YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

Another long spring day in Yellowstone, with mostly blue skies, warmer temperatures and an endless breeze.  On my way home tonight there was only one word that kept repeating itself in my excited mind – “Thrilled.”

I was beyond thrilled to get the opportunity to spend some time with Raspberry and Snow this evening, near the lake and in the golden light.

We did have the bears earlier in the day, around noon time or so, for about 15 minutes as they went to the lake where Raspberry rolled in the sand and then smacked Snow and he/she walked past.   Mean mama.  They were not at the lake for long before coming back up near us and crossing the road.  The bears were close and they grazed on the hillside for a little while but the light was bad.   And then they disappeared.

I waited for the bears to come out near the lake but they took their sweet time.  So, I had a long nap and did some computer work.  And, just as I had decided to take one last drive to make sure Raspberry and Snow hadn’t doubled back or gone higher, before going home, they came down to the lake.   The pair grazed for a few minutes and then walked right along side the road before going down to the water where they simply walked the shoreline for a minute before coming back up and crossing the road.  But, we got real lucky with the light and the fact that they stayed on the side of the road for a long time, until a bison bull spooked them off.  I heard Raspberry doing a lot of huffing at Snow, earlier and tonight.  Earlier Snow ignored mom and got reprimanded but tonight he/she was on toes and minding business.  They went up the hill to skyline and I left.

This was my first time getting bears along the shore so a real treat.

Worth every second of the wait.

As far as the rest of the day, before the bears.  I only saw two sows and two yearlings, black bears, one at Phantom Lake and the other at Elk Creek.  No sign of Rosie or Mixed Mom.

Josh said that nothing was going on in Lamar but that Bill saw the four Lamars last evening as they returned to the den from the south.  Apparently, they howled but Bill did not hear any return puppy howls.  This is was good news to hear.

In Canyon folks were looking for the great gray owl and did see it fly but no shots.  At Otter Creek photographers were lined up, hoping a grizzly would come their way.  The bear had killed an elk calf in the nearby forest and the rangers went in to take it away from him because it was too near the road.  We hoped that the bear would come our way but no such luck.

Still at Otter Creek, there was a young raven that had fallen from the nest and was sitting there with its mouth wide open.  People were surrounding the poor thing for photos and so rangers moved it deeper into the forest.  The raven chick won’t survive as it was too young to fledge.  Always a bummer to see but also interesting to see a chick so close.

That is really all there was for today.  But, definitely enough.

See you tomorrow.