You only need sit still long enough in some attractive spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit themselves to you by turns.
~John Muir
One of my favorite things is to find a place out in nature and just sit and watch. You never know what you might see and the longer you are there, the more the wild creatures begin to accept you and go about their business. Trail cameras offer another version of this activity as they sit in one place for days at a time and record our wild neighbors doing things we otherwise might not see. They have the added benefit of being on duty 24/7 but do have limitations – they can’t turn and survey the entire scene plus there are limits to battery life especially in cold weather. I have one camera right behind the house at our small water hole and one up along a path at the base of the cliff above our house. Its been a couple of months since I shared what the cameras have seen, so here are a few highlights..
The day after we got home I found a pigeon carcass in one of our yard walkways. It had been pecked at but there was still plenty of meat on the carcass. This is the second pigeon kill I have found in the past month (glad some predator is taking advantage of the many birds that roost on the cliff). They were both most likely day-time predators so I figured it was a raptor of some sort, either an accipiter or falcon. I put a trail camera on one of the deck supports and checked it the next morning when I saw the carcass was gone. A deer mouse nibbled on the carcass for a couple of hours off and on. Then a critter came by and took it away.
Then the camera captured what I am assuming was the killer of the pigeon coming back at sunrise to reclaim its meal. I first thought it was a Cooper’s Hawk based on the size and the fact I think it might be tough for a sharpie to take down a pigeon. But the more I look at it, I’m not sure and it is possible it is a large female sharp-shinned hawk. Your thoughts are welcome as replies.
I’m looking forward to seeing what new animals appear this winter. It may be more difficult to reach the camera at the base of the cliff with snow and ice on that slope but the insights into our wild neighbors will make it worth the effort.
Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.
~E.B. White
We ventured into the park this weekend hoping to find some wildlife and to just get out and enjoy the scenery and weather on perhaps the last day before the late-coming snows arrive. It was overcast even though the weather had predicted a sunny day. We quickly saw elk, bison, and a large flock of trumpeter swans on Blacktail Ponds. A little farther along I spotted group of birds perched in a dead tree along the road – waxwings! They looked a little bigger than the cedar waxwings we commonly see back in North Carolina and in our yard here in Montana. The light was terrible for photos but we pulled off the road and got out the spotting scope and confirmed they were Bohemian waxwings, a species that only occurs here in the winter and one that we have only seen once. Named for their nomadic wanderings, especially in winter, Bohemian waxwings are a bit chunkier in appearance than cedar waxwings and have more reddish tones in their feathers and some white in their wings. We traveled on happy to have seen this elusive species.
As we approached a group of cars at the far end of Lamar Valley, Melissa spotted a golden eagle perched in a tree along the river. We pulled over and I walked back to the eagle to get a couple of pics.
Golden eagle in Lamar Valley (click photos to enlarge)
Meanwhile, she got out the spotting scope and looked in the direction of the group of observers down by the vehicles just ahead. As we had suspected, the group was watching wolves of the Junction Butte pack. A large herd of elk were bunched together on the slope and we could see wolves on the horizon above them. Melissa got this video through her spotting scope showing the scale of the scene.
We watched the wolves until they all disappeared over the ridge with a group of pups having a playfest for several minutes before finally following the adults. Melissa walked back to the eagle and got this quick clip of it. The combination of that spotting scope, her Pphone and the Phone Skope adapter is truly amazing.
The golden eagle surveying the landscape of Lamar valley (video by Melissa Dowland)
We then did a short hike down to Soda Butte Creek and then headed back through Lamar Valley to see what we could see. We spotted another, much larger flock of Bohemian waxwings on a snag in Lamar Canyon. We pulled over and since they were on her side, Melissa grabbed my camera to get a few shots.
Bohemian waxwings chowing down on Rocky Mountain juniper fruits (photo by Melissa Dowland)
As I had seen with cedar waxwings in NC, this flock would fly down to a juniper tree and eat fruit, then return to their perches. They sat for awhile and then dropped down to a nearby muddy patch with puddles of water collected in depressions left by bison hoof prints. It was all done in a frenetic fashion and then they would return to their perch. A Townsend’s solitaire was not too fond of this enormous flock of waxwings devouring its winter food supply so it was constantly harassing the waxwings causing them to shift positions on the branches. But it seemed the solitaire knew this was a lost cause as it would periodically fly off and rest before returning to try once more. We headed off for another hike and by the time we finished the skies had cleared so we decided to head back to the waxwings to try to get some more shots. Now the birds were on my side of the car and the light was fantastic. We spent the next hour watching the birds feed, fly to the water, and interact in the snag.
The Bohemian waxwing flock on their preferred snag.The flock switched to a different juniper for their feeding frenzies but then would return to the same dead tree.Waxwings returning to their perch in the dead tree
One juniper was just above the water hole and a few birds continued to use that one for feeding allowing me a closer photo in good light.
Bohemian waxwing in the top of a nearby juniper. The rust-colored under-tail feathers are diagnostic.
They would occasionally rush down to the water hole (which looked more like a mud hole from our vantage point inside the car) and create quite the chaotic scene as some birds poked their heads down into the wet hoof prints while others flew back and forth to the snag.
