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9/18/04 Overcast. It's socked in, striking a distinct pal over Blacktail Plateau's open expanse. A shock of light does break through the autumn cool. It strikes aspen - undeniably gold! An unusual calm envelopes everything, almost like something is supposed to happen here any minute. Dropping a feather from head height today would surely find it coming to rest at your feet. Then something does happen; a coyote howls high and breaking from some place on the ridges. It sings out again. 9/18/04 A dark black, black bear grazes in the golden snowberry foliage near the bridge over the Yellowstone River near Roosevelt. He is roly-poly, unconcerned and goes about his munching despite our prying eyes. A pair of young bull bison mock spar in the road. Their half-hearted shoving, head-butting, and amazingly agile steps are no danger to us but do stop traffic. Cars from both directions halt. Some people get upset at being delayed while others revel in the glory of the wild west- even to the point of shutting off their engines, opening their doors, and yes, sometimes even walking closer. The one bull finally got the upper horn and ran the other down over the embankment and off into the valley. 9/8/04 I spotted a monarch butterfly at Norris Geyser Basin today. This is the first, and I won't be surprised if it is the last. Last year I think that I spotted 2. I wonder how many of the monarchs from the inter-mountain west were wintering at the gathering sites in northern Mexico when the big die-offs occurred a couple years ago. 9/6/04 - 9/7/04 Assisted the Kaos Entertainment film crew in a film shoot for the Travel Channel. The program is featuring the best campgrounds in North America? We were at the Madison campground in Yellowstone doing some cooking, fly fishing, setting up tents, wildlife watching, among other camperly things for the program. Jonmikel Pardo and Melissa Pangraze were the 'campers' and I served as the 'expert' on the area. These crew and Jonmikel and Melissa were all a great deal of fun to work with and the segment will apparently be a 7 minute spot within a full 1 hour program. It will likely air this fall... I'll keep you posted. 9/3/04 Jonmikel Pardo and I were fishing near Mammoth today and found ourselves right in the midst of a chokecherry picking contest. The leading contestants, rather, the only contestants, were a sow black bear and her cub. Mom was climbing up into the trees, bending the tops over and mouthing large groups of the shiny red fruits. The cub alternately climbed and ate those that could be reached from the ground. Considering that we were only about 30 yards away we opted to stay in the vehicle and get some wonderful photographs, and, wait until the bears had finished the lot before attempting to fish and take our own samples of the ripening cherries. If you were wondering, they were bitter as hell. We didn't catch many fish either, but considered the day an absolute success! 9/1/04 Watched a coyote successfully hunting pocket gophers in Lamar Valley in the Park today. He was very attentive, milling about, aiming his radar dish ears at the slightest sound. Some speculated that he was pouncing on, and eating Uintah ground squirrels, however, this would be pretty late for Uintahs as they have gone into hibernation for the most part. Hearing what he wanted, the coyote would freeze, rotate it's head this way and that. If it sounded right, we could watch as he gathered his legs up underneath, arched its back, remained poised... until... 'booing'! Leaping in a tight rainbow, he came down punching his feet into the earth - presumably over top of a gopher. Things didn't always work out this way so we only saw him catch 2 animals out of several failed attempts. The second capture was watched by several of us through the spotting scopes and it was diffinately a gopher that he downed with a few head-bobbing bites. 8/30/04 A muley buck is shedding his velvet off this morning. He was a fork-horn (4 point, eastern count). 8/27/04 Mule deer around Tower Falls inside the Park are shifting over into their gray winter coats. 8/25/04 I was out in Lamar Valley with a private educational trip and we spotted the grizzly bear referred to as "Thumper". Thumper was the one thought to have been crushing tents at the Pebble and possible the Slough Creek Campgrounds. Once park biologists caught him, they dandied him up with a yellowish radio collar so that he was identifiable. On this particular day we happened to be watching 8 Druid peak pack wolves as well as Thumper. They were out in their traditional rendezvous area. We soon spotted Thumper coming toward them from about 1 mile to the east. Closer and closer he moved - both parties were completely unaware. Closer, and closer yet he moved towards the stationary/lounging wolves which included 4 adults and 4 puppies. We started in with the questions and speculations on what was going to happen when the Park's two top predators met. Would the wolves run in fear, stay and defend the pups, would they not bat an eyelash? We had not clue and so could