Nature’s beauty is a gift that cultivates appreciation and gratitude.

~Louie Schwartzberg

I had a couple of spinal injections this past week so I was taking it easy this weekend. Melissa and a friend went on a hike for a few hours but I decided to not strain the ol’ back and went for a drive across the northern range. It was a beautiful day (too warm for this time of year, but mostly clear skies). Wolf watchers were busy climbing hills in Lamar Valley to see the Junction Butte wolf pack but I decided to stay closer to the road. I was rewarded with the usual suspects – 5 moose, lots of bison, some elk and mule deer, and plenty of canid action from the other two species of park “dogs”.

I spent about an hour with the predictable red fox at Pebble Creek. He (I think it is a he, but not sure) makes the rounds most days and checks out the picnic tables at Pebble Creek for scraps dropped by careless humans. He then wanders over to the dumpster just in case. He is a bit too comfortable around humans but has not in my experience crossed the line yet to direct begging (something some other foxes unfortunately have learned in this part of the park).

I normally don’t like to spend time watching wildlife with a crowd but the fox was so beautiful in the snow I decided to just stand next to the car and watch him for a bit. Once he got away from the picnic tables he was acting more like a fox should and was offering some nice opportunities for photos.

It was neat watching the fox trot effortlessly on the snow surface. A couple of people stepped out onto the snow for a closer view and sank a foot or more. Advantage fox.

The fox rotted up a wooded slope and bedded down for a nap. As most dogs do, it had to find just the right spot by occasionally getting up and turning around before plopping back down. This circling behavior probably serves several functions – flattening the space to make it more comfortable; one last check for potential threats (those pesky humans) before laying down, and maybe by creating a tight bed-like bowl in the snow it can help retain body heat. As often happens, the fox did something cool before I positioned the camera on the tripod…it rolled over and accidentally slid about 20 feet down the slope on the snow. It then jumped up, looked around (you didn’t see that , did you?) and climbed back up to its nap spot.

–Red fox about to take a snooze in the snow

I left the fox and continued homeward passing through a few bison jams on the way. Near Junction Butte I spotted a woman off in the woods with her phone pointed up the hill. I pulled over and went back as she was headed to her car. That is when I saw the object of her photos – a coyote laying in the snow. The woman drove off leaving me and the coyote alone.

I stayed in the car and watched as it looked around, gave a head scratch or two, and finally got up and stretched. I slipped out of the car to put the camera on the tripod since it was getting late and the light was fading fast.

The coyote pounced with its paws a couple of times as I was setting up the tripod (naturally, they never wait until I’m ready) without success. It then turned, and to my surprise, headed straight toward me. There was no one else around and I was standing behind the car as the coyote came down to the road and crossed about 40 feet from me giving me one glance as it neared the pavement.

Now down in a meadow below the road, the coyote uncovered what looked like a chunk of bone and started chewing on it. After about a minute, it dropped it and wandered over to a boulder and took a seat.

About that time a car drove up and a couple of people got out. The coyote looked our way and trotted off. I headed home after enjoying some time with a couple of Yellowstone canids. Watching them do their thing is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.