Waxwings landing to get waterA Bohemian waxwing gulps a drink of water from the wet mud. This view shows their beautiful wing pattern.
After photographing the birds from inside the car for a long time, we decided Melissa should try to ease out and set up the spotting scope behind the car to get some closer images. The birds tolerated that movement and she was able to get some nice close-ups of the birds on their perch.
When the birds flew down to the water hole, Melissa was careful not to move so as to not spook them. I continued to shoot from inside the car and managed a few shots of birds in flight as they came and went from the ground.
A waxwing takes off after getting a drinkTake a look at the feather details on this flying Bohemian waxwing – the yellow tips to the tail, the small red waxy-looking tips on some of the flight feathers (easier to see from the upper side than this view), the rusty under-tail coverts. The black mask is characteristic of both of our waxwing species.
After spending time watching these beautiful birds, we hope they will visit the mountain ash trees in our yard sometime this winter so we can view them up close. Based on what we saw in the park (we saw another large flock late in the day in the upper part of Lamar Valley), this may be an excellent year for the wandering winter waxwings.
A woodpecker’s drilling echoes to the mountain clouds.
~Dakotsu Iida
Melissa and I hiked a wonderful trail back in June that took us though several diverse habitats including rocky slopes, mature conifer forests, open grasslands, and a few beautiful aspen groves. We love aspen groves for their beauty and diversity of wildlife that call them home. Years ago, our friend Dan took us to a grove up in the Beartooths and showed us how valuable aspen trees are to a variety of wildlife, especially cavity nesting birds. I reported on this hike in an earlier post and mentioned how we discovered a three-toed woodpecker nest under construction.
The aspen grove (click photos to enlarge)
After some time with visiting family, I went back a couple of weeks later to check on the woodpecker’s progress. While watching the three-toed nest cavity, I saw another woodpecker fly through the grove and land on an aspen trunk about 100 feet away. It went into another nest hole! So, I slowly walked over and sat on the trail edge to watch, but before I got close, the bird flew out. This aspen was down in the grove proper but I had a vantage point from the trail which was up a steep slope from the nest tree giving me an almost eye level view of the cavity. Soon, another woodpecker came in calling and landed on a nearby aspen trunk, looked around and then flew to the nest cavity entrance. I could now see that this was a Williamson’s sapsucker nest.
Williamson’s sapsucker nest cavity. Male has just arrived with food for young. Note the start of another hole on lower left of trunk. This is a cropped image using a 500mm telephoto.
It seems as though the sapsuckers had started their nesting activities before the nearby three-toed woodpeckers as they were already feeding their young. I decided to focus on the sapsucker nest since it was a better location for viewing the nest cavity from a distance far enough sway to limit any disturbance to the birds. This tree also had much better light on the nest cavity (at least about one and a half hours each morning). On my first visit I noted that the male and female were both feeding the young with an interval of only about 10-20 minutes between each feeding. For many years scientists thought that the males and females were two distinct species since they look so different from one another. The male is boldly patterned in black and white with a yellow belly and red throat patch. The female is more muted in brown and black and white stripes (but also has a yellow belly).
The female Williamson’s sapsucker resting on a tree limb near the nest tree. She often went to this same branch after feeding the young and preened or spread her wings and tail feathers (called splooting).
I made three trips to the aspen grove over the next several days and tried to photograph the comings and goings of the adults as they fed their very hungry young. The male had a pattern of landing on a tree trunk about 30 feet from the nest tree, looking around, and then flying over to the nest cavity. The female usually flew directly to the nest tree, calling as she flew in. I was hoping to get some photos of the birds flying in to the tree trunk with wings spread and feet outstretched but I discovered this was challenging. I generally use the mechanical shutter option in my camera which shoots at about 12 frames per second. That is generally plenty fast to capture moving subjects. But these birds came in so quickly I decided to switch to the electronic shutter which provides 20 frames pr second. That made all the difference in the world. As soon as I thought a bird was flying toward the nest tree I just pressed the shutter and held it. The up side was a series of photos showing different poses and wing beats as the woodpecker came in for a landing. The down side was it made for a crazy number of images to go through that were only slightly different from one another.
Here are a few of my favorites as the birds flew in to feed their young (these images are heavily cropped).
The female coming in with a load of insects for her youngThis was the usual pose right before landing – feet outThe female coming in with wings wide openI love this shot that has both the bird and its shadow coming in for a landing
The pair of sapsuckers kept a fast pace of feeding trips. I couldn’t tell what they were bringing by looking through the binoculars, but when I started looking at the images I was amazed – they were feeding their young blobs of ants. I have since read that this is common for this species.
A beak full of ants going to the nestlingsThe female did bring in a few cicadas over the few days I watched
When leaving, the female often dropped down to a short branch below the nest cavity and sat there for a few moments before flying off.
She flies off with a flying insect hovering above
I was surprised to see relatively few carries of fecal sacs from the nest. I have witnessed this many times with various species of cavity nesting birds when the adult goes into the nest after a feeding and flies out with a pre-packaged fecal sac that usually looks like a small white blob. They tend to fly some distance before dropping it. This probably helps remove scents that could help predators cue in on the nest. But I never saw the white blob when these sapsuckers came out of the nest. Instead, it looked like a large blob of wood chips and ants stuck together.
