Like most visitors to Antelope Island, I go for the main attractions, the heavy hitters, as it were, with regard to the wildlife in the state park.

Bison and birds do indeed take up the vast majority of my time when I am traversing the island with my camera, but lo and behold, there are lots of other creatures living on Antelope Island that are quite interesting in their own right but not as well known.

One such animal is the quiet and shy porcupine.

Unknown to most of the visitors, porcupines do indeed live on Antelope Island and can be regularly seen if you know where to look.

Porcupines aren’t one of the main animals on the island that gets all the press and notoriety, so they are often overlooked, but if you have driven to the Fielding Garr Ranch, you have definitely driven by some porcupines and maybe not even known it.

All the porcupines I have seen on Antelope Island are on the Fielding Garr Ranch road south of the Frary Peak hiking trail turnoff.

On the east side of the road, about a quarter to half a mile past the Frary Peak turnoff, are trees sporadically grouped up and down the east side of the road.

These groups of trees are where I consistently find the porcupines when I am heading to the ranch to look for birds, but according to State Park rules, traversing off of roads and trails is not allowed in this area, and a fine can result from breaking park rules.

During winter, when the trees are without their leaves, it’s quite easy to spot one of the resting porcupines in the nearby trees as you drive by.

Porcupines are nocturnal and sleep during the day, so all you will find is a round, motionless ball of quills and fur perched in the tops of the trees.

Some days I see them on my drive-by to the ranch and other days I don’t, but year in and year out, I consistently find porcupines in the trees on the ranch road.

Earlier this week, in fact, I found three at once, but today I wasn’t so lucky and didn’t see any.

So if you are on Antelope Island enjoying the bison and birds, don’t forget to look for one of the island’s lesser-known but still quite interesting animals, the porcupine sleeping high up in one of the trees.

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