Natural Beauty

*Critters we’ve seen on our 2013 trip so far:  bison, pronghorn, elk, white-tail deer, Uinta ground squirrel, coyote, snowshoe hare, grizzly bear, moose, wolf, red fox, black bear, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, mule deer, llama, white-tailed jackrabbit

*Birds we’ve seen on our 2013 trip so far: osprey, pheasant, magpie, raven, Canada geese, mountain bluebird, grouse, golden eagle, bald eagle, American avocet, sandhill crane, red-tailed hawk, cliff swallow, northern flicker, Clark’s nutcracker

[Click on any photo to enlarge.]

Sunsets in the west are beautiful, but sometimes they are simply spectacular.  Of course, it also depends on where you are, the amount of moisture/dust/clouds in the air, or any number of factors.  Mainly it’s being in the right place at the right time.  One evening on
      our way back from looking for critters the sunset above and behind the Mammoth Terraces was spectacular.  As usual these photos don’t even begin to do justice to the beauty that the eye can see.

    As we’ve mentioned before, elk are abundant in the Mammoth Hot Springs area, and we can’t seem to get enough of watching and photographing them whether it’s up in town or in the campground.  They are such exquisite, elegant, and fascinating creatures.

We've talked about how much more rain there’s been this year than we’ve experienced in the past couple of seasons here in the Mammoth area, but on the plus side, we've seen some incredibly beautiful rainbows.  Just look at this one across the street from the campground.  I couldn’t even get the whole thing in one frame!

One night on the way home from going into town, several cars were pulled over in Gardiner Canyon watching the bighorn sheep.  Several were on the hillside including this little lamb at the very top of the cliff, but a few were on the road and even crossed over not far from where we were standing.

We made a trip out to Lamar Valley to catch some of the bison rut and found this bull doing his best to impress a cow by kicking up as much dust as possible.  Believe it or not this is just one way he displays his strength and vigor to the receptive female.

   Whether we drive a long way to look for critters or just down the road, we’re generally lucky like spotting these pronghorn in the valley or simply a white-tailed jackrabbit across the road.
     The abundance and vast array of wildlife are what we love about Yellowstone.

Yellowstone Tidbits:

• Bighorn sheep:  male (ram) 174-319 lbs., female (ewe) up to 130 lbs., young (lambs) can walk within hours of birth
• Pronghorn:  male (buck) 100-125 lbs., female (doe) 90-110 lbs., young (fawn) can walk within 30 min. of birth; both sexes have horns, males are pronged and they have a black cheek patch
• The park sees about 65 fires in an average year, and 90% are lightning caused.