The male removes a fecal sac from the nest
On my last trip to the grove, I took Melissa’s spotting scope and a newly arrived adapter for our cell phones. This combination provides excellent resolution for filming at a distance. And video is much more forgiving in low light than stills with my camera so I sat for a time at the three-toed woodpecker nest and captured this footage of a feeding.
The female brings in some insects to feed the young and then sits on the outside chirping, perhaps to the male. She then enters and flies out with a fecal sac.
I had hoped to witness the young birds leave the nest (or at least poke their heads out to be fed as they got bigger) but we had more family visiting shortly after these images were taken and by the time I got back to the aspens, the birds were all gone. I look forward to checking out this and other aspen groves next summer to see what a new year brings.
The great gray owl, or great gray ghost as it is sometimes called, truly seems to be a spirit of these northern woods
~Paul Bannick, in his book The Owl and the Woodpecker
Last week was the last time the roads to the interior would be open for vehicular travel for the season. We went down to Canyon, Hayden Valley, and Lake twice to experience it and hopefully see some wildlife before the winter closure. One thing we really hoped to see was a great gray owl as there had been many posts on social media recently of people seeing these elusive birds in various locations in the interior. Years ago we had seen one near Canyon thanks to a friend sharing a location. Indeed, when we drove past the pullout where we had parked years ago to head into the wood, there were several empty parked cars. Our guess was people were out looking for the owls. The other two spots we had heard owls were being seen also had numerous empty parked vehicles. We pulled into the Bridge Bay area as a couple of cars were leaving and the folks said they had not seen any. We decided to walk around a bit just to look. Unfortunately, we saw no owls but did run into a man from Idaho who was also looking and, like us, with no luck.
Great gray owls seem to prefer small meadows surrounded by coniferous forests. They sit and watch and listen for rodents in the meadow and then open their enormous wings and pounce. Great grays are the largest owls in North America by size standing over two and a half feet tall with wing spans over 4 feet. But they are not the heaviest owl as both snowy and great horned owls are usually heavier weighing in at around 4 pounds each.
There is something magical about seeing a great gray owl. Its large size (and equally large head and facial disks) never fail to impress any observer. But it may be its vagueness, how it blends into the forest, that makes it so very special anytime you are lucky enough to see one. In fact, its scientific name is Strix nebulosa, with the species name meaning misty or cloudy, a reference to the gray coloration of its feathers which are an ideal match to the gray tree trunks of its forest home.
And so the day went as we drove to the owl hot spots and waited and watched, hiking one more time in the woods near Canyon. There were tracks in the snow of marten, snowshoe hares, squirrels, ad the occasional ermine, but no owls. Driving on, we came across a large gathering of cars and people near Mud Volcano that were waiting to photograph an ermine. While we wanted to see one, it just didn’t feel right with so many people. But we did walk up a section of trail there that we had never visited and saw an amazing thermal feature named Churning Cauldron.
On one of our passes through Hayden Valley we came across a herd of bison crossing both the road and the adjacent river. We both enjoy watching bison cross rivers so we stopped and watched.
Bison swimming across Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley (click photos to enlarge)Bison shaking it off after swimming across the river
We also watched a few coyotes as we traveled. It is always fun to watch them hunt.
A particularly fluffy coyote pounces after a prey. In this case, it missed.
While watching a coyote at one spot, Melissa spotted something that surprised both of us – a caterpillar out on a patch of snow! I have not been able to identify it yet, but whatever it is, it is a tough little guy.
A small green caterpillar out on the snow in Hayden Valley
As the day was waning, we decide to try one more time for the gray ghost of the forest. We drove to our spot at Canyon and found several cars parked at a similar angle facing out toward one of the roadside meadows. But there were no passengers so we figured people were out looking. We decided to just stay in the car and watch. Suddenly, I saw a large bird fly across the road about 75 yards away. It had to have been an owl. We slowly drove in that direction and then saw a group of photographers walking out of the woods where the owl had flown. The trees were dense as we approached the group who had stopped at the edge of the road. Then, there it was, the gray ghost!
The owl landed right next to the road in a pine. This photo taken from the car with 500mm telephoto and is cropped.
We stopped to watch and I looked at the group of men following the owl. None of them were taking photos, they just watched from the opposite side of the road. I wasn’t sure what they were waiting on and we eventuality drove past them and parked on the edge of the road. The owl dropped down into the snow but didn’t catch whatever it was after. It then flew back into the trees and landed at the edge of a meadow. The group followed it, walking into the meadow and standing in some small tees opposite the owl. We walked to the edge of the meadow and watched as the owl gazed around looking for prey.
The owl landed on the far side of a meadow and started searching for prey
We were about 50 yards away, the other group much closer. The owl then flew over to the center of the meadow and landed at the top of a small pine.
