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Springtime in Yellowstone Part 3

In the first two Springtime in Yellowstone blog posts, we covered Grizzly and Black Bear cubs, adorable Fox Kits, Badger cubs, a three-day-old Moose calf, Bison with their romping little Red Dogs, and much more.

For this final post, I believe I have saved the best for last.

This was the highlight of the trip for me. At our kickoff dinner, we were asked what we would like to see. My answer was anything in the Weasel family. These animals are few and the ones that are there are very shy and elusive. I knew the chance was slim but hey, dream big right?

Short-Tailed Weasel!

You can gauge this little girl’s size by the grasses and Juniper sprigs she’s standing in.

On our last full day, we stopped for lunch at the Sheepeater* Cliff picnic area. Looking up at the rockpile from the base of the cliff we spotted something extremely fast darting in and out of the boulders. Lunch was quickly forgotten as we all grabbed our cameras and sprang into action. While the rest of the group scrambled up the rock field, I worked my way up a trail, through some trees bordering the left side of the rockpile. Peering into the brush, I spotted her looking at me. She was very small, maybe 8 – 10 inches from nose to tail.

These little Weasels are twitchy-quick and fast which can make them extremely difficult to photograph but they also seem to be very curious. I spotted her multiple times as I worked my way up the trail. She’d stop and look back at me and if I was on it, it gave me just enough time to get a shot. The trail ended at the top of the rock pile, and we seemed to come out of the trees at the same time. She would rise out of one crevice in the rocks, look at me, then quickly disappear only to pop up in another spot a couple feet away. At one point she sprang up from a gap between my feet. She was so close my camera wouldn’t focus on her. I’m sure it was the exhilaration of the moment, but I could swear she was playing with me. It was so much fun to watch.

As you can see in some of the pictures, she was carrying something in her mouth. Weasels have a well-earned reputation for being ruthless little carnivores. The speculation around the picnic table was that she had raided a squirrel den. After zooming in on the photos, taking a close look at the baby and how she was holding it, I think she may have been moving her nest and this was one of her litter. It was springtime in Yellowstone after all…

When it was over, we went back to the picnic table to eat lunch and our guide mentioned that for all the time he spends in the park it had been five years since he had last spotted a Weasel.

I was extremely lucky and so very grateful for this wildlife encounter.

* The Sheepeater Indians were a band of the Shoshone Tribe that lived for thousands of years in the area that is now Yellowstone National Park.

American Pika

Any trip to Yellowstone should include a drive to the top of the Beartooth Highway. Drive through the Lamar Valley to the northeast entrance at Silver Gate MT and keep going through Cook City up US Route 212. It’s not that far and it is well worth it. The Beartooth Highway tops out at 10,947 feet and the views are breathtaking. Be forewarned, if you have issues driving up high mountain roads this will surely be a white-knuckle drive, but the road is good and the views are so worth it. Once you are up there pull over to marvel at the views, then wander through the rock fields, and look for Pikas. Pikas are adorable little cousins of the rabbit that live at high altitudes. Just remember, you’re at 11,000 feet and the air is thin.

Pikas winter in their high-altitude homes but they do not hibernate. In the fall they start stuffing their little burrows with enough grass to hold them through the winter. They remain active all winter traveling through tunnels under the rocks and many feet of snow.

FYI, the “Stop The Car Trading Post” in Silver Gate is a great place to stop for a cup of coffee in the morning or Ice cream on a hot afternoon.

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin ducks are as interesting to watch as they are beautiful to look at. The ducks congregate on rocks in the river. Occasionally two or three would take off flying low and fast upriver for 100 yards or so before plunging into the white water. This was in early June, and the rivers were raging with the Spring runoff. Diving, swimming, and periodically rising to the surface the ducks would forage for grubs on the river bottom as they made their way back downstream to their rock where they would hop out and rest up before their next swim.

