Dusty Jeans & Genes - Part 22 - Yellowstone National Park - Wildlife (Mostly)

Saturday, 5 May 2018

Today was our designated "wildlife day". We contracted with Yellowstone Insight to provide a guide, Shauna Baron. We started our day at 5:30 AM, and set out for Yellowstone's northern ranges.

Without a doubt, bison calves stole the scene today. They are cute, playful, and just plain adorable.

Scampering for the sheer joy of it.

But mama is never far away!

And when a calf gets tired, it just plops down for sleep! (A protective mama is always nearby.)

Bison are huge.

Pronghorns are just beginning to return to their summer pastures.

Moose walk with an ungainly gait, but they can quickly cover a lot of territory.

One scenery picture: I love the yellows and oranges of the willows.

We spent a good bit of time watching an osprey nest. The osprey will lay eggs and raise their young a bit later in the season.

A ground squirrel watched us while we were watching the osprey.

And just across the road a coyote strolled by, totally unconcerned by a gaggle of humans.

While we were watching a bald eagle nest, a marmot roamed through boulders on the other side of the road.

Just before we finished our day, Lon spotted a badger. Before I could get my camera ready, he was trotting away.

There's lots more we saw that was difficult to photograph. But one of the advantages of hiring a guide is that they bring fabulous spotting scopes and good binoculars. We saw a grizzly bear and a black bear from a distance. Also a bald eagle nest, and a great horned owl nest right outside the park superintendent's home. We also spent a lot of time watching wolves at their den, but it was a week or two too early to see the pups.

Unfortunately, we had to leave Yellowstone in the early afternoon to start our long drive back east. One of these days we'll take a vacation to spend two weeks just in the Tetons and Yellowstone.