Birds + Grrr = GREAT!!! - Yellowstone, June 13-14, 2014

Friday, June 13, 2014

First, a word of explanation.  Questions make me realize not everyone in the world knows we are currently helping with bookkeeping and scheduling on my boss's condo in West Yellowstone.  Our payoff is being able to schedule our own time in the facility one week each year.  We love Yellowstone and so it's an annual treat we have so far not grown weary of.

In the deepest part of winter this year, there was a nasty disaster in the condo.   With temperatures outside dipping to -30's and -40's, and snow storms daily, a valve in the condo decided it was time to quit working - as in totally burst, allowing water to drench the room below the kitchen.  It's been a huge project getting the condo back into useable condition.  But by Thursday, all the major work was completed and we were able to move bedding and chests of drawers back into the basement.  We also spent the day rehanging wall hangings, including the fish.   We worked hard to get the condo ready for the next people coming up. 

And now a word of warning:  Photo overload.  Do not feel compelled to read all my documentary unless you really have an interest in being there with us.  I think you'll get the idea just from the photos.  However, you may have to walk away from the computer for a minute while they all come in.  There are a lot of photos in this post.

Friday morning we thought we might slip into the Park to try and find a Grizzly Bear, but the traffic jam was unbelievable - stop and go almost from the entrance clear up into the Madison Valley area, at which point we just turned around and went back to the Condo and spent the rest of the morning into mid afternoon doing more work there.  My guess is there was a herd of buffalo migrating on the road somewhere beyond where we turned around, but we didn't wait to find out.

We were waiting for Heather to arrive anyway, and didn't want to be stuck in the Park somewhere behind a traffic jam when she came into town.  She was bringing Steve DeBirk with her.  He's a great friend who was willing to spend his weekend so she didn't have to drive alone.  Plus, it's been a while since he's been to Yellowstone, and he's a bird watcher.  So he didn't complain too much about the sacrifice.  Do you think he looks like he was complaining?

Yay!!!! Heather's Here!!!!
As soon as they unloaded their gear (whew! if they had been a day earlier there would not have been a place to put Steve, but timing was good and he got the refurbished fish room in the basement), we tried going into the Park again.  This time there were no long lines, no stop and go traffic, no people, actually.  We enjoyed stopping and watching ...

Birds!

And people would pull up thinking we were seeing something exciting.
We were.
Just the feathered kind.  Most people were looking for something a little larger and cloaked in fur and, happy for us, drove on.

Steve helped us see birds with new eyes.  There was the Red Tailed Hawk soaring high above the ridge line ...

... and there were the Sandpipers skimming the river.  

We had just enough time to make our way up the Fire Hole Drive to the falls, where we stopped and enjoyed for a few minutes.

Steve was finding more birds:

 I've never seen this much water coming down these falls before.  It was definitely high water time!

And did I say it was GREAT to have Heather with us for a couple of days?! 

Heading back to the condo, we see how one buffalo, by its lonesome, can create a traffic jam, even.

When we got to the meadow area, we saw an animal moving out among the grasses.   Couldn't tell right off if it was wolf or coyote.  Kept trying to turn it into a wolf, but it was, in fact, a healthy, happy coyote looking for dinner:

And doing what all animals do.

There were more Cinnamon Teal ducks to watch, too.  This was the same location where we had watched them the Saturday before.

In the meantime, Mr. Coyote appeared to find something tasty.
He stopped.
Stood very still.

And then sprung with all his force into the air.

A bird flushed from the grasses.  Was that his prey or did he find a small rodent to dine upon?

Who knows.  He did provide us with some entertainment (we are easily entertained, it appears) for a little while.  

We said goodbye to him and to the ducks and hurried back into town so we could freshen, grab some dinner, and then go to the Playmill Theater to watch their version of the musical "Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat," which was wonderful and we laughed all night long and had a great time with!

Saturday, June 14, 2014
In spite of a long day on Friday, and a late night at the show, it didn't take much to convince our guests that they really did not want to sleep in.  Morning, aka perfect light, was waiting for us.  So we ditched out of the condo and grabbed breakfast at a nearby breakfast restaurant and then took off for the Park.  And, yes, there were long lines again.  But they were manageable.

Madison Valley had those Sandhill Cranes again.  We stopped to watch them clear across the valley, and suddenly they charged and flushed up a couple of mallards.  Way funny to watch.   There were also other birds down in those long grasses.  You can see a little black dot at about 7 o'clock in the photo below - that's a bird head.  There was a yellow one, too.  I'm sure the grasses were teeming with a lot of smaller animals.

Yeah, there were bigger animals as well.
And for some reason, the animals kept using the bathroom just as I was taking their picture.  What does that say?

North of Norris at the Norris Campground entrance, we got to pull over and wait for a construction pilot car before we could continue on our way.  It was a nice place to wait.  There was another blue heron to watch.  Steve was happy.

Ummm, did I say the morning was quite overcast?  and there was fresh snow in spots?   and it was cold?  and we drove through snow storms and hail storms and rain storms and sun storms?

Yes, it was that kind of morning.   We had a long way to go, because we were making the big loop on this day.  We got through the construction and came to another traffic jam.  Cars all over in the meadows just below Obsidian Cliffs.  We had heard about Grizzly being in that area.  We did stop.

There was another coyote sniffing around - hanging out along the perimeter, waiting for his chance to get in on the kill, too.  Waiting for the grizzlies to leave the carcass so he would have a chance at the nature's banquet waiting in the middle of the field.  But of special interest were the two grizzlys at the dinner table:

Oh, happy day!

We took about a thousand photos between us all.  My 300 was too short a lens for what we needed, but Brent's 400 worked great.  He got some amazing photos, but all you get to see here are mine.

