YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

The storms that have graced us nearly every afternoon while in the wilds of Yellowstone, have had the strength of cleansing, refreshing and renewal.  The grasses are alive in a vibrant green, the sagebrush has grown tall and can hide even the biggest of grizzlies and the waters still run deep and fast.  The rain pours, the lightening strikes and the thunder knocks us out of our boots, and then the wind blows it all away and we are left with sparkles of water on trees.

And, the double rainbow that arcs across the valleys and brightens even the drabbest of landscapes.  It is at those moments that my own dry skin shines and my blue eyes sparkle. My blonde hairs whip in the wind and the smile stretches from ear to ear.  For, I am truly alive and even young again, standing in Yellowstone National Park.

Bison number in the thousands in Lamar Valley and they take to the road every morning and every evening.  Last night we had the bison bull convention at Hitching Post!  The red dogs are still being born and this new young man has already suffered his first attack, no doubt by 911 who has been roaming alone the past few days.  I couldn’t help but have the feeling that his mom really loves him and is happy that he is safe.

We are still getting a lot of grizzly sows and coy up high in the Lamar Valley/Soda Butte Valley areas, giving visitors some bears to watch.  Bill said that two of the sows met face to face and they did not seem to like each other.

The big bear news was seeing Scarface in Lamar Valley, up high, with a girlfriend!  Apparently the romance is over because he moved on through Little America today and looked to be heading towards Antelope Creek and his favorite stomping grounds.

I could not help but put the big guy in some vertical landscapes to show you the vastness of the park and how we all are just a tiny spot, even Scarface.

Yes, we had a good time with Scarface today.  He swam the Lamar River and then we waited and waited for him to appear in the rolling hills.  Every second was worth the wait!  And, Simon and Jill showed up, not knowing that we were seeing Simon’s boy.  And, Marcy and Don even got there in time to see him.  Well, a lot of people did but we had waited so long that many had moved along.  Scarface crossed the road without incident and continued on his way.

A lot has been going on that I have no photos of.  Like the sow and two COY at Yellowstone Picnic today.  Some visitors went out to visit with the bear family, sending them up a tree for a long time and drawing quite a crowd.  Others went out for a visit also, keeping rangers on their toes.  They eventually escaped.   The black bear boars are roaming hard right now and I have encountered 3 of them on or near the road in the past couple of days.

Marcy reported otters on the Madison.

The Beaver Creek foxes in GTNP have moved from the area.

The coyote den has moved – coyotes move their dens quite often.

And, the wolves have been putting on a show.  We have seen the Junction Butte in Little America quite a lot.  Something is going on with that pack but I am not sure what.  At the moment it looks as though 911, who is limping badly, has been ejected because he has been alone and wandering.  This is something that I expect to happen as 890 has shown himself the stronger male.  Still, it would be nice if 911 could just hang out with the family and be a beta.

911 was alone, once again, today, in Little America, near Scarface.l

The Lamars have been difficult for a while now.  I had not seen 926 for about 2 weeks and was feeling it.  But, did get to see mama today, carrying a hunk of meat to the pups.

Yesterday, 926 was seen crossing Soda Butte Valley, with an elk calf head and one of the yearlings came a little later with a leg.  I did see the yearling and waited for the others but they never came through while I was watching.

Today was like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.  Rick had signals and my gut told me to go to the next lot.  Unfortunately, I did not until Cliff came over to tell Rick that a wolf had just crossed.

From descriptions I figured that the wolf had gone in the Confluence area and so was looking there but not seeing anything, except some birds.  Mottled was on a hill, watching something in the distance and howling occasionally.  And, then 926 crossed the road with a hunk of meat.  And then a couple of yearlings were reported, except that they turned out to be a yearling and Dark Black.

I saw one disappear in the willows towards the Lamar River and so we went up on the hill and found an elk cow standing in the river.  A yearling was near the elk and I saw the other black for a few minutes but it disappeared.  So, we puzzled over the fact that there seemed to be an elk calf carcass there but the wolf was not eating.  The idea of a bear near by was tossed around.  The yearling eventually left, nearly being chased by an aggressive elk cow. She was mad and feisty.

After the yearling left the cow made its way along a log where I had seen the other wolf.  Suddenly, three wolves appeared and 965 wandered over by the cow and got his butt chased.  Twin, 965 and Dark Black were feeding on the carcass.  965 wandered off with Twin following behind with a hunk of meat.  I thought that maybe Twin was finally getting into the daddy groove but he just went off to eat.  Then, Dark Black retrieved the remains of the carcass and hid under a willow to finish it off.  The three wolves went across the Middle Flats, past Hitching Post, giving a couple of hundred people quite a nice show.

This was only a fraction of the crowd watching wolves today.  And, the parking at Hitching Post was full.  Just imagine, 2/3 of that lot will soon be shut down for horse trailers.  Wonder where all those people will go?  And, it is still early!  The park has a big problem with this one this year.

The three males lingered out on the flats, giving everyone great views, including a film crew there to interview Rick and Doug Smith.  It is always great when the wolves cooperate but I am sure that they were also quite impressed with the massive crowds.  The boys went into the forest to rest for the day, leaving the others in peace at the den.  I left the park early and so was not there for the PM show, which I am sure was great.  After leaving Lamar at around 9 last night and never making it home because of being too tired (stopped 5 times to sleep and finally awoke at 4:30 a.m., which was time to go back to Lamar) I decided to get home and get refreshed.

There have been some brief sightings of the Wapiti Lake Pack (755) and three pups.  I know that 2 blacks were seen yesterday afternoon but don’t know what was seen with the three.  Sure hope that they are all fine and that they come out to see me soon!

Yellowstone is busy and some folks are really out of control, which makes it hard for everyone.  They don’t care about the animals, only their own wants and desires.  I recommend that people just look for what feeds their soul and try to ignore the bad behavior as it will only cause frustration and hard feelings.  Make the best out of your visit!

Last night, while watching the Lamar Canyon Den area, I suddenly spied this new pronghorn fawn after it stood up to get a better look at us.  So cute and so vulnerable.  The moms were a good distance off, grazing away.

Deby