End Of The Season

[Click on any photo to enlarge.]

*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, wolf, least chipmunk, fox, bull snake, mountain goat, camel, grizzly bear

*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, mountain chickadee, Northern flicker, great horned owl, Peregrine falcon, brown-headed cowbird, cliff swallow, Cassin’s finch, western tanager, cedar waxwing, Lazuli bunting, blue heron, common merganser, red-breasted nuthatch

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

 

Yes, you read that correctly on the critter list, we saw a camel.  No, not in the park but about 30 miles north as we made our way to the airport.  Camel Discovery (www.cameldiscovery.com) is a day camp offering camel rides from June through mid-September or just an opportunity to meet the camels.  We don’t remember having seen this in past years so must be something new for the tourists.

 

Our time in Yellowstone was winding down, and time had seemed to fly by.  Our summer co-hosts had left for home, and our fall co-hosts had moved over from Indian Creek Campground.  It had been an extremely busy summer with new records being set, and September did not slow down.  Visitation for the month was up nearly 19% over last year, and for the first 9 months of the year the total was up almost 16%!  We’re sure low gas prices contributed to the high numbers.

 

The elk rut (mating season) was well underway with elk everywhere up in town and in the campground though the numbers have been less and less the last couple of years.  The bugling of the bulls not only announces their presence to other males but also gives the cows clues to their size and

   strength (key factors she wants to impart to her offspring).  The vocal range of the bugle varies with the individual and their maturity level.  It can be heard for miles and is one of the most amazing and distinctive sounds.  The bull’s antlers are at their largest by this time of year

"Pretty Boy"

   and are also a sign to the cows of their quality and virility (also key factors to the “girls”).  Bulls will gather as many cows and calves as they can into small groups called harems, and will aggressively protect these harems from other bulls by running them off, thrashing their antlers against the

"Touchdown"

ground, trees, and shrubs to show their aggression, and if need be, butt heads. They will wallow in mud to not only cool off their over-heated bodies but to make themselves appear more imposing, and will also spray themselves with urine as sort of a “perfume” that is attractive to the cows. The rut is very tiring and draining for the bulls, using up much

of their energy.  They rarely eat during this time and may lose up to 20% of their body weight.  They are unpredictable and can turn at any moment, charging at anyone or anything they perceive as a threat even their reflection in a car.  (And they really don’t like diesel engines or motorcycles!)



During the summer bears head to higher elevations where it’s cooler but were now starting to head back down.  One day just 2 miles down the road as we were heading to the north entrance, this black bear sow and her cub suddenly ran across the road and fortunately I had my camera with me!

 

Now speaking of bears, you might have noticed that we had not seen any grizzlies this year. All season folks would tell us they had seen one or more here and there, but we were not so lucky when we ventured out.  However we heard that several were being seen daily in an area outside the park known as Tom Miner Basin that evidently

is prime habitat for grizzlies.  We got directions (it’s about 27 miles from the campground), and late one afternoon headed out with hopes high.  Having been carved out of the Gallatin Mountain Range by glaciers over 20,000 years ago, there are some incredible views plus traveling across the Yellowstone River via a one lane

bridge.  We knew we had found the right place when we saw all of the cars lined up across the road from someone’s ranch (lots of working ranches in the area).  About 20 min. after we arrived, someone next to us said “here she comes!” Looking in the direction others were, we spotted the grizzly sow with her 3 cubs born this year…

yay!!  The cows you see in the foreground of the picture above left are actually surrounded by an electric fence (the bears are behind them).  They were probably about a mile away and with the spotting scope we had a great look, but these are the best photos I could get zoomed in all the way and cropped.  After about half an hour

another sow and her 3 yearling cubs appeared not all that far away from the first group!  We’re sure if we’d hung around even more would have come out (that’s what we’d heard as evening is the best time), but we decided to head home and were thrilled with what we’d seen.  Finally grizzlies!

 

As you know, we meet some of the nicest folks in our travels. A couple of those folks are Shari and Dennis (pictured in the middle) whom we met a couple of years ago when they were parked in the site behind us.  They come at least once a year, and this time were traveling with their friends Carla and Ray.  We were invited to join the 4 of them for a yummy steak dinner one night and stopped by their campfires a couple nights we worked. Always good to visit.

 

The day before we were planning to leave for the season was Russ’ birthday, and while trying to get things ready to go, he kept getting interrupted with phone calls and folks stopping by to wish him a happy birthday.  Definitely slowed down progress!  J  One of those interruptions was really sweet…literally and figuratively!  Ranger Brandon stopped by as did his wife, Kari, and their baby girl, Deirdre.  Kari brought pre-cut iced brownies and Klondike ice cream bars so we wouldn’t have to dirty any dishes or silver.  What a gal and a wonderful birthday surprise and treat!

 

That night was the supermoon lunar eclipse, and we decided to enjoy it by the light of one last campfire before we hit the road.  We had invited our co-hosts, but they were going to try and get their own photos of it at Swan Lake Flats where there’s less light

      (Connie stayed on duty in the campground and had stopped by before we got the fire started).  However, about 9pm Rick and Donna showed up dressed in their cold weather clothes saying it was freezing out there at Swan
   Lake Flats but got some great video of the eclipse which she showed us on the camera.  It was nearing the end of the total darkness when they arrived, and we sat, visited, and watched for the next hour as the shadows gave way to the bright light of the moon 
    (Sorry for the slight blurring of the photos...should have used a tripod.) Frank stopped by at 10pm for one last goodbye saying he thinks he had gotten some good pics, too, and Rick and Donna went home.  What a beautiful evening and pleasant way to end the season in Yellowstone.

Yellowstone Tidbits:

• Grizzly:  Color varies from blond to black; male (boar) weighs 200-700 lbs., female (sow) weighs 200-400 lbs., young (cub) weigh about 1 lb. at birth
• The mountain bluebird is the state bird of Idaho and Nevada.  The female chooses her mate solely on the location and quality of the nesting cavity he offers her.
• That which we call elk, in Europe are called moose while the Shawnee refer to them as wapiti.