The male is wearing a collar.  The female wants to straighten it, but he tells her she cannot.  He likes it as it is.

They tussle and fight and tease.  They were rolling in the mud earlier, leaving them looking like a small child who found her mom's makeup case.

Below:  Shaking off.

Eventually they left the dance and waltzed into the meadow.  But by then, we were gone.  Moving on up the valley to Mammoth.  Just before we got there, Brent and Steve stopped and watched a big horn sheep climbing a rocky cliff.  Heather and I stayed hunkered down in the warm car.  It was cold outside.

Mammoth was rainy.  That made for great steam shots, though.

We stopped at the general store in Mammoth and Heather found some darling sweats to make her legs a little warmer.  I tried on a matching pair.  However, the largest size the store carried was still only about half my size so I didn't get to match.  Which was disappointing.  But if you see them in subsequent photos (black with pink logo), you'll know where they came from.

After Mammoth, we pressed on to see if we could find the black bears.  Just past Roosevelt, there was another bear jam.  And we got out and took pictures of the bear:

Can you see her?   We couldn't, either.  Not until someone pointed her out to us.

This photo should help:

She was asleep.  Same mother with the three cubs we saw a few days earlier.  We decided there wasn't much action there, so we went back to Roosevelt to grab some lunch.  And warm up by the fire.

It snowed.  And then the sun came out.

After a yummy lunch, we went back and found the momma bear and her three cubs were awake and on the move.   Bear Jam!   How do you herd three playful cubs back up the mountainside?

Very patiently.  They wanted to climb every tree they encountered.

And then they got separated.

One good little cub (must have been a little girl) stayed with Momma Bear...

...While the two others took off for their own playground.  "Oh, Momma, this just looks so fun!"

The end result, was Momma wanted to go up the mountain.  That meant crossing the road, hopefully with all three cubs intact.   But two were on the warpath and not at all interested in doing what their momma wanted them to do.  We watched.

Everyone watched.

The cars were stopped by the ranger.  People in them watched.

All of us on the hillside watching and photographing watched.

Momma and baby girl started across the road.  But, wait, she was missing something.  Now where did those two little rapscallions take off to?

She goes back and yells at them to quit their playing and come join her.

Everyone waited.  Up and down the road, for a long long stretch, everyone waited.   Still no luck.  Momma bear finally gave up and finished her trek across the road.

And we all still waited and watched.   No traffic was allowed through.  But apparently the two little guys just wanted to stay at the playground and play.  

From where we were standing, we couldn't see the cubs any longer.  And judging from the traffic, it was probably a good idea to move on up the road before the ranger let everyone go.  

Momma bear took one final look for her other babies before disappearing on into the forest.  They'd figure it out, she seemed to know.  I'm sure they would, too.  They have great noses and can follow her anywhere, once they decide that's what they want to do.

It had been a GREAT morning!  Afternoon was coming on strong and we moved on over Dunraven Pass to Canyon.   Where the Lower Falls were crashing with thunder into the Yellowstone Canyon.  The amount of water was crazy!

 Okay, after the fact, I look at these and think, wait a minute, why didn't we get Steve to take a turn taking photos of Brent, Heather, and me together?   Didn't even occur to us at the time.  Oh, well.

I was still looking for wildlife, and look what I found:

Next stop was a long drive down through Hayden Valley where we passed a wolf jam but we couldn't see them.  Figured if they were so far away we'd have to pull out the scope, it was okay if we didn't stop, so we kept on driving, on down past the Lake and up over into Old Faithful.

Montana and Idaho flags

U.S. and Wyoming flags, on top of Old Faithful Inn

We arrived just in time to watch Old Faithful go off.  We watched it from the balcony of the Old Faithful Inn.

Then we went downstairs and enjoyed dinner in the dining room.  Yes, more window photos.

Heather's GREAT smile!

One more eruption.   Actually got  a few photos of this one.  It went higher than the other, too.

Um, yes, it was a cold day.  See all the coats.  June in Yellowstone can be fickle, indeed.

Ok, I confess, I took a photo of a trash can.  But really!  Look at the artwork here?  If someone can take the time to create art for a trash can, I can certainly take time to photograph it!

More details from the Old Faithful area:   I liked the contrast between the old and very historic Old Faithful Inn and the new and very modern Visitor's Center:

We headed down toward the General Store and Steve asked me to take the photo below.  I had my fixed lens on so no zoom.

This is what he wanted to see, of course, but now I can't remember the kind of bird he said it was.  Something about how the sun was reflecting iridescent on the bird's wings turning them green instead of gray:

Following are a few detail photos I took from the General Store.  We always knew it as the Hamilton Store, and fortunately that name still stands from the very original construction, though it's ownership has changed hands.

Ok, so I'm fascinated with the way light plays on glass - both through glass in the window (below) ...

...as well as not through the window:

(If I had several hundred dollars just laying around, I may have exchanged it for this butterfly jar - but then, what would I have done with it?  So I simply took a picture instead)

The stormy day rewarded us with wonderful sunsets on our way back to the Condo after a very long day hitting all the highlights of the Park.

But we still had a double treat in store - especially for Steve - first this Eagle we spotted in a tree along the river in the Madison Valley:

Which gifted us with the sight of an eagle in flight:

What a rush!
And then farther down the road, we saw the second eagle perched in this tree with the final rays of the sun showing off behind:

What a GRRReat! day start to finish!  A perfect last day in the Park for Brent and me.   And a perfectly fun day for Heather and Steve.  Brent and I went home on Sunday, but Heather and Steve, who each had Monday off, eked out one more day for bird watching before coming back to Utah.  Heather assured me it was a rather boring day compared to Saturday, however.   I mean, when you have a high, you have a high, right?