The owl landing atop a small pine in the meadow
The light was fading fast so I leaned against the dead tree we were standing near to brace my camera and telephoto. I fired off a few shots and suddenly I saw it take off. Melissa whispered, it’s flying right at us. I pressed the shutter a couple of times and looked up and the owl was coming straight at us about 4 feet off the ground! As it neared our tree, it swooped up and landed directly above our heads about 20 feet up in the tree I was leaning against. It gave us a look and then continued swiveling its head scanning for prey. I took a couple of photos and it responded by looking down again so I stopped. We just stood there in amazement. I honestly don’t know how long it was above us as it seemed so surreal. We would never approach an animal this close but the bird had flown to us so we didn’t want to move for fear of spooking it. The owl finally stretched up and pooped (which landed about 2 feet from me in the snow) and then flew off across the road.
The great gray owl staring down at us
The crew of photographers walked by us following the bird while we just looked at each other and smiled at what had just happened. We walked out to the edge of the road across from our parked car and the owl was perched in a snag about 40 feet off the road. Two other photographers had stopped and were standing with us. The owl crew had walked across the road into the woods in front of the perched owl.
The owl perched on this snag for several minutes scanning the surroundings.
Since our car was parked near where the owl landed, we stayed where we were, not wanting to approach any closer. We just waited and watched.
It finally flew deeper into the woods, followed once again by the same group of men. We stood and talked with the folks near us for a few minutes and then walked to our car and headed home.
A heavily cropped image of the beautiful face of a great gray owl showing its huge facial disks which help funnel sound into its sensitive ears
What an amazing way to end our last opportunity on the roads into the interior for the season. As we drove away we discussed how having so many photographers (including us) might be stressful to these animals even though great gray owls do seem very accepting of our presence. One person we spoke to had been at the ermine jam earlier in the afternoon when the ermine did make an appearance. But he left when a small group of photographers kept crowding around the animal. I guess the lesson here is to observe and photograph from a distance so as to not change the behavior of an animal. We should probably do more walking away from the roads and sitting in places and watching to let the wildlife move freely and do what they do without interference. I understand the excitement of being close to a wild creature, but we must also realize that having a crowd of people following your every move can’t be a good thing, especially as the harsh winter season approaches. I imagine all these animals will appreciate the road closure and the freedom to just be for the next 7 months.
To catch a glimpse of a moose in its natural habitat is to witness a fleeting moment of pure magic, a connection to the wild that stays with you forever.
~Douglas Chadwick
A couple of weeks ago we went on our annual truck camping road trip during our birthdays week (our birthdays are a week apart). Our first stop was Grand Teton National Park. Melissa shared some of the incredible fall colors of that area in our last post. One of my goals on this trip was to see a moose, hopefully a nice bull. I think the moose population in Yellowstone is increasing but this year we have had little luck seeing these magnificent creatures on our outings in the park. The Tetons are well-known for the larger numbers of moose so I was hopeful. On our first day we drove down the road toward the Gros Ventre campground, a road we had seen a nice bull moose on earlier this summer. And, in almost the same location as our earlier sighting, there was a bull moose. He was bedded down in thick vegetation along the river so not a great photo op, but at least we saw one. After driving around to various locations the next day, we decided to take a hike to a pond where Melissa and her sister had seen a moose a few weeks earlier. It was late afternoon and as we walked, an elderly couple (can I still say that?) approached from the direction of the pond. I asked if they had seen any moose. “No, but someone said a few have been seen up another trail and have been there all day”. I was bummed, but we continued on. A few minutes later we encountered three young men coming out. They immediately said there were 3 moose at the pond and cautioned us to be careful as one was a large bull. We laughed and wondered how two reports just minutes apart could be so different. As we approached the ponds, we saw a few folks gathered on the other side of the far one and then we saw them – two moose! A cow out in the water and a large bull on shore.
Our first view of the moose at the pond (click photos to enlarge)
If you look closely, you will also see something else…another moose swimming in the pond. When I first saw it, there was splashing on the far shore and I wondered what the heck people were doing in the pond. Then the head of a young bull moose became apparent. He swam across the pond and got out on the shore in some thick vegetation beyond the large bull who was keeping an eye on us and the other people on the opposite shore.
Cow moose walking in pond with young bull in background
We walked over to join the rest of the people and settled in to quietly watch the cow feed on submerged vegetation while the big bull looked on. This was the start of the rut for moose so this big fella was undoubtedly guarding her in order to mate. The young bull was either an offspring of the cow from the previous year or a young guy hoping to get lucky.
The cow suddenly looked off to the side of the pond where we had recently walked and stared. I glanced over and saw another bull moose coming down across the trailAnother large bull moose approaching the pond
The first bull spotted the other one, stood up and walked stiff-legged toward the intruder, grunting every few steps.
The original bull gave out loud grunts as he approached the other bull
I really thought we were about to witness an epic battle between two large bull moose. The first bull stopped twice and thrashed the bushes with his antlers, a sure sign he was ready for a challenge.
Meanwhile, the cow went back to feeding. Guess she has seen this bravado before.
The cow continued to dunk her snout into the water to eat submerged vegetation
The other bull soon disappeared back into the woods and the dominant bull returned the victor without ever having to battle. And the cow just kept feeding, seemingly oblivious to all the drama.
