Yellowstone - Part Four - Other canines

Coyotes seemed to be everywhere.  Between them and the ravens, both were on cleanup duty everywhere.  Wherever there was a carcass, both of them were there.  I loved watching the coyotes bounce run in Lamar Valley. It was just like those loony toons cartoons from back in the day.  The wolves glide as they run so its easy to distinguish the two even from far away.  The coyotes always served as intermission entertainment when we were waiting for the larger and more charismatic megafauna to arrive.  As I took photo after photo of coyotes, I remarked that I would have a million coyote photos when I got home.  Most of them were blurry, too far, or butt shots and therefore deleted, but I kept many as they were so charismatic and omnipresent.  Here are the coyotes near a carcass that was currently being visited by the black wolf and later the grizzly bear, which were both discussed in earlier chapters. 

Coyotes and ravens near a carcass in Lamar Valley. 

Here's a super far shot of a coyote and a couple ravens on a baby bison carcass.  We spent a lot of time in this area as there was a lot of action.  The mother bison stayed in the area for a very long time and we'd watch her go back and forth.  Her herd was in the distance and every once in awhile we thought she'd go back to them, but she'd head back closer to her dead baby.  We thought maybe the baby was stillborn, but all of these were guesses at this distance. It was tough to watch her internal battle. Later on she was gone and presumed to be back with her herd...at least that's what I hoped. 

Coyotes and ravens again on a carcass.

After my tour had ended, I drove the same roads in my spare time looking for wildlife. I had some success and found this very close and compliant coyote near the road.  All these shots were taken out my window.  This mother coyote seemed to eating the grass in the field, which I found unusual.  She definitely had grass stalks sticking out of her mouth.  I know cats eat grass when they aren't feeling well so perhaps that's what was going on here. 

Mama coyote looking for some grass.

Yum?

Foxes are perhaps the hardest canine to find in Yellowstone and I'm not counting the folks that decide to bring their dogs.  I saw three foxes the whole time.  The first one had a dead marten in its mouth and was trotting down the road in front of us. I never got a shot (this is a shot one of my tour members got) as we were both moving, but it was close and fun to watch.  It eventually headed off the road and into the brush.

 The second sighting was surrounded by a crazy and very close mob scene.  It was darting in and out of the young pine tree stand and only offered very brief and partial glimpses.  It really felt like a paparazzi scene and we couldn't bear to stop and join that crazy crowd.  So we stopped past it and saw an interesting battle that will be discussed in a later chapter. 

But on my solo travels, I saw a few people pulled off the road and so I joined them.  Turns out this fox seemed to be tailed by a herd of pronghorn. I'm still not sure what that was about, but this cute fox popped up of the sagebrush periodically. 

You looking at me?

I'm out of here.

Yellowstone - Part Three - Wolves continued

We had gone on our first hike of the tour.  It was a short distance and our destination was a former wolf den.  The den had later been taken over as a grizzly for hibernating, so modifications had been made.  Either way, it seemed tiny!  I'm sure both creatures were cursing that large root that obstructed the opening.  I hope that it goes back a lot farther then it looks, because it looks like I could barely fit in it. 

On Day two, we had the carcass in Lamar Valley that had a lot of action  The carcass was in a low spot so I couldn't see it, but was told there was a wolf on it.  I could see two coyotes lurking around and a bunch of ravens.  But then something happened.  That grizzly started coming in as I previously discussed.  The wolf sensed that and was not happy. It started to run down Lamar Valley away from us and the incoming grizzly.   We to choose between the wolf and grizzly.  After watching the grizzly for a bit, we decided to drive down the road to see if we could follow the wolf. 

Wolf realizing a grizzly was coming in.

As we got there, we found out the wolf had already crossed the road was heading up the hill.  We crept along hoping we could catch another glimpse. Sure enough it popped into view for a brief moment before it was again absorbed by the rolling sagebrush. 