Great Horned Owls

Owls proved to be almost as elusive as the moose on this trip. We spent time wandering through some of the boreal forests of Yellowstone that were reported to be owl habitats without luck. We finally found this nest high in a pine tree, between two buildings at the park headquarters in Mammoth Hot Springs. The two fluffy chicks and their mom were in the nest while dad was in another tree keeping watch about 50 feet away. I didn’t get many pictures of these owls as the birds were settled into their nest, not moving around. It must have been their after-meal nap time. It was a thrill just to see them, but it would have been nice if they had hopped up on a branch and struck a pose 😊.

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Yellowstone National Park is a unique and wonderful place. It was hallowed ground to the Native Americans for thousands of years before Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone as our first National Park in 1872. While we should never forget those who came before us, or what this place means to them, this park was set aside and protected by the wisdom and foresight of our forefathers. It is a gift that belongs to us all and it’s spectacular.

Thank you for taking the time to read these photo essays of my Springtime wildlife adventures in Yellowstone. I didn’t write these so much to share my experiences but to inspire others to step out and find experiences of their own. If in some small way, you find yourself more inclined to unplug and head out, whether it be a local park for an afternoon or a National Park for a week my goal has been met….. Happy trails.

“Lose yourself in nature and find peace” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Springtime in Yellowstone Part 2

Welcome to part two of my Springtime in Yellowstone photo/blog post. In this installment, I have included Fox Kits, Badger Cubs, a beautiful little 3-day-old moose, and more.

In part one, I gushed about the immense beauty, incredible ecosystem, and diversity of wildlife found in Yellowstone. I won’t bore you with any more of that but I will say that Yellowstone is a natural wonder that one needs to experience and explore.

Thank you for your interest and please enjoy…

Foxes

Those who read my Fox Tail story know of my affinity for the Fox. It took three days to find a Fox in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. In Yellowstone, they are a much more frequent sighting.

click on the picture to view in a larger format.

We made a couple of trips and spent a fair amount of time waiting at this Fox den for the Kits to emerge. Wildlife photography takes patience with long waits (sometimes hours) followed by moments of exhilarated excitement that make it all worth it. When these Kits came out the wait was forgotten.

We ran into this beautiful Vixen on the way up the Beartooth Highway. She was sitting in the middle of the road with a gopher in her mouth. As we pulled over and stopped, she dropped her gopher and ran toward us. This could only be a learned behavior from being fed by people. As grateful as I was to get these pictures, I have a feeling things will not end well for this wonderful little Fox.

She’s not growling, it’s just her crooked smile 😉

Badgers

As with the foxes it took multiple trips and a lot of time to capture these Badger images. We would see the mother Badger emerge from her den, running into the woods to return a short time later with a ground squirrel or something in her jaws to feed her young. Just as we were ready to give up and leave the momma Badger appeared and with a little coaxing, brought her cub out into the light.

Moose

Moose sightings were proving to be elusive. Thanks to Max’s(*) many years of guiding in the park and the numerous contacts he has developed over that time we received a tip that a mother and newborn were sited outside the northeast corner of the park in the Cook City area. What an amazing experience this was. The calf was just a few days old and still very wobbly on her long legs. The calf would occasionally call to its mother with a sweet little cry that sounded like a weak little “bleeet”. It was a heart-melting, awe-inducing moment

* Max Waugh Photography. Our guide for this trip.

Motionless and scentless, calves hide in the bushes while mom’s away.

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For part 3, I believe I have saved the best for last.

Thanks again – br

Springtime in Yellowstone Part 1

This is the first of a multi-post story. As I began sorting pictures from my recent wildlife photography trip to Yellowstone I quickly realized that I had far too many to put in a single post so I’ve split it into three.

I’ve been fortunate to visit many of our beautiful National Parks over the past few years, but in my opinion, none can compare with Yellowstone. Our first National Park, Founded in 1872, is little changed and offers a glimpse of what the West may have been like back in the day. The concentration and diversity of wildlife found in the park can be found nowhere else in the Lower 48.

Yellowstone is immense at over 2.2 million acres. Its geological variety offers volcanic geysers, deep river valleys and waterfalls, the prairie grasslands of the Lamar Valley, and the rugged giant peaks of the Rocky Mountains.