We continued watching the moose for quite some time before deciding to hike back to the car. It was a privilege to witness this group of moose in their world. I must say, I was also happy that the gathered group were quiet and respectful of the animals and we all seemed to appreciate the wonder of the moment. On our way back, we came around a curve in the trail and encountered a young black bear only about 30 feet from us chowing down on berries. We paused, talked quietly to the bear who glanced our way and continued feeding. The bear turned away feeding as it went and we slipped down the trail realizing how special this hike had been. In a world of crazy headlines and sadness, it is healing to witness wildlife going about their lives.
How about a blog post with some pretty landscape pictures?
~Jane Cardwell, my mother — this one’s for you!
Fall is a fleeting season. I’ve always loved it — the colors, the cooling weather, the promise of change. Here in the West, it seems to move even more quickly that it did back East.
The landscape around our new home in Gardiner has been brown for a while now. In this dry climate, it’s not heat or day length that seems to govern the fading of green. It’s the lack of water. This summer, the hummocks just inside Yellowstone that are visible from our living room had turned brown by mid-July. This is quite a change from the moisture of North Carolina that turns things green that aren’t supposed to be.
This is not the view from our house, rather out in Yellowstone. However, I like how it captures the starkness of the landscape as the greens of summer fully faded away.
Since participating in a nature journaling conference in early September, I’ve been experimenting with watercolors and trying my hand at some small landscape paintings. It’s fun to try to match the colors I’m seeing on the landscape using just a few simple primary colors. But I think I need to discover a new vocabulary for shades of brown and yellow: Grass. Sand. Ochre. Bronze. Umber. Amber. Flax. Sienna. Sepia. Teak. Gamboge. Perhaps the naming will help me appreciate their variation more?
Each of these is about two inches wide. The left painting is from a backpacking trip in the southwest corner of Yellowstone in early September with some friends from NC. The right one is from near our campsite on my birthday in Cache National Forest near the Utah-Idaho border.
As September has waned and October begun, new colors have popped up on the landscape. The highlight of fall color here in the West is certainly quaking aspens. On past trips to Colorado, Mike and I have enjoyed their glowing yellow. Here in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, or perhaps just this year (as it’s our first Rocky Mountain fall), there seems to be more variety in their color. While there is still a lot of the typical yellow, oranges and even colors verging on red blend in. In places where some of the aspens hold their green a bit longer, there’s been some beautiful “aspen rainbows” where a patch, or even a single tree, will showcase a spectrum from green to yellow to orange to red-orange.
This aspen grove isn’t quite a rainbow-y as some I saw, but it does showcase the variation in their color well!
On a recent trip south (to go to the closest Ikea in Salt Lake City, of course), we were fortunate to hit peak fall color in the Tetons. There are many more aspens there than in Yellowstone, as well as many cottonwoods in wetter areas, which generally seem to turn a slightly more golden-brown (ochre?) shade. It was a spectacular fall color show. The looming mountains in the background didn’t hurt the scene either.
Our second morning in the Tetons, storms were rolling in. Just before Mount Moran was hidden by clouds, we had this amazing moment of sun.
As we continued on to Utah, we ran into some wet weather that produced snow at high elevations. The mix of aspens in fall color just beneath the jagged, snow-covered peaks of the Wasatch mountains was stunning. Again, we saw a blend of oranges and reds. In a 1989 paper in Forestry Science, scientists observed variation in the color change of aspen leaves in certain groves from year to year (e.g. orange one year and yellow the next). They speculated that particular weather conditions might lead to the production of higher levels of anthocyanins (chemical compounds that cause the red colors in fall leaves), thus changing leaf color from year to year. However, other groves were always red or always yellow, so they hypothesized that color was influenced by a genetic component as well. No matter how or why, the addition of the reds into our recent leaf peeping trip was welcome, as I miss the brilliant red maples and scarlet oaks and black gums of the East.
The view from Guardsman’s Pass above Salt Lake City was spectacular with the first snowfall on the fading aspens!
A few nights ago, we had our first snowfall of the season with a dusting around our house and much more on the mountains across the valley in the Park. We may have another week or two of some fall color at lower elevations, but the main show seems to be over as winter sets in. Perhaps it’s time to start working on my color vocabulary for whites and blues…
Electric Peak from our deck a day after the first snowfall. Before some melting in the afternoon sun, the snow level was much lower on the hills!
The grizzly is a symbol of what is right with the world.
~Charles Jonkel
A few weeks ago, a large bull elk walked out to the edge of a marshy area in the park and got stuck in the mud. For two days it struggled, unable to free itself. Being fairly close to a road, many visitors saw this huge animal attempt to escape its muddy prison. In what was a somewhat uncharacteristic move for park staff, they put the animal down (I heard they shot it and killed it to put it out of its misery). Normally, park staff only intervene if an animal injury is human-caused. In this case, being close to a road and so visible to visitors, the decision was made to intervene after giving the bull two days to try to free himself. As is always the case here in Yellowstone, one animal’s death provide sustenance for a host of other species. Surprisingly, it apparently took 4 days before a grizzly showed up at the carcass (I am going on what I was told by some bystanders at the site). I had a lot going on when I first heard about this carcass but then saw several photos on social media of the large bear laying on its prize. Several days went by and I finally had a chance to drive the couple of hours to that part of the park to check it out. The bear had been feeding on it for 6 days already so I thought it could be a waste of time as most of the carcass might already be gone, but I went anyway.
