One Lucky Day

[Click on any photo to enlarge.]

Red-tailed Hawk

*Critters we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: elk, mule, mule deer, llama, prairie dog, donkey, bison, coyote, pronghorn, Uinta ground squirrel, black bear, moose, bighorn sheep, yellow-bellied marmot

*Birds we’ve seen on our 2015 trip so far: California condor, Brewer’s blackbird, American kestrel, spotted towhee, magpie, wild turkey, mountain bluebird, bald eagle, Canada goose, Clark’s nutcracker, sandhill crane, osprey, red-tailed hawk

*National Parks/Monuments visited on 2015 trip so far: 6

About a week after our arrival, we awoke to snow!  It continued to snow off and on most of the day without much accumulation but it does create some lovely scenery.

 

We were able to get out and about into the park during the first couple

of weeks, mainly Lamar Valley, and on one particular day we saw quite a bit.  We had heard that a black bear sow and her three yearling cubs were being spotted on a fairly regular basis in the Tower Junction area which is on the way to Lamar.

      As luck would have it, we spotted a large group of cars and people near Calcite Springs, and it just so happened they were watching this family of bears.  Mom is always nearby and was busy grazing while the kids played.  We enjoyed

  watching these cubs last year when they were just little bitty, and their personalities seem to have stayed the same.  Last year two of them would wrestle and play together while the third one would be off sniffing flowers, looking at bugs,

     just meandering and seeming to daydream by itself.  Nothing has changed…they still behave the same way though occasionally the daydreamer will join in some fun with its siblings.

 

   After awhile we decided to head on out to Lamar, sometimes having to stop for the natives to cross the road.  It is their park after all, and we are just visitors!  A herd of pronghorn were on a nearby hillside but this young lady (below right) seemed to say “what are you looking at?”

 

We continued driving out towards Pebble Creek Campground hoping to spot some more bears along the way, and though we didn’t see any, we did find a couple moose grazing just off the road.  Moose are relatively scarce in Yellowstone since the 1988 fires destroyed much of their vegetation, but they seem to be making a comeback and sometimes you just get lucky!

 

As we started our way back home, we spied this yellow-bellied marmot sunning itself on a boulder just above the river. We had seen it as we passed by, and it stayed right there while we found a spot to turn around and park so I could snap a few pictures.  What an agreeable little critter!

 

Continuing on down the road, we came upon a minor animal jam caused by folks stopped in the road and on the sides checking out a half dozen bighorn sheep.  There was another one on the other side of the road that they were keeping a watch on, and eventually they all
     crossed to join it.  Not far past the sheep we spotted these two bison cows with their calves…just too sweet!

 

We decided to turn onto the little side road that takes you to the Petrified Tree exhibit because
sometimes you’re able to spot a bear or a moose in the vicinity but no such luck today.  This redwood became petrified some 50 million years ago when it slid down the mountain during a massive landslide following several volcanic eruptions.  At one time there were 3, but souvenir hunters gradually chipped away at the other two and this one was enclosed with a wrought iron fence for protection.

 

What a day this had been, and just think…all these critter sightings occurred within the span of only about 3 hours on one very lucky day!

 

Yellowstone Tidbits:

·         Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872, the first national park in the world.

·         Yellowstone is home to the largest concentration of mammals in the lower 48 states.

·         Yellow-bellied marmot:  Adults grow to 30 in. long and weigh up to 11 lbs.; young are born within 30 days; one male will have a colony of 2 or 3 females; can live up to 15 years.

·         Black bear:  Color can be black, brown, blond, or cinnamon; male (boar) weighs 210-315 lbs., female (sow) weighs 135-200 lbs., young (cub) weigh 8 - 10 oz. at birth.