Wolf on the move

We ended up last day of the tour with another short hike.  At that point, we could either hike around a small lake or as I had suggested that we spend that time looking for wildlife on the road on our way back.  We were quite a distance from our hotel so there would ample opportunity.  Somehow without a vote, my suggestion had won out.  We were already running terribly late, which I didn't care since I would be twiddling my thumbs back at the cabin.  It was not great wildlife viewing time.  But fate was on our side as we cruised along. I spotted something in the road....."It's a wolf!"...I yelled.  A lone gray wolf was casually and slowly walking away from the road. It was panting and probably was a long run.  We even had a great spot to pull off the road.  Everyone got the chance to take photos. Even the camera phone and point and shoot folks.  Just as it was about to disappear in the sagebrush, it turned around and came back.  It seemed to be checking if it was being followed/chased.  Then back into the sagebrush and it was gone.  Barely anyone else on the road saw this.  Perhaps one other car (Kermit green jeep, I'm thinking of you).  No mob scene. No lunatics getting too close or parking in the middle of the road.  Time seemed to stand still. I can't even tell you how long we were there. It felt like ages.  Long enough to take a million photos and stop and just enjoy what was happening.

No rush! I'm pretty tired.

How's this pose?

Be sure to check out my dark spot scent marker on my tail and notice my long legs. 

The tour was now over and I had a day and a half left at Yellowstone.  On the full day, I tried to "see everything else" at Yellowstone and tried to do it as quickly as possible so that I could drive those same roads as we did on the tour.  It wasn't as much fun since it was just my eyes on the road and I had to worry about parking my car.  I didn't have access to binoculars or spotting scopes.  I had made it back to Lamar on the day I was flying out.  I arrived to another distant carcass being visited by some bears and a lone wolf.  It also was that point of the vacation of when you know it's pretty much over and really really don't want to leave.  You just want to absorb as much as you can so won't forget anything.  The view on this wolf wasn't great at the time, but I got a bonus when I went home and looked at the photos.  I realize now that this wolf was carrying probably a leg in its mouth as it ran off.  I suspect that the wolf had been on the distant carcass , grabbed the leg (too many other visitors), and was now on the move.

Yellowstone - Part Three - Wolves

Day two started out with a bang in Lamar Valley. We arrived just as a lone wolf was being chased by three coyotes.  The coyotes were the same three that would later chase that grizzly as previously discussed in Part Two.  We eagerly followed the wolf and its three escorts up and down through the rolling topography, but eventually lost them in the sagebrush.  I assume that is the general location of the coyote den.  We heard a bunch of coyote yips as they were all out of sight.  Then nothing.  Periodically, we'd see a coyote pop out of the sagebrush, but all was calm.  Many of my tour companions thought it was game over for the wolf, but I thought and hoped otherwise.  I would think it such a battle ensued, it would be louder and longer duration of coyote yips.  Later on, we found out that the wolf is made its way across the road. I was relieved. 

One of the first shots of the chase.

The chase continues.

Getting much closer to the coyote den.

 Later on, we stopped by Slough Creek and we saw a crowd.  It was a black wolf at the "round tree." Now most trees are round so I had been fixated on the wrong tree for awhile, but I caught on.  The wolf was really far away and just a speck in the viewfinder. I could only see if it was moving and on top of a hill.

Wolf is generally in front of the tree trunk.

Now it's walking on the small hill.

Wolf is sitting on the hill.

Most wolf sightings are far away.  It becomes a Where's Waldo situation except Waldo is a small dot that only occasionally visible.  This was one of the more frustrating viewing experiences.  There was a lot of shadow play and the distance was far.  Sometimes you just don't have the eyes to discern if that shadow/dark spot on the mountain is a creature or not.  I would only occasionally be able to pick it out and most of the time just feeling frustrated.  So that's why I only have one shot as the rest I couldn't find the wolf in the photo.

There's a wolf sitting on top of that hill.