The marshy pond where the elk carcass and grizzly drama played out (click photos to enlarge)
When I arrived I could see a decent crowd gathered so that gave me hope that maybe something was still going on. I luckily found a parking space and got out and glassed the shoreline and saw a big dark brown blob next to some elk antlers a little over 150 yards away. I took a couple of quick photos and realized this was pretty far out so I would be better off using the spotting scope.
This is a heavily cropped image of the grizzly using my 500mm telephoto
The scene was pretty dramatic – a huge boar grizzly (some in the crowd estimated it to be about 600 pounds) laying next to a nice set of elk antlers. The grizzly had covered most of the carcass with mud and grass and was laying on top of it (this is typical grizzly behavior at a carcass). The scope and phone adapter provided a much clearer view of the action. My apologies as I apparently forgot to tune down the audio on some of these video clips so you may just want to keep the audio off as it is just people talking and road noise.
Talking with a few folks around me that had been watching this play our for several days I learned this grizzly is known by the name “Big Red”, although no one explained why this very dark-colored bear had that moniker. Big Red would lounge around, then periodically stir and start feeding, all the while keeping any encroaching ravens at bay.
At one point, the grizzly stood up and walked about 50 feet away from the carcass and stood along the edge of the pond. I soon heard someone in the crowd say “There’s a wolf at the carcass”. I turned my scope back and saw a coyote (this is a common identification mistake I hear from visitors – mistaking a coyote for a wolf). The coyote must have been waiting in the bushes behind the bear and it wasted no time in coming in and pulling off some chunks of meat while keeping a wary eye on the brutish bruin just a stone’s throw away.
Folks in the crowd told me that Big Red had chased away other coyote interlopers as well as a couple of other bears during the week. And Big Red apparently never left the carcass in all that time, even sleeping on top of it when not feeding.
Big Red taking a nap on the elk carcass. Few creatures would dare approach with this giant laying on the carcass.
I spent about 4 hours that first evening watching this scene and chatting with a couple of photographers. Much of the time, Big Red was just laying down so I was able to look around at other comings and goings – ravens, magpies, and an amazing little caterpillar that appeared on the roadway guardrail where I was standing.
The spotted tussock moth caterpillar is actually a type of tiger moth larva. It feeds on a variety of deciduous shrub and tree leaves and reminds me a bit of a flamboyant woolly bear with a spiked hairdo.
The next morning I left before dawn to drive the two hours to see if the bear was still there. Along the way, I spotted a beautiful golden-colored grizzly in Hayden Valley digging for food so I naturally had to stop and watch for several minutes.
I finally arrived at Big Red’s site and found him still guarding the carcass. I had only a short time before needing to be back home so I mainly watched and took just one video of him looking around for intruders, his breath billowing in the cold morning air.
After saying farewell to one person I had chatted with for two days of watching Big Red, I headed home. But there was to be one last wildlife surprise along the way…
Driving through the lower part of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone I was surprised to see two (only one is shown here) bighorn sheep ewes perched atop the stone barrier along the road. I slowed down and snapped one phone pic as I drove past. It is not often you see them so close.
Melissa and her sister had been out of town while I was on my excursions to watch Big Red, so after hearing my stories they decided to make a sight detour to the site the next morning as they headed to Grand Teton National Park for a night of camping. Unfortunately, I guess Big Red had decided he had had enough and was not there when they arrived. Interestingly, this week (about 3 weeks after I visited the carcass) reports are that another grizzly is now digging up the remains and feeding on what scant amount of meat may be left. Nothing goes to waste here for sure.
To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles.
~Mary Davis
One afternoon back in early September I decided to take a short hike in a spot we have walked may times over the years. I like this walk in the late day sun as I often see various birds in the shrubs along the creek. As I crossed through a gap in the willows on a well-worn path used by bison for perhaps decades, a movement caught my eye on a far hillside. Coyotes! Perhaps three individuals made their way quickly down slope through the sagebrush and stopped at a mound of dirt. I dropped to my knees and soon realized I was looking at a den site and the pups had run down to it when they saw me. I could see two pups sitting at the den entrance. They looked my way for a minute or so and then, to my surprise, two of them went back up to the top of the hill.
Two of the coyote pups soon returned to the top of the ridge and watched me for a couple of minutes before laying back down and looking in the other direction. These photos were taken with my 500mm telephoto and heavily cropped. (click photos to enlarge)This little guy sat up, stretched, and gave me a quick look before going back to sleep.When I got up to leave, the pups all went down to the den and watched. That was the first time I knew there were four.
On my walk out, a pronghorn buck came over a small ridge along my path. I stopped and it continued walking beyond me and started to cross through the line of willows along the creek. It hesitated, came back out and tried another spot. It didn’t seem to like that one either (they both were muddy with deep prints from bison crossings). To my surprise, it came out and trotted straight toward me before realizing that I was still there. He veered off and walked at a brisk pace around and behind me and crossed the willows in the dry gap I had taken earlier.
The pronghorn buck came straight my way for a second before veering off. Their coats and eyes are incredible.
Melissa had been out of town on my first trip where I stumbled upon the den site. After she returned, she went with me twice and she brought her Swarovski spotting scope and Phone Skope adapter and captured some video with her iPhone. The pups were relaxed the whole time once we sat down.
