Guess Where I've Been Lately?

Besides working a lot extra, I went to Yellowstone of course. I went down to the Tetons for a few hours one day as well (that's the first photo). I love these places. They remain relatively still on the grand scale but yet are always in a state of constant transformation.

Here are the wildlife tales from this mini-trip:

Lots of pelicans. Usually I see them swimming or resting on-shore. This time most were flying around.

Saw 1 river otter swimming in a nice calm pond near Yellowstone Lake one evening.

One bald eagle was flying only about 10 feet above the car as I drove. I followed it for a bit then I passed it. I looked up when it was directly overhead - it's not often one gets to see the bottom of an eagle flying close. Then it follwed me along the road for a ways before veering off. Don't worry, no other cars were around so I was not creating a hazard. Two more bald eagles were perched together on a fallen tree in Hayden Valley one afternoon (where the bears were, which I will tell about later).

Lots of buffalo (I told them not to go out of the Park or they would be meat-sausage and Great Plains burgers at Canyon Village!), elk, deer, and antelope. The buffalo calves are not as bright orange anymore. Two of them were fighting for a bit on a hill. Then 2 adults started at it. Dust flying everywhere. Didn't last long though and they all went back to being friends.

Now for the big winners!

One of the top prizes: A grizzly mom with one cub in souhtern Hayden Valley one evening. Close to where the last bear I saw was. I had to set up the scope for this. The cub was chewing on a carcass and would pop its head up every once in a while. The mom was nearby digging and grazing. The cub got up to keep up with the mom as she wandered farther away. Frisky little cub! The mom kept grazing around and the cub would stop then run and play. Later, a buffalo saw the bears and went down a hill towards them. The cub(which was closer to the buffalo than the mom) then stood up and was smelling the air, looking for the buffalo. The cub did this a few times finally, the mom and cub were together standing up together looking and smelling. The buffalo follwed them for a long time then finally decided to swim across the river. The bears stayed there. Of course, at this point a heavy rain started and I packed up.

The other top prize: The white wolf (540F-the alpha female) of the Hayden Pack and a pup! Right at their den! The pup was a black or dark grey one. She is supposed to have 5 pups (1 dark, 4 lighter) but I only saw the one. Started off with 6 pups total but one did not make it. The den is right out where people can see it from across the river at a picnic area. When I first arrived on the scene, I thought somebody said it was a moose so when I looked over and saw a white canine head popping up over some sagebrush I was pleasantly surprised. A bit faint of breath once again at this great sight. Then she stood up and went playfully towards the trees. The dark pup followed from out of the brush as my eyes and smile grew larger with disbelief. I never would have thought I would see them that easily. She is a brave mom having her den right out where millions of people come to watch her family. I know those tourists were not around when she picked that den but I get the feeling she is a proud mom type-wanting to show off the pups and knowing people are fighting to looking at them. She had all summer to move the den but hasn't. Wolves do have feelings. The white wolf is collared; the grizzly is not. These wolves were causing a major wolf jam and it was hard to even get in to see them. I'll go again in the fall to see the wolves when less people are hogging the place up. Naturally, I have no photos of the wolves because of a certain "commotion" around me created by a smallish child (who shall remain nameless at this time) as I was trying to watch the wolves. The bears were pretty far away so I don't think I'll be able to have decent picture to post. I only have a digital camera.

In the Favorite Sight Links at right, the Ralph Maughan site has pictures of the pups in the post: The Hayden pups, their first big (5) litter
or use this link and scroll down to the post: Hayden Pack pups 2007

To see photos of the white wolf use this link: Walking Shadow Ecology
(choose photography then Yellowstone Wolves and you should get the March 2007 Hayden Pack)



Now the crazy tourist stories:

One herd of buffalo with calves was coming up a hill. The hill happened to have a pull-out on top for cars. Well, the tourists were putting out their camp chairs to sit down and watch the trotting buffalo come up the hill. I imagine the chairs did not last long. I would have watched but it was obviously not a safe time and place to watch that herd.

One day, a lone buffalo was grazing the side of the road. A lady was walking towards the buffalo looking through binoculars the entire time. The buffalo was no more than 20 feet way from her so she really didn't need the binoculars. She was probably a bit surprised when she finally put them down.

The day after the grizzly and cub sighting, people were parked in the same area waiting to see them again. A huge, top of the line motor home was hogging up most of the parking area. The high priced RVs' kitchen apparently sucks because the people had set up a BBQ grill ouside. Or they were purposely trying to attract bears.