To be continued

Yellowstone - Part Two - Grizzly Bears continued

Later on day two of the tour, we had followed a lead to a potential wolf sighting.  A wolf was supposed to heading towards our area and a couple of people had already started gathering in preparation.  We set up our scopes, binoculars, and cameras and were scanning the treeline for the wolf. In the meantime, we had spotted a nearby badger and he became our focus of attention and paparazzi pack.  I am not content to just look in one area (especially after the bison incident which will be discussed in a later chapter) and had noticed a dark speck on the far slope in a treeline. It was a bear! I was sure of it, but I come just with my camera so I asked others with binoculars to get a better look at it. I'm busy directing others to it and they tell me it's a grizzly! A park ranger pulls up (it's now a crowd and the ranger wants to make sure we aren't doing anything stupid).  The grizzly has a radio collar and he tells us that its Scarface. (I just hope the people shooting the video on this link were in their car!) The ranger tells us that he's 23 years old (possibly the oldest known grizzly in the park) and that's he radio collared to keep track of him.  He's surpassed his lifespan and they are worried that he's going to start picking easy targets (i.e. people....gawking stupid people in crowds).  In all the hubbub, I never got a good look at him through my camera nor a photo. By the time Scarface was sighted, our group had doubled in size.  Iif you see people stopped in Yellowstone, you automatically assume it's something cool and stop as well. Like a plague! If it's a zillion people and people parked in the middle of the road, it's a bear or wolf.  If it's one or two people, it could be nothing.  At one point, we had stopped to ask a large group what they were looking at.  Turns out they were Asian landscape photographers and they could barely speak English.  I believe she said "pretty and changing light on mountains" and "snow that looks like a face."  So Yellowstone attracts all types and I like to hear the birders talk all excited about "flickers" and other common east coast birds.

On day three of the tour, we were in Lamar Valley and noticed a large group of bison running on the far side of the Lamar River.  Anytime you see something running, it is of interest because you never know what predator may be the cause.  Well behind them was a grizzly bear walking with purpose.  It was darker than the previous day's grizzly at the carcass, so it was likely a different bear.  So this continued onward, but there were two straggler bison behind the bear.  Did either of them know?  We were anxious to see what would happen with the bison caught up to the bear. 

Grizzly bear on the move.

Slowly catching up. Do the bison know what's there?

Don't mind us!  We are in the passing lane.

Well it turns out that nothing happened.  The bison continued to run in their "passing lane" and the bear paid no attention.  And that was the last grizzly bear sighting of the trip.  Although there are a couple super far shots of bears on carcasses, but I think they were all black bears. 

Yellowstone - Part Two - Grizzly Bears

The first day of the tour I had my first grizzly bear sighting ever in the wild.  It was over a mile away on the top of a hill, so it wasn't the best view.  Even with a spotting scope, you could barely discern that they were bears nevermind grizzlies. They were moving away from us and out of sight.  We spotted the trio again on the next day in the same general area and just as far away.

Sow grizzly with her two cubs. Just a set of small dots in the middle of photo.

Day two also yielded those courting pair of grizzlies.  They were also at an impossible distance, but cool to see.

Courting pair of grizzlies. Another set of dots.

Later in the day yielded a better view of a grizzly, even if it was probably at least a quarter mile away.  This was in Lamar Valley where there was a carcass in a small and hidden valley.  The carcass had several ravens, coyotes, and a lone wolf.  We got word as we were watching the activity at the carcass that a grizzly had crossed the road and was likely heading towards that carcass.  It was so exciting to see that grizzly come in with a purpose.  It was hot on the trail through the sagebrush.

Incoming grizzly

Then it met its welcome wagon of a trio of coyotes.  They have a den nearby so they were very anxious with the imposing visitor.  I had my own internal soundtrack for their interactions complete with grizzly huffing and chewbacca noises.  The grizzly swirled around in annoyance but pressed onward. 

Grizzly and its three coyote harassers/escorts

The grizzly first lost two of three coyote escorts. They must have went back to their den to mind their pups.  I was a bit worried for the last coyote escort since it was so close to the grizzly and it would take just one swat to take it out. But eventually this coyote lost interest and left the grizzly.  The grizzly sauntered onward towards the Lamar River and away from the carcass.  The nearby bison herd decided to cross the Lamar River away from the grizzly. I don't know if this was coincidence or fear of the grizzly.

Where are you going, buddy?

Bison crossing the Lamar River.