Spring is the perfect time to visit Yellowstone National Park. While Spring mornings may be chilly the afternoons can be perfect shirt-sleeve temperatures**. The Summer heat and crowds can be oppressive. Fall is a beautiful season in the park but the thing that draws me to Springtime in Yellowstone are the newborns emerging from their dens. Spring is the time to witness the next generation of wildlife as it steps out into the world. I was there June 3^rd -9^th and the conditions were perfect.

** Anytime you go to Yellowstone prepare for all weather conditions. It snowed in the park a week or so after I left.

Before I go further with this report, I want to thank Max Waugh of Max Waugh Photography for all his hard work in making this such an amazing experience. I was extremely lucky to land one of four spots in Max’s Spring Yellowstone wildlife photography tour. After 20-plus years as a professional wildlife photographer, exploring the park and guiding wildlife photography trips it would be hard to find anyone with more knowledge of Yellowstone’s wildlife. Thanks, Max!

https://www.maxwaugh.com/

Grizzly Bears

It was a little before 6 am as we rounded the corner approaching the Obsidian Cliffs area of the park when Max called out “Bear”. Up on the grassy hillside to our left was a sow grizzly named Obsidian after the area in which she lived. It was still a little dark and a hazy mist hung in the chilly morning air making visibility a little tough. Eventually, we spotted her three adorable cubs as they followed their mom out onto the hillside. We had this scene all to ourselves for the first hour before anyone else arrived or traffic became too busy. That’s the reward for rising at 3:30 am to be on the road by 4:15 am. It was so worth it!

Remember, click on the pictures to see them in full format. These guys pegged the needle on the cute meter.

This all happened in the first two hours of a five-day wildlife photography trip. I must admit I thought there was no way we could top this…. I was wrong.

Black Bears

We found this mamma with her two adorable cubs just off Tower Road. When we arrived, the momma was in a grassy area below the road with her two cubs up a tree.

Eventually, the cubs came down and followed their mom across the road but not before the cubs became distracted by this traffic cone.

Even in Spring, the traffic can get crazy with “bear jams”. Don’t be a drive-by wildlife watcher. We saw more than one person stop in the middle of their lane causing long traffic jams. When you spot an animal, find a place to pull over and enjoy the experience.

Possible mating pair of Black Bears, one black one cinnamon

Bison

It’s an awe-inspiring sight to look out across the vast Lamar Valley and see many hundreds of Bison roaming the grasslands with their little “Red Dog” calves. The calves are full of energy running, playing, and chasing each other around. They are so cute and fun to watch.

It is hard to imagine a time when millions of Bison roamed the western plains and harder still to fathom how they were hunted to near extinction. In the mid-1880 a conservationist named William Hornaday began a campaign to save the Bison. In the early 1800’s there were an estimated 30 million Bison on the western plains. By the time Congress made It illegal to kill bison in 1894 there we fewer than 1000.

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Calliope Hummingbird. The smallest bird in North America.

The Yellowstone ecosystem is truly a wonder with its diverse landscapes and a wide array of wildlife. From the apex/keystone predators like Grizzly Bears and Wolves to the grassland grazers like the Bison, elk, and pronghorn Antelope to the Pocket Gophers and Ground Squirrels, all the animals in the park are part of the delicate balance of life that is the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. It is truly something to be cherished.

For all we saw on this trip, there is so much more to see and I am eager to go back.

Part two of this series will include Fox Kits, Badger Cubs, an adorable newborn Moose calf, and baby Owls.

A Fox Tale – October 2022

The fox has always been one of my favorite creatures. Known as clever little mischief makers, the cunning fox has thwarted man’s attempts to capture or cull for centuries.

“A fox is subtlety itself.” ~ Aristophanes, Greek Philosopher, 386 B.C.

Native Americans considered the fox as an irreverent trickster, a benevolent character, and associated them with intelligence and wisdom.

The people of Northern-Eastern China have been praying to Fox Spirits since ancient times. Almost every village in that region of China has a Spirit Shrine to worship the fox.

Then there was fox hunting in Great Britain, where the highbrow British society elites would don their red coats and silly riding helmets, jump on their horses and chase foxes around with large packs of barking hounds. They called this “sport”. They knew that without hounds, they had no chance to catch the elusive fox. Thankfully, the fox hunts were outlawed in 2005.