only watch and guess. It turns out that as soon as Thumper saw those wolves, and at this point the wolves saw him and stood up, he bolted! Thumper all out ran for the tree line to the south. It was almost as if he had some recent, and miserable interaction with these characters and wanted not further part of their company. He stopped once inside the trees and looked out at them. The wolves never moved. Thumper even sat down on his big hairy rump and watched those dogs a while longer... just to be sure. 8/15/04 It's a bluebird day up on the west summit of the Beartooth Mountains to the east of Yellowstone. We're out for a walkabout. Jenny and I are coming back from Red Lodge and decided wander wherever our hearts desired. Turns out that the wander up into the higher alpine environs gave some or our first looks at Mead's Sulphur butterflies. This species is found only in August amid very high elevations, and only in a few places in the lower 48 states... this happens to be one of them! Twisted my ankle when a rock rolled out from underneath me and then over my foot. Luckily it was only a modest size rock and didn't break anything but it hurts like the dickens. 8/9/04 There were 2 otters at the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone today. They seemed to be flirting with certain death from our perspective but it seemed all in a day's fun for them. They would swim back and forth across the River only 20-40 yds upstream of the 110' waterfall. One misjudgment of the flow and they would drop clear off the face of the earth. Nevertheless, this didn't seem to phase them a bit as they continued their gallivanting up onto the rocks, back into the water, up the other side, all the while chattering back and forth to one another in voices that were drown out by the thundering falls. 8/7/04 Spent today teaching the Yellowstone For Families program at Old Faithful. The classic show up on Geyser Hill was a treat as always: the fitful spurts and spray of Pump Geyser, the brimming flood of Sponge's yellow ochre cone next door, the scalloped, mineral ring of Doublet Spring finished by a great eruption of Lion Geyser. This hit of the day, not after a bit of a wait though, was Castle - the ancient geyser who's sinter cone resembles that of some ancient feudal ruins. We waited, and waited, ate lunch, and waited, until finally, at 13:58 the major eruption took place. Afternoon light gave the exploding spray the look of ejected diamonds glistening on their route skyward. For twenty nine minutes the steam, water, and reverberation filled the viewing area. It was well worth the wait - we cheered, some even applauded. 8/5/04 Helianthela is blooming giving the foothills of Mt. Washburn a bright golden mantle. Two beautiful velvet-racked moose were paling around next to the Petrified Tree, got a look at two dandy bighorn rams and a mountain goat, along with (but not hanging out together) a stunning grizzly bear. 8/4/04 Osprey chicks at the Tower Falls nests have all fledged. 8/3/04 Staying home today to catch up on a long needed web update and to begin work on the finished bull elk piece. It rained a little last night so the air is cool where it comes through the windows and open doors. House sparrows chirp outside. The sounds of Gardiner during the tourist season still ring true. Eighteen wheelers full of fuel, Sysco products, and ice-cream (this being my favorite) bellow up the small main drag in town, Harley's stop to fuel up at the Exxon below the house and twist their throttles to let everybody know they are here. And cars, cars, cars, the din of rubber on the road from as far away as Missouri, Michigan, Florida, California, and Vermont bringing wide-eyed visitors to the Park's doorstep. Things will carry on this way 'til nearly October. 8/2/04 I drove to Lava Creek in the Park in search of bull elk to sketch for an upcoming piece, and despite my thorough hike of the area (and discovery blue copper butterflies and 7 garter snakes) did not find any of the velveteen bachelors. So it was back to Mammoth I went. Now that its early August the grasses in most places has dried and gone to seed, the watered lawns of Mammoth Hot Springs is the only good/green salad bar in town, so far as the elk are concerned. The result of having congregation of wild elk and a congregation of people in the same place is an interesting study in 'survival of the fittest'. Its also a frustrating place to work as people are walking up to the very elk that one is trying to sketch and observe. Comments like "look at 'em, they're so lazy," "they're so fat," "can you pet them," "that elk just farted! (I too would probably fart in their general direction if treated with such blatant disrespect and disregard for their personal space)," "are these tame ones," are par for the course. The latter is usually followed by, "honey, take my picture with them," shortly followed by "step back so you're closer dear." This entire scene is to the sound track of visitor chatter and the snap-wind sound of disposable cameras. The photographee is usually carrying an infant or dragging a toddler to within