I went back a few times by myself after Melissa started attending a week-long online nature journaling conference. I took her scope and phone adapter and got several minutes of video (I have since bought an adapter for my scope). As I approached the site I would stop at one point far away and scan the area with binoculars and at least one pup was always visible laying on top of the ridge. I didn’t want to disturb them if adults were present or if the pups seemed afraid (I never did see an adult at the site). I also tried to not attract any attention from other people in the pullouts as I certainly didn’t want a crowd going up to that area. After the second trip out to see the den, it seemed the pups just looked at me as another part of the landscape. They stopped going down to the den entrance and just remained on the ridge. They watched me until I sat down and then they resumed what they were doing, which was mainly laying down looking north, presumably waiting on their parents to return with food. I have a lot of video clips with Melissa’s scope of pups sleeping with an occasional ear wiggle or brief look around. I usually stayed about an hour and left at sunset (many of which were gorgeous). The pups would glance my way and then lay back down as I left.
One of the beautiful sunsets as I walked back to the car
On one of my early visits I saw a group of people on the bridge as I approached my parked car. I figured it could be either otters in the river or perhaps a black bear. One person saw me walking towards them and motioned for me to look to my right. I couldn’t see anything because of a slight hill between my vantage point and the river. She then said, “bear”. I asked if it was a black bear or a grizzly. The reply – grizzly! So, I moved off the path and headed to my left and quickly joined the group on the road and saw a beautiful grizzly wandering along the river eating berries as it went. The bear then climbed the hill and crossed over the path I had been walking just minutes before. The crowd moved towards their vehicles or the other side of the bridge and the bear eventually managed to cross the road and disappear behind a ridge along the river.
This nice grizzly came up from the river and walked across the path I had just returned on
Two evenings later was the last time I saw the pups. They were sleeping as usual with just a glance my way when I arrived and departed. I went back a few more times, including two trips in the morning, and glassed the area from afar and saw no activity. From what I have read, coyote pups may linger at the den into September but soon leave and follow the adults as they hunt or strike off to find their own territories . These pups looked a bit young to me to be out on their own, but we did see some young coyotes a couple of weeks later out hunting within a mile or two of the den, so who knows.
One interesting thing I saw at the site was part of a pronghorn head – a furred piece of skull with one horn, an adult male horn. I saw one pup tugging at it and carrying it a short distance as sort of a plaything. I know wolf pups often have bones or antlers as play toys near their dens. Makes me wonder how that pronghorn met his demise because I think it would be rare for coyotes (or even wolves) to take down a healthy adult.
Over the two weeks I was privileged to observe these pups, I saw them play, sleep, watch intently as some magpies walked around their den area, and look off in the distance, presumably keeping an eye out for an adult returning with a meal. Here’s hoping they are doing well wherever they are on this majestic landscape.
The best way of being kind to bears is not to be very close to them.
~Margaret Atwood
We have had a few posts lately about some of our backyard wildlife, including some black bear moms and cubs. I must admit, seeing bears on our trail camera from next to the house is kind of cool. And, up until this past week, they were only seen a couple of times and were either trying to get a few remaining apples on our neighbor’s tree (which have now all been picked) or getting a drink out of our tiny water hole designed to attract birds. There had been no interest in the abundant crab apple crop on our two trees. When the Bear Awareness representative stopped by a couple of weeks ago at my request to discuss the electric fence, he advised cutting down those trees as they could be a prime bear attractant (you know you are in Montana when you have a Bear Awareness organization in town). In fact, he looked around at the many fruit trees the previous owner had planted and thought they should all go. Though the electric fence out back might keep out elk and deer, it might not be a strong deterrent for bears if they sensed food beyond it. Plus, he pointed out there were other access points for bears through the wooden fence or even climbing up the steep boulder wall out front. I admit we hesitated because the trees were both part of the screening between houses and we had watched birds feeding on the fruit on our trip last November before we officially moved across country. We discussed the possibility of replacing the crab apples with a native tree species like aspens, but just weren’t sure how difficult that might be and how long it might take to fill in that space.
Well, events this past week helped us make a decision. For whatever reason (maybe the fruit is ripening?), the bears started eating the crab apples. And the first ones we saw were the sow and cub that had been relocated from town several weeks ago (she now has an ear tag to help identify her). I don’t know how far away she was taken but she was back in town after only a couple of weeks. She was in the large crab apple tree one morning when I came downstairs. After seeing me, she quickly moved away and left the yard by climbing down the steep boulder wall that frames our driveway. We did alert the neighbors so people would be aware and no one seemed to express major concern. Bears in town are a fact of life here. I will admit, it is thrilling to see a black bear just outside your window. And the fact that she had not done any damage or does not act in a threatening manner initially makes you think, well, they can just stay here and eat and we can enjoy watching them. But, a bear becoming accustomed to being near humans is probably not a good thing, for the humans or the bear.
