how that goes. If things go as planned, I should have the images I want by late 2012 (I hope). If not, I’ll just have to do without them; either way, I think this cute fella will appear in the book.

Cheers

Carl