Meanwhile at the carcass, the wolf had long gotten word of the grizzly and had taken off down the valley.  We decided to follow the wolf in hopes of catching it and perhaps getting a better look at it.  That will be discussed in the wolf chapter. After our wolf hiatus, we came back and saw that the grizzly made it to the carcass.

I shot this in full auto mode since I hadn't been happy with my photos and boy are the colors horrible. 

To be continued since adding photos to this post is progressively becoming more difficult.......

Yellowstone - Part One - The Black Bears

Since my first visit to Yellowstone over 10 years ago, it always has been a magical spot for me and I yearned to go back. This year I perused the travel packages available through the park and found one that seemed catered just for me. It was called Spring Wolf and Bear Discovery. It was a small guided tour package over multiple days and they even gave you your own cabin.  I just had to go. So I booked it, made all my travel arrangements, and counted down the days until my trip. It was marketed as having somewhat rigorous hikes so I started training at the gym at the beginning of March and bought new hiking boots. I knew that we would see black bears and I can't say that I was that excited to just see more black bears since I can see them in New Jersey, but out there they come in different colors. One of which is called cinnamon.  So that was interesting enough to hold my attention and even in New Jersey I don't pass up a bear sighting.

Our first sighting included a distant and obscured view of a sow black bear and her two cinnamon cubs.  It was a madhouse in the parking lot and we passed the time making sure we were all looking in the right area and guided others visually to that area.  We waited patiently for something to happen, because all we could see was a small black patch of fur and occasionally a cinnamon patch of fur near a tree.  


Our initial view of the sow black bear and her two cinnamon cubs.

 Then something started happening and they started to move around. I got a lot of blurry and obscured shots of the trio.  I was panning around trying to find them and accidentally got two shots of an adult cinnamon black bear.  In my small camera viewfinder, I thought "Grizzly?," but convinced myself it was just a shot of one of the cubs although I was skeptical.

The cinnamon adult black bear.

Then the cubs scurried up the tree and gazed to the right.  Mom had been hidden for quite awhile.  It turns out the trio had seen the adult cinnamon bear and the cubs took refuge up the tree. In the meantime, we spotted another adult black bear and I grabbed a few awful distant shots of him as he ambled among the dense and distant brush.  The cubs were still hanging out and we took off to find other animals.  



The cubs up the tree.

We came back later, when it was pouring, and found the tree much closer and slowly ambling about. They posed like champs, but the photos showed signs of the heavy rain. 

The trio up close.

The next morning the group met at 6 am for the day. It was much more peaceful and quite at the time. We went to the same area that had all the activity above to see what bears we could see.  Instead of the mad house, there was only a handful of cars and it was so quiet you could hear a needle drop.  There was a black bear ambling about pretty close and the best parts was him scratching himself with a pine tree. They tree was already missing branches meaning it's probably much loved by this and perhaps other bears.  So he scratched away and then came back later for seconds.   

Everybody loves scratching their itch.



Here he is post scratching. 

We had other very distant views of other black bears or fleeting drive by glances of black bears up and down steep embankments surrounded by a mob scenes complete with people parking in the middle of the road.  I didn't take photos of those because they would be awful sitting butt shots at awful angles. 

Our tour ended and I had 1 1/2 more days by myself to explore the rest of the park or do whatever.  One early evening, I stumbled upon another mob scene of people.  It was this guy ambling about the dense brush and he too had an itch that needed scratching. It's also possible and likely that both bears were marking their areas with less to do with itchiness.  After he finished scratching, I thought he was doing the stiff legged walked and I asked my neighbors but no one had any idea what I was talking about.


Another itchy chap.



All better!



The yearly hurricane and early snowstorm

I thought that since I had not lost power during last year's Hurricane Irene and only lost power over night during last year's October snowstorm, that I would fine power-wise during Hurricane Sandy. I live in a large multiple condo development that has thousands of residents with all underground utility lines. I also live near major County Roads, an interstate highway exit, and a hospital.  Nevertheless I geared up for the hurricane.  I didn't go crazy but I packed the fridge and freezer full of ice and extra items to maintain the coldness if the power went out. I got firewood, full tank of gas, and some extra food.