mere feet of a wild cow elk and her calf. The infant, still working off of hard-wired instinct, knows this is a bad idea and pulls away as the older, and arguably wiser, parent insists on dragging the kid closer for the snapshot. For hours, I amuse myself with the potential disasters at hand and at times become fired-up enough to say something; this is especially true when they scare the peacefully bedded, cud-chewing residents from their lays. "Hey! Don't make 'em move!" or "I really wouldn't go any closer than that (forget the Park's requirement of 25-yard minimum, these people want to shake hooves with them)! They'll kick the hell out of you... serious," are some of my personal favorites. To my surprise many of the people listened. Perhaps I looked somewhat official in my new wide-brimmed felt hat, seated in my chair with sketching pad in hand (a form of documentation that may record the foolish acts they perform when they know they shouldn't be) because some people later came over and asked questions about the animals. Go figure. Got some great material for the upcoming piece despite it all. 7/28/04 Butterfling up around Eagle Creek near Gardiner yielded 29 species, of which 2 may be new species for Park County Montana: those included the pink-edged sulphur (correction 8/14/04, this was actually a pelidne sulphur (Colias pelidne) as verified by Steve Kohler), Weidemeyer's Admiral. 7/27/04 While driving down the road along Soda Butte Creek notice a HUGE trout leap into the air. Riding upon the 'trout' I discovered that it was and otter - chasing a trout! The otter proceeded to porpoise out of the water in pursuit of this cutthroat for over 100yds. Clear enough was the water that we could see both otter and trout during the whole episode. I'm sure the fisherman who they swam right by could as well :) Having missed it's chance that otter then swam back by us at a distance of ~25'. Its fluid brown body moved effortlessly through the shallows propelled by its webbed hind feet and an occasional push off of a rock with its front. 7/24/04-7/26/04 Day Hiking the Beartooths Class - the Yellowstone Association Institute Class You could not ask for a better group of 12 folks to hike with. It was a treat to explore this wonderful wilderness area with this good-natured, and knowledgeable group; we hit it off in grand form :) Our first day's hike was around the Stockade/Hauser Lake Loop which was still surprisingly devoid of swarming mosquitoes - we made up for it on later days. Lunch found us perched on a marvelous outcrop of granite in the foothills of Sawtooth Peak Day 2 took us on a fine walk along Clay Butte and lunch above T Lake. The clear blue ether sky offered views that 'were ta die foa'. Lonesome Peak's granite mass stood closely, vivid, and in contrast to the remainder of the Beartooth Plateau - it isn't any different than the rest, but it was closer, it made it look bigger, more present. Crenellated skylines, scalloped by glaciers, persistent snows and beryl blue sky were all reflected in the crystalline alpine lakes. If you stood in just the right spot, many of these lakes appeared to form the edge of it all, a mirror finish of sky on sky - rimming the void. A step or two in either direction would shatter the ruse with views of the Absarokas or the recognizable crests of Pilot and Index Peaks... not a bad sights themselves. We learned from Barb and Laura that we were hiking past outcrops of rock forming the boundary between the Cambrian/Precambrian boundary as denoted by the gravely texture. Bob, Phyllis, and Phyllis kept us all on top of the wildflower situation as there were many new plants for all of us to discover. Some highlights for me were alpine speedwell, pygmy bitterroot and Parry's clover. Lupine and bluebells abounded. Swaths of color blanketed the hillsides and made for a scene that caused some to belt out a certain The Sound of Music tune... glad that didn't last long :) On our last day together we did a wonderful half-on, half-off trail hike finishing at Island Lake. We carved our own route among the granite crags and glacier-riddled outcrops. A particular section traversed a boulder field smattered in lichen and the jeering calls of fleeing pika, and soon dropped us into an unroofed hallway, the walls of which were scratched and polished to a silky luster by flowing, glacial ice. It's hard to leave such a spectacular place and not feel bitten by the Beartooths... we'll have to do it again! 7/23/04 Coyote pups induced a quite pull-over near Blacktail Lakes this morning. There were at least four of the little tikes running every which way, pouncing on one another, practicing their hunting skills, stalking mystery prey. Not long out of the pudgy- fuzz- ball stage, they were entering the 'big-ear-knobby-joint' period in their puppydom. There were many groups of mule deer visible today for whatever reason. Most of these groups were bachelor herds consisting of a few old boys and a few young sprouts. 