YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

Been a couple of slow days for photo ops – in fact, zero photos for two days.  The sky has been an endless blue of bright sunshine, which does not bode well for interesting photos.  And, Bob, the bison carcass that Josh Able has been sitting with for 6 days now, has been rejected by all predators.  If you don’t know Josh, you soon will because he is difficult to miss.  And, Josh decided to pull a Deby and give up his life in favor of Yellowstone and RV living – except that he still has his dogs.

Yesterday’s excitement was Doug and Jeremy finally seeing the Lamar Canyon pups!  At the final hour it does not matter who saw them first, only that they were seen.

This morning I hiked out to look back at the den area with my scope and could not find the pups – neither could anyone else.  They were probably snoozing with dad – either that or chewing on his good ear.  Makes me smile to think of Big Grey as a dad – I’ll bet that he is doing a great job.

I had to quit looking early and get to Mammoth for an appointment, which went pretty well.  By the time the appointment was done, most of Mammoth was shut down for elk control.  Between the bears and the elk, the park service uses a lot of resources to keep people safe and from getting too close.  And, it was HOT!  I am not doing well without AC in my car and not sure what I will do because it is pretty miserable.  One day at a time I guess – and then maybe Fall will be here.  Although, it seems that I need my AC quite often.

With no photo ops for two days it is a good time to tell you about the Sandhill cranes that came after me several days ago.

I have spent a lot of time photographing birds lately and that is what I was doing when the Sandhill crane parents realized that there was an intruder in their neck of the woods.  I was probably about 200 yards away, but soon discovered that when a Sandhill maps out his territory, it is large and intruders are not welcome.

Suddenly the Sandhills erupted and I looked over just in time to see them stash their colt.  I figured that sitting still and low would give them time to calm down and realize that I was not a threat and so tried that.

Next thing I know, mama is walking through the wildflowers in front of me.  I was too stunned for many photos because I also suddenly realized that daddy was getting louder and louder.  And, in fact, daddy was right behind me.

Crap, now what?  The Sandhills had me surrounded and I had already witnessed the demise of a red-winged blackbird baby at their beaks and wasn’t liking the headlines that were running through my imagination.

I stood and began slowly making my way back towards the road but they still had me surrounded and the racket was awful.  About that time I noticed a white bus at the nearby pullout and could only think of the scandal that would ensue over my disturbing the cranes. I already felt pretty darned awful for getting the birds so riled up and disrupting their day and sure did not need any lectures from anyone.  Some times the guilt we pour onto ourselves is plenty.

For a while I simply stood still.  The birds had quieted down some and I assumed that they were making their way back towards their colt.  (I object to the term colt, which should be reserved for male offspring of a mare or female horse).  And then I noticed that daddy had not given up on me and was surrounding me once again, which is when I made the decision to simply get the heck out of there.  Basically, the birds escorted me and I complied, gladly.

I hiked back to the road and soon discovered that the crowd on the bus was having lens envy and was not thinking about what a horrible person I was.

After my little incident with the Sandhills a friend sent a note to tell me that the same pair had harassed and treed a black bear!

Darned right, we should all be scared of the wrath of the Sandhill and the parents of all of the young in the wild.