Black bear sow from one of our living room windows (note the white ear tag) (click photos to enlarge)Sow and cub walking down the road in front of our house
The next morning, a large bear was at the top of the crab apple eating and a cub was high in a tree next to my neighbor’s house. When I tried to get a photo from inside the house with my phone, she saw the light and came down. A minute or two later, she walked by an opening in the vegetation between the two houses and it was then I realized it wasn’t the same bear – this one had two cubs! Sure enough, a few minutes later she came back and I could see she had no ear tag. This bear and her cubs have also been seen all over town in recent weeks. She resumed eating but after several minutes gathered her cubs and went off down the road. I kept thinking this kind of scene would cause a major road jam if it were in the park and here ir was happening right in our small yard.
I checked the trail camera out by the water hole and was pleased to see it had captured some nice bear footage.
One bear had cone into the frame of the camera from the direction of our wooden fence that spans the short distance from the corner of our house to where the electric fence starts. I decided to place a trail camera looking at that fence to see if and how bears were getting through. It has wide gaps between the boards so it should be easy to crawl through or climb over (it is effective against deer and elk, but probably not much else). That provided some nice footage.
Based on the camera footage that night, there had been 5 different bears in our backyard. The next morning we discussed it with our neighbor, who, like us, doesn’t seem to mind the bears being here, but worries that it might lead to problems for them in the future if they get into any trouble in town. One amazing thing was the amount of scat in both of our yards, especially his, since access to the trees is easier from his side. I shoveled about 6 large scat piles from our walkways but he had close to 20 piles of bear scat in his side yard. And we learned they have been accessing someone’s apple tree in addition to our crab apple based on what we saw in their scat. It just shows that, as the Bear Awareness program strives to achieve, the entire community needs to help reduce bear attractants for it to be successful. And we are also reminded that what attracts black bears can also attract grizzlies and that potentially can become a much different issue in terms of both bear and human safety.
Looking up at the tremendous amount of fruit still on the trees, we realized these bears would just keep coming back until they went off to hibernate. The more they were in town, the more chance of them getting into trouble in trash cans or with chickens or any number of other possibilities. The bears had broken many of the branches on the trees and that helped me make the decision to start cutting the branches and removing as much of the fruit as we could. So, for the next couple of hours we cut out branches and picked fruit. It was all properly disposed of in the town dump where bears cannot get to it. Cutting back that tree will make it much easier to access the fruit in future years to remove it before it becomes a bear attractant (if , indeed, we don’t replace the tree with a species that is not attractive to bears). Living with wildlife, especially bears, demands that we act responsibly for our safety and that of the animals.
If you saw our FB post about our yard elk, you know that a bull has shown up in the neighborhood as the rut begins. We watched him one day over a week ago in the street out front as he looked for the cows that tend to hang around here.
This is the pic we posted several days ago of the elk as seen through a living room window (click photos to enlarge)
Well, now he has appeared a bit closer to our home. A few days ago I had to have my truck windshield replaced. The mobile unit came and they were in the driveway for about an hour to do the work. I was out under the deck overhang watching and talking with them. When they drove off, I walked up the deck steps and as I turned the corner to step on the deck, there he was, maybe 20 feet from me. We were both startled, and he raised up and turned around (he was eating a shrub in our narrow walkway next to the side deck). He took a few steps and turned his head and just stared at me. Respectfully, I backed away and went inside the basement and up the stairs to grab my phone for a pic. He moved around to the back side of the yard and was again browsing on some of the shrubs. He had to move differently than I have seen the cows do when eating at the fence cages around many of our side yard plants. His antlers made it more difficult to just lower your head and eat leaves sticking out of the mesh. He had to angle his head so the antlers would not get caught in the fencing. After pulling some plants through the mesh, he came around from behind the fencing and stared up at the mountain ash branches. I was hoping he would stand up on his hind legs to get the branch as I have seen the cow elk do across the street, but he just ambled on up the hill toward the cliff.
The bull elk wondering what that would taste likeThings that can happen when a large bull elk wants to get at some plants in your yard. He knocked over this chair and left a calling card (dark scat in lower right corner of pic).I grabbed my camera and went out on the deck as he walked up the hill. He paused to give me another look.
There was one cow up at the base of the cliff and he turned to go in her direction but then tuned around and walked along the path where I have the trail camera.
While this is a nice bull, he looks like a teenager compared to the dominant bull now in the park in Mammoth. Known as #24, he is massive and has claimed quite a harem of cows. He recently battled another large bull and maintained his status as the dominant. I haven’t been able to get a pic of him yet as there is always a large crowd when he is out and rangers are keeping people a safe distance from him and the other elk. But this week, I did see what I am guessing is the bull elk he defeated. This large bull was resting along the road near Mammoth. Note the broken tips on a couple of his antler tines. Like #24, his antlers are much larger and thicker than the town bull that is hanging around our house.
This may be the bull that was recently defeated in a challenge match of shoving and antler clashing with the dominant #24 bull in Mammoth
And now another wildlife event is happening…as I was typing this, our neighbor texted that a black bear and 2 cubs had just been in our side yard where the bull elk photos were taken. By the time we got out there they had left and gone across the road and were running across a field possibly due to some dogs barking. Our neighbor texted us this pic taken through her window screen of the sow and one cub after they jumped up on our propane tank in an attempt to get in the back yard. They stayed for just a few seconds and then walked off around her house and crossed the road. It is never dull here for sure.
Roads End Naturalist 