7/22/04 Scouted the Lonesome Peak trail in the Beartooths for the upcoming "Day Hiking the Beartooths" class for the Yellowstone Institute. Traveling was fleet, time was short, but the scenery impeccable. A camper reported that someone spotted a wolverine in the scree slope near Becker Lake; it shall remain unverified... 7/17/04-7/21/04 Jenny and I spent 5 days hiking the Hoodoos of Yellowstone starting from Sunlight Basin and ending back in Lamar Valley... a wonderful trip. Check out the details of the trip in our current In the Field section (ACTUALLY... NOT JUST YET... GIVE ME A COUPLE MORE DAYS)! 7/14/04 The Beartooths we calling today. I had to go scout for an upcoming day hiking the Beartooths class and explored a new area up near Long Lake. I started late, ~1:15pm amid high, penetrating sunlight - the kind that can give you a headache. Some breezes helped with the bug situation but, I devised an ingenious plan to deal with the little sanguinivors. With my butterfly net in hand, I swung it up, over, around my head, whacked my back to free up the hitchhikers, then netted them up too. Not quite sure how effective the technique was proving to be, I stopped, squeezed the end of the net to kill any of biters that still survived, then inverted the net to see a cascade, literally, of dead mosquitoes. We're talking a quarter-pounder without the cheese. "Wow," I thought. It really worked. And so for the rest of the hike, if things got buggy, all i had to do was make a few passes to subdue the masses. Hot air buckled over the Beartooth Plateau making ivory heaps of cumulus clouds. Butterflies darted for cover every time the sun was shaded, fearful of rain, it must be hell to worry so much of death from the sky. One well-placed drop of rain could tear your delicate flight gear to pieces. By day's end it was a 6 or 8 mile loop of relatively flat ground, as far as the Beartooths go, with scant sign of elk and deer, and nothing of bear... but i still had my spray on. 7/13/04 Spotted the Leopold wolf pack while out with Dave and Cathy Burton of Columbus, MT! We first noticed 2 gray wolves out on Blacktail Plateau harassing two velvet-racked bull elk. Back and forth they went - the wolves harassing, elk standing their ground, and the wolves trotting of disinterested, and then repeating the cycle once again. Over the span of ~45 minutes we then spotted another 7 wolves including 4 pups! In talking with Carl Swaboda of Safari Yellowstone later he said they actually spotted all 23 Leopold wolves and 10 pups! What a scene it must have been. 7/10/04-7/11/04 Tom Miner Campground: Jenny and I broke away from the routine of work and town life and spent the night in the back of our truck in the campground at the head of the Tom Miner Basin. On the eleventh we walked our way up the Sky Rim Trail along the northwestern border of the Park. Neither of us had ever been up there and were curious about the views, petrified trees, and of course, butterflies. What a view it was. From high on the breezy, crenulated rim we could see the Madison Mountains, Big Sky ski slopes, the highway corridor of 191 to the west, a prominent and singular angle-topped peak to the west, north-west, up the Yellowstone drainage toward Livingston, and the previously unseen west slope of Electric peak. Butterflies of 30 different species danced about the ridges amid brilliant flowers; I was amazed at how many pine elfins (Callophrys eriphon) we saw on the Engelmann spruce, sub-alpine fir, lodgepole and whitebark pines. The petrified trees were as few as the people, at least from what we saw, and we didn't work that hard at it. Running into a woman from Bozeman and her group, we were put through the 20 questions about possible, mutual acquaintances - she used first names only, of course, then acted exasperated when we had nothing in common to banter about. "How long have you lived there then," was her retort. Apparently not long enough, was my thought. Guess I should have spewed some names of people we do know both in Bozeman and Gardiner to settle her. Oh well. 7/9/04 First rabbit brush of the year is blooming near the Rescue Creek Trailhead at the north entrance to the Park. 7/8/04 Out on the Northern Range of the Park today we (meaning Mark Squire and his 'crew' of scouts from Colorado Springs) spotted a coyote with pups! One of the boys said "hey, there's a coyote." Sure enough, down below us a coyote trotted around us making a wide arc, then tiptoed up into the rock formation that was behind us. When nearly at its crest, the adult 'yote was besieged by 4 hungry pups. They were several weeks old but still tiny compared to the parent. Mom, or dad, soon obliged and regurgitated a belly full of yummies... ground squirrel anyone? 