June 25, 2014

It was a busy day. Each time I tried to do something, I kept getting sidetracked.

It started at the Blacktail site around 6:30. It was densely foggy, but just around the turnout we were looking from. ½ mile either way on the road was clear. After about 30 minutes, the fog cleared, but not much was happening and it stayed that way till 9:00. We managed to see 5 wolves - 2 adults and the 3 pups for a total of maybe 1 minute.

So, it was off to Cooke City to update the blog. But, I stopped outside the Ranger Station in the Lamar Valley to see what a bunch of people were looking at. It turned out to be coyote pups – 4 of them. The den is under a large rock high up on the hillside. I had learned about this den about 4 years ago, but hadn't seen anything there since. The pictures are not very good as the pups are small and a long way away – about 200 yards:

While I was there, a couple I had seen in several other places came along and we watched them until the went behind the rock. Then, we noticed people looking across the valley at what turned out to be a grizzly bear high up on Specimen Ridge – probably 3 miles away.

After the bear went over the ridge, I packed up and headed on my way. 2 miles down the road, I stopped again. This time is was a herd of bison, including calves, swimming across the Lamar River:

The current was so swift it seemed that they would get swept away, but they all made it. I have video of it and will try to upload it to youtube when I get home.

I finally made it to Cooke City, got the blog updated, and started back to camp for lunch. One more delay was to be had. Baby antelope near the Specimen Ridge trailhead:

Finally, I could get back to camp and lunch. Well, not quite. I had told the couple at the coyote den about the falcons near Calcite Springs and, as I passed, I saw their car, so I stopped. The falcons, chicks and all, were gone. We talked and looked about a bit and decided that something must have gotten into the nest. This story has more to it, though.

After lunch and a nap, I decided to go to Gardiner for some groceries. On the way out, I saw several very small elk calves in Mammoth Hot Springs, so, on the way back, I stopped to photograph them. I parked the truck and walked over. But they were all lying down and just looked like brown lumps on the green grass so I didn't take any pictures. As I got back to the truck, I saw it had been taken over by this:

It was a very angry bluebird. It would fly up to the window and attack its reflection and then go back and perch on the mirror. 2 men walking came around the back of the truck and scared it away, but it just went over to the other side of the truck and started attacking that side. I kept inching closer and photographing until finally it flew away.

Traffic through Mammoth was a mess, so I took a shortcut through a residential area. There I saw several people photographing something in a tree. I had heard of owls in the area and, sure enough, this was one of them. I got the big lens out and got sidetracked again:

I stopped back at the Blacktail site on the way back to camp and stayed for about an hour, but nothing happened, so I left. On the ay back, there was a crowd gathering at Floating Island Lake, so I parked just down the road and waked back. It was a black bear high up on the hillside above the lake. No pictures, I just looked for a bit and left.

I finally got back to camp and, before going into the trailer, talked to a man camped across the road. In the discussion, he mentioned that he had seen the falcons, including the chicks, at Calcite Springs. I asked when he saw them and he said around 3:00 pm – 2 or 3 hours after I had seen the empty nest! I'm going to check it out in the morning and see if they are back or not.

Finally, I got into the trailer and got dinner and prepared the photos for the blog and wrote this up. It's now about 9:00 pm and I still have to do the dishes before bed.

It's been a busy day.