YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

Yesterday was one of those days when I had planned to do one thing but found myself just going with the flow, resulting in one of the best times in months.

It began raining by the time I reached Lamar and I decided to check on the wolves and go back home.  No wolves for me.  Rick said that one, a pup he thought, crossed the road in front of them, in the dark, and that he had weak signals on the two collars but they faded.  None seen and I went down and looked awhile but all was quiet.

They had signals on some Junctions, south in Lamar Valley, but no sightings.  And, no sightings of the Prospects.

I headed towards home when word came of a carcass in Hayden.  The Wapitis took it down the day before, in late afternoon.  So, despite the rain I decided to check out the situation.  No wolves seen there either and couldn’t see the carcass, except for a spot.  There was a rumor of the female being spotted for a second and a possibility that 755 was seen by a reliable source, but nothing at the site.  Not even grizzlies.  Something stole it in the night! LOL

Decided, since that far south, to go look for Raspberry but no luck.  Really saw nothing except some bison and distant elk.  They have a grizzly closure at Pelican bay but I think that is just because they are seeing a lot of bears.

Stopped at Grizzly Overlook on the way back, still raining and still nothing so decided to head for home, via Norris this time.

That was when things got good!

A whole line of cars and people standing in the forest, photographing something.  I just had to see!  It was a grizzly sow, collared and ear tagged, that we had seen on the Cascade carcasses – a scrappy little girl, and extra fat!  The ranger was allowing us uncommonly close.

Another ranger came along and got upset that we were so close and we were told to get back to the road.  It was crowded with cell phones and iPads and so I left, planning on going home.

But, I turned right at Norris and then thought why not go look for Canyons. I so want to see them again but not looking good.  So, I turned around and headed south.

Saw this red-tailed hawk looking pretty in a tree.

So, stopped to play with it for awhile before heading on down to Firehole Drive.  I hadn’t taken that road this year and so thought it a good idea just to go see.  And, there I found this extra sweet and beautiful female coyote – looks to be a young one.

That was some pleasurable shooting and about when the day began to kind of fall into place and I began truly enjoying myself.  The rain was letting up earlier than predicted and so I decided to keep exploring.

Along the way I got one of the biggest thrills of the day – as otters are always a pleasure.  They are happy and they make me smile.

After checking out the otters and photographing them for awhile – there were 7, 6 adults and one pup – I decided to go down the Madison, towards West, and look for elk.

Almost thought I would be skunked on the elk but, as it turned out, they were right behind me while I was sitting and talking to Judy.

This was a blast.  The good light came and went but the bull attempted to put on a show for us.  Unfortunately, my camera ran out of bullets at the good action – my fault for not paying attention.  But, what a great way to spend a late afternoon and what a terrific day.

Here are a series of images from the elk scene.

He bull laid down and I went on home, without any further delays.  The construction area between Norris and Mammoth is greatly improved and nearly done.  No stopping for me.  And, I hear that it is now open at night, once again.

I saw no smoke from the Spruce fire while in Hayden and am hoping that the rain is putting out those flames.  I feel bad for the visitors, as they are facing an all day rain today but it was needed to soak the earth.  Hope they find some way to have fun, despite nature’s fire depressor.

Headed out to do errands.  Good day for that.

Deby