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Tag Archives: bison

Yellowstone Wildlife

Yellowstone is famous for its wildlife. We drove around and glassed hillsides and watched for animal traffic jams. Some people hire guides (and there seems to be no shortage of guide services) so we watched for their signs too. We saw wolves several times but mostly had distant views through scopes or binoculars. Same with the mountain goats. Bison, on the other hand, were common and often close, too close for comfort. Somehow I missed getting any photos of elk although we did see a lot of them. We only saw two moose and then in the deep dark forest on a gray day. Coyotes were relatively common but generally not in camera range.

Yellowstone Bison

We saw lots of bison in Yellowstone. It’s been a long winter for them (and everyone else) and their preferred route through the park is the paved, plowed road. We were often in bison jams. A scientist explained to us that if a bison is holding its tail up, it is ready to charge or discharge. And they have been known to charge cars. People too, under bad circumstances. You really do want to avoid getting close to these huge mammals. All of these photos, except the one with the scopes, were made from the car. It was pretty nerve-wracking to watch the enormous bull walk past that row of scopes knowing that if he made one turn, they’d all be smashed to the ground.

Last year’s calf
They move their head back and forth in the snow to open an area and find dry grass to eat. I don’t know how these animals can live on dry grass through the long winter.
A striped tongue?

Travels with Dogs

The girls and I just spent three weeks traveling to Utah and New Mexico, going hiking, watching birds and we attended the International Western Music Association annual award show. It was a lot to take in.

The dogs were excellent travelers, always ready to hop in the car for the next big adventure. The weather was really lovely – sunny and cool for perfect days of hiking but also cold, often really cold at night. Luna and Sky curled up with me each night in the tent trailer and we managed to keep kind of warm most nights. We saw lots of amazing sights – great sunsets and sunrises, red rock and canyons of Utah, ancient ruins and thousands of Sandhill Cranes.

Our first campsite was at Antelope Island State Park near Salt Lake City. The lake is dreadfully low and I never did make it out to the water’s edge. Antelope Island can be a good place to see birds but the day I was there it was pretty windy. It has a pioneer ranch where you can walk among the old buildings and equipment. There are some horses you can rent and also there is an introduced herd of bison that is actively managed.

The marina is high and dry
Keep your distance from these guys
An old silo
This little Important Bird Area (IBA) is a small grove of non-native trees on the ranch.
You can see Salt Lake City in the distance