The early Americans had a different attitude towards the fox as their attempts to “keep the fox out of the hen house” failed time and again.

“The cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf.” ~ Thomas Paine

The theme of intelligence and cunning is the common thread in fox mythology down through time.

Thousands of years later the crafty little fox is still here creating his mischief and raiding hen houses, yet I had never seen one in the wild. Wildlife photography is a little outside of what I have typically done. Up until now, I’ve focused on landscape, sunset, or mountain photography, you know,… things that sit still. Wildlife photography presents a unique challenge: their senses are a magnitude greater than ours, and they move silently through their environment. Not only do you have to find them, but you also need to catch them in the right light to get a good picture before they disappear back into the forest.

So with the difficult task of finding and photographing a fox in the wild, I hit the road for the mountain town of McCall on the shores of Payette Lake in central Idaho.

Through research, I knew that foxes were occasionally seen in the area around McCall, but I thought my chances of spotting one of these elusive, beautiful creatures were slim. My schedule allowed for three days and on the afternoon of the 3^rd day, as I was slowly working my way through the game trails of the Payette National Forest, I spotted this gorgeous cross fox.

You must look closely. Unless you are looking for him, and sometimes even if you are, you would walk right by.

With a huge burst of excitement and a rush of adrenaline, I ducked down and took a moment to calm myself. I now understand what hunters mean by “buck fever”. When I looked again, he was still there and miraculously, had not seen or heard me. I dropped my pack and slowly started working my way up behind him as quietly as possible. I got to within 40 feet when he sat up and looked right at me. At that point, I thought the gig was up, but he didn’t run, he laid back down?!

Right after I took this picture my camera flashed the dreaded “Dead Battery” message. My spare batteries were back down the hill in my pack. Rookie mistake! #%*&$&#!. I quietly worked my way back down to my pack knowing that the fox had assuredly made a run for it but when I looked back up the hill, to my surprise, he was still there.

After changing my battery, I put my pack on and started working my way to the right around the base of his hill. The plan was to come up in front of him to get a good shot. When I approached the rock that I thought he was on he was nowhere in sight. I was so grateful I had seen one and I would have been happy if it had ended right then. I worked my way up the hill a little further and turned around to see the fox sleeping on another rock 20 feet from where I had previously been.

Again, I dropped my pack and worked my way down the hill. At one point he looked up and I froze.

The look on his face says “is this guy real or am I dreaming.”

I finally worked my way around to where I wanted to be with the sun on his face and the Fall colors at his back and took this picture.

This was the shot I was after. What a beautiful fox!

He was obviously a groggy, tired little fox. After posing for this picture, he tucked his nose back into his body and went back to sleep.

He knew that I was no threat.

Climbing back to the top of the hill I stopped to watch the little fox sleep. I probably took 15-20 pictures, but I stayed there for a long time. When you go to the effort to put yourself in this position and it works out, you don’t want the moment to end. Setting my camera down I just stayed there, in the presence of this fox, surrounded by the silence of the woods and the stunning fall colors, hanging onto this experience as long as I could.

Just as I was starting to pack up to leave, the fox started to stir and sat up with a yawn.

After a quick stretch, the fox stepped off his rock and something in the bushes immediately grabbed his attention.

When he struck the pose below, I realized he was going to do a “fox pounce”!

In a bit of a panic, I fumbled to increase my shutter speed to try to freeze the fox in midair but as you can see below, I was waving my camera all over in my excitement.

Checking the pictures soon afterward I knew I had blown the shot, but I couldn’t be angry or disappointed. Just to be in the position to see this was so wonderful. I almost wish I would have put my camera down and watched.

To paraphrase Sean Penn’s character, Sean O’Connell, in the movie Walter Mitty, “sometimes you don’t take the picture, sometimes you just want to stay right there, in the moment. “…. It was amazing.

With that, the little fox trotted off across a log and disappeared behind a tree to undoubtedly make some mischief or raid a hen house…

Godspeed little fox.