What's different a month later

I researched the wildlife on my favorite Yellowstone web site, forums.yellowstone.net, and came to the conclusion that we needed an early breakfast at Chico and to start our visit early. This was a great idea as we saw a lot more wild life on this trip than on our last one. The elk were much more prevalent and this youngster, standing in the snow was a favorite image. The big boys must have been hiding, but there were a lot like this one.

Although there were a lot of bison before, we got more interesting glimpses of them as they were closer to the road. We thought this one was trying to hide from us but how can a big guy like this find shelter behind a tree.

Soon after we left Mammoth, we rounded a curve in the road and saw a coyote enjoying breakfast. There appeared to be a lot more food that this coyote could consume and we did not see any of it's relatives.

 However, not far away we saw this magpie. If you look closely, magpies do not have any red color around their head, so we guessed that this one had either been feasting before the coyote arrived or perhaps it was able to sneak in and grab a bite. Needless to say, it was not in a hurry to leave.

But the magpie is going to have to wait because look what's in a nearby tree waiting for it's turn.

We had seen and enjoyed all of this and we still had only been in the park for less than 2 hours. Marty had already agreed, that we would have an early breakfast on our next trip to Chico and Yellowstone. Shortly after you pass the Roosevelt junction and head toward Lamar Valley, you travel across a bridge that crosses the Lamar River. We have seen wildlife choose to cross the bridge rather than ford the river. On this day, we watched this herd of bison gather at one end of the bridge and started their journey to the other side. Needless to say, we had to wait until they had all crossed. While we were waiting we observed bighorn sheep in the river valley trying to find something to eat.

On to the Lamar Valley. There were a lot of Bison there as well. The folks with spotting scopes were watching wolves in the distance. As you know, I want to be up close, therefore we kept traveling. Soon after we passed a group of the spotters, I spotted something I could capture with my camera.

As you can see, they were quite a distance away. They were either full or awaiting something to get nearby for them to eat. They were not moving and we watched them for several minutes, they did not move.

On to Cooke City, a bowl of chili and we returned. There was not the wild life on our return with the exception of pronghorn. Before we left the park, we had seen more pronghorn than we had ever seen before. I must have snapped at least 100 photos of them and when we got home, this was our favorite.

We will return again in another month. Clint will have a new lens for his camera at that time and we'll have to see what is lined up for him to photograph. 

Wildlife in the Winter

We have just returned from a drive through our part of Montana as well as a day in Yellowstone National Park. We started with snow on the ground, temperatures in the teens and twenties during the day, and the shortest days of the year. What does that mean to the wildlife?

First of all there are no bears as they are hibernating. Those animals that spend the warmer seasons in the higher altitudes have migrated out of the mountain peaks and into areas where there is a better possibility of grazing. Mating season is mostly over by now with the exception of the wolves and coyotes.

So . . . . . what did we see? The buffalo or bison were everywhere and you know what they look like. The snow wasn't deep enough to create a great obstacle for them to graze below the snow, they had already mated, so they were just surviving the winter.

However, the bighorn sheep are at much lower elevations. There were lots of them to see including this year's crop of babies. A few of the boys were still making love to the girls as seen in this photograph.

 This big guy was more intent on eating than posing for my camera, so here he is scrounging for something to eat. His body shows no ill effect from the lack of lush grazing.

 The pronghorns (antelopes) have had problems traveling to new destinations in the winter time as more ranch type fences keep them from migrating.  We did take a back road in the Gardiner area and saw more pronghorns than we have seen in a long time.  This one had wandered off the the herd . . . . .

and these were headed across the field along with a larger herd

Yes, we did see a coyote, at first it was just posing for this photograph

and then it decided to wander away from the photographer

and finally, we did find a male elk huddling in a ditch. For those who are impressed by antlers, this guy is a winner.

and huddled near one of the mountains was this small herd of elk

We have plans to return to Yellowstone in January, February, and March along with an overnight stay at our favorite resort, Chico Hot Springs. Stay tuned and see what we find next.

A few more pictures from Yellowstone

As we drove toward Gardiner, next to the Yellowstone River, we stopped to take a picture of an eagle sitting in a tree. Before we continued to the park, I spotted this view of the Yellowstone River. Although it was cold, the water is flowing at a brisk enough rate, it is not completely frozen.
and the eagle, he's next. As we passed this location each day, I continued to look for the eagle, but he didn't return.
and speaking of birds, we saw several crows assembled in an area. Looked like they were eating something. When I got home and could magnify the picture, it was eating. Not too appetizing but an interesting picture.
and then there were the antelope or pronghorns as they are also called. We normally see them on the interstate on the way to and from Livingston. Occassionally they are near northwest entrance to the park. This day they were waiting for us.
By the time we next return, the bears may be coming out of hibernation and we should see some of the next generation of several of the species.

More Yellowstone

Today, we start with a young elk trying to hide in the tall grass, curious as to what I was doing, then to another elk who has just started to re-grow his antlers. Growing at 1.5 inches per day, he should have a full rack within a month or two. The finish is velvet but as his antlers get fully grown he starts to rub them on trees to remove the velvet and also we lose some bark from the trees. Do you like pronghorn or antelope - he is the fastest animal on the planet with the exception of the cheetah. The wolves -we'll start with a gray wolf who was in the same area as the black wolf, near a carcass. The black wolf is #480 who you saw a couple days ago with the bison,he's also Casanova's brother. The last picture he was howling. Note sure if he was calling some of his buddies, if he had smelled the carcass, or just wanted to brag.

When you read this, Marty and I will be on our way back to Yellowstone for another day in the park. See you later

An antelope, pronghorn

The setting of this picture reminded me of the color and background when we were in Africa several years ago. This was one of several antelope which we saw. Although this one was sauntering along it can also run at a very fast pace, one of the world's fastest animals. Their markings make them a very interesting animal to observe.