In Yellowstone there is always sadness somewhere. A wolf is poached, a mother bison lays dying while her new calf rubs its head along her back.
There are always tears at the surface. But, if you turn and look in another direction, not to ignore the dead or dying in any way, there is healthy life enjoying the day.
Yesterday morning I saw a new pronghorn fawn running along with mom. They are already so strong and if I am not mistaken, the mothers are sticking closer than ever to their youngsters.
I saw this fawn in the early morning, before getting to Lamar to check on the wolves. No Lamars! No signals! Saw 911 on the bison carcass but that was all.
On my way back through, intending to either go to Canyon and look for 755, or go home, I stopped to take a walk along the river. Well, I wanted to check on the old bison mom and her calf and the walk just happened. The calf is eating grass and sticking close to mom but it does not seem like she is eating at all. She does stand and move around some but it is clear that she is ready to leave. The calf looked at me. After it already survived an attack and survived, I think it should have a better chance. But, predators will probably come along soon and that will be all. Such is life – another I gave my heart to and will lose.
The walk took me far down the river and along the way I saw the pronghorn mom but not the fawn. On the way back, taking the same route, the mom looked up at me and resumed eating, very unconcerned. Which, of course, led me to believe I was far from the fawn. Not so! I never saw it there, the fawn, but almost stepped on it! The first I knew was something jumping up from right in front of me, startling me to death. And then off it went to the safety of mom, who still did not care. I never want to get that close to the youngsters because mom’s hooves can be pretty painful, if not deadly. But, they blend in so well and unless you are looking are hard to spot.
Some of you may recall the fawn I found last year, while photographing a black bear and her two cubs. It was in the grass behind me and I did not know until another photographer spotted it there.
Well, as it turned out, a couple had been watching the fawn bedded there and saw me walk straight towards it. They even got photographs. Which, I did not! They could tell by my startled expression that I had no clue the fawn was there. Boy, did I feel bad for getting so close!
Well, I went a little further down the road and decided to take another hike on Specimen. I recently decided that some of the stress was getting to my physical well-being and from experience know that exercise cures a lot of aches and pains, of all kinds. Being out there amongst the trees and wildflowers really cures me!
A couple of views from Specimen Ridge.
The rain was beginning to begin again, along with thunder and lightening. After one more trip to Lamar and a quick nap I headed towards home – though it always takes me a long time to get there while enjoying the glorious splendors of Yellowstone along the way.
Deby
What Beautiful Photos…