On the day of the storm, I worked from home and the lights flickered early in the day. Not a good sign. Winds and some rain picked up.  Although the rain didn't and never came close to Hurricane Irene. Mind you Hurricane Irene made landfall to my northeast and Hurricane Sandy made landfall to my south. The winds picked up and by 6 pm they were pretty brutal. I had been watching tv coverage all day, saw that Sandy had made landfall, then at 8 pm decided I needed to watch something else.  I was excited to see a PBS show about wolverines and was just getting comfortable when the power went out. I peeked outside and it was pitch black everywhere with swirling ominous winds.  Well I thought, I'm sure by morning the power will be back on and went to bed.

Next morning I awoke and peeked outside. A few branches were down, but overall it looked ok in my vicinity.  Still no power. I go outside and break into my garage and disconnect the electric opener. I call work and no one answers. I call a boss and he says that's he's home and he'll try to call work and see what's up and will call me. I decide to take a drive and there's quite a bit of trees down in the condo and some buildings have trees on them and one has shed some of its siding. I then see the top photo and realize that's probably why I don't have power. It's a crazy mess of trees and downed poles and lines.  It's the closest County Road and looks horrible. I drive into the nearby town and no one has power.  Dunkin Donuts is open and selling day old donuts. I go back home and start a fire in the fireplace and await the power. I make french toast on the fireplace and so the house camping begins. Still no power.

 Home Goods discarding its awning.

It's the next day and I call work to see if they have power and they do. The snotty secretary lets me know that work has never lost power and that SHE was at work yesterday.  I ask why the phones went straight to voicemail if she was in and she said she left because no one was there.  Mind you she gave me a hard time working from home the day of the hurricane.   I tell her that I'll be in once I get firewood from my parents.  They live 7 minutes away and for 45 minutes I try and try to make it to their place.  Road after road is closed by downed lines or trees. I give up and make my way to the highway except again road after road is closed. I finally find my way and I'm on my way.  I get to work hours late but it was nice to have real light and heat.  Work is right next to a large commercial area so I could get hot meals.  I then start to hear the gas horror stories....3 hour line for gas.  I have 1/2 a tank by now so I'm hoping that things will get better.  Days go by and I repeatedly check the electric company's website, the township website, etc. for updates on power and road closures. At first the information is helpful, but then it's clear that wheels are spinning and no real progress or information is available. I had yet to see electric workers anywhere doing work, but I see them traveling or parked nearby.  It's now the end of the week and it's getting colder and colder at home. I'm dreading the long weekend and making soup on the fireplace just isn't cutting it.  Still no power and so I head to my visit my parents on sunday to pick up firewood.

My parents had 7 large trees fall on their house....a domino effect. No real damage to the house or deck. The nearby woods has more trees down on the ground than upright. I cruise around the woods to get a closer look.  It looks like mostly white ashes went down with some other trees here and there. I later learn that white ashes have shallow roots in rocky soil, which is what my parents have.  I get to see the slow operation of getting the trees off the house. 

By Monday, I see that the weather will get even colder with mid-20's that night. So I start making alternate living arrangements.  I book one of the only hotel rooms for Tuesday (election) night and my cousin convinces me to spend Monday up with her...even though it's an hour drive.  I make my way home to pack and pack enough to not come back until power is restored. I drive up and see that they are working on the top photo's mess. Earlier that week, the trees had been cut and removed, but the downed lines remained. I park and go over to interrogate the crew.  If I'm lucky I could have power in an hour or if a circuit blows, then they don't know when it'll be up. So I pack and get gas and when I come back I see the crew gone and it's still dark. I call my cousin to say that I'll be coming up and that I just need to load my stuff in the car. Just as I'm loading the last bag, the power comes back. That's how it goes. Just when you completely give up, that's when things happen.

Thankfully the following nor'easter was a non-event.  The ride home in the snow was a bit tough especially with the increased traffic and lack of potential open alternates. I got 5 inches of snow that night, but it was already starting to melt by morning.  I didn't lose power and now felt safe to buy perishables for the fridge again.