7/3/04 The Yellowstone Butterfly count has come at last! Fourteen people made it out for the survey. We were lucky enough to have Diane Debinski, her husband James Pritchard and their 2 wonderful children Hayden and Zoe stay with us and help with the count (Diane and James co-authored A Field Guide to Butterflies of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem available through the Yellowstone Association stores). Divided into three groups, we covered a count circle of 15 miles in diameter that is centered on Mammoth Hotsprings Visitor Center. The count, despite heavy rains starting at noon, did yield 38 species of butterflies including: phoebis parnassian, western tiger swallowtail, two-tailed swallowtail, checkered white, margined white, sara orangetip, clouded sulphur, purplish copper, lilac bordered copper, arrowhead blue, slivery blue, Melissa blue, Boisduval's blue, Acmon blue, dotted blue, Atlantis fritillary, Callippe fritillary, Mormon fritillary, bog fritillary, relict fritillary, northern checkerspot, variable checkerspot, Edith's checkerspot, northern crescent, field crescent, hoary comma, Milbert's tortoishell, mourning cloak, painted lady, common ringlet, Hayden's ringlet, common alpine, Riding's satyr, chryxux arctic, northern cloudywing, dreamy duskywing, persius duskywing, common sootywing. 6/28/04 The Yellowstone River is running an ochre yellow color at the bridge near Roosevelt... a slide of some sort must have stained the water somewhere up the canyon. 6/27/04 Final Butterfly class before the Yellowstone Butterfly count. Will Kerling and Chris Tonkinson were generous enough with their time to come all the way down to Gardiner from Missoula to help out with the class. Chris is the regional coordinator for the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) counts and Will (who has been working closely with Steve Kohler on Montana butterflies) gave a wonderful slide show on the skipper butterflies of the Yellowstone/Park County MT area, to prep. us for the day's trip afield. On our forays we documented 3 new species of butterflies for Park Co., MT: the Common Sootywing, Dotted Blue, and Arrowhead Blue and had some great views of swallowtails, field crescents and juniper hairstreaks. At one point in the afternoon we had 5 species of blues all in one mud puddle including: western tailed blues, Boisduval's blues, greenish blues, silvery blues, and dotted blues! Many thanks to Will and Chris for all the good information and guidance leading up to our count. Let you know what we find on July 3rd! 6/22- 6/24/04 Day 1 Slough Creek Wolf Base camp Backpacking course: To the tune of the olive-sided flycatcher ("quick, three, beeers!... quick, three beers!!") our troop of eager hikers and wolf enthusiasts made for the second meadow of Slough Creek. Soothing winds and intermittent sun stayed with us throughout the hike into camp. Trailside greenery was alive with the color of wild rose blooms, yarrow, lupine, paintbrush, blue flax, virgin's bower, wild geraniums and buckwheat, and also topped with flying flowers in the form of crystalline blue butterflies, burgundy mourning cloaks, sara orangetips, veined whites, fritillaries, and a stunning western pine elfin. Camp was reached in mid afternoon. Day 2 A wonderful day hike up Slough and a fine tutorial on creek crossing by co-instructor Melissa Pangraze made for an exciting day. Hiking back to camp on the north-west side of the creek we followed what we dubbed the "wolf and bear highway". our entire route back to camp was upon the prints of black bears and wolves. Fortunately, we had enough time to make some track casts of a dandy string of muddy tracks before an afternoon thunder shower rolled in. Dinner tasted so good after such a long day's walk. And so "the day came to a close. The nighthawks blurt out high overhead. Camp is made, the group is settled, fed and content. Sunlight is taking one last fleeting glance at Cuttoff Mountain before being quenched by the clouds. It is hard to imagine that so many shades of green could be found in such a view. Slough Creek gurgles on bye, its glassy head brimming before riffles and rushing through the open mouths of trout. Dinner was a soupy mix of pasta in cream sauce with a Snickers bar chaser. I feel blessed." Day 3 So much has happened, so many good experiences shared, I will not go into them for fear of sapping the magic. "I sit propped against a log, the sound of hot water on the stove, crows and juncos chattering, and the voices of campmates breaking camp. I have finished packing for the morning hike out and find myself staring through the sublime morning air. In the distance that hazy atmosphere gives a sense of grandeur to the ever-present Cuttoff Mountain and upper Slough. The weather has been miraculously pleasant. Afternoon showers, thunder and spatters of rain have come in sufficient amounts to make us appreciative of what we have. Last night the moon and stars held us spellbound - long enough to catch a glimpse of that one shooting star. Writing this I feel the soaking heat of the sun through my wool shirt and the pull of the world outside." 6/19/04 Had our second Butterfly class today. All was well until the grizzly came. A tattered anise swallowtail butterfly lured Juliane, Bob, Carol and I from the Bunsen Peak Road. Further and further we went into the wet meadow until we noticed a mounting crowd on the main road - they were looking our direction. Going back to our butterflying we were shook to attention by Carol softly yelling "grizzly, Grizzly, GRIZZLY!!!!!" A sow and 2 cubs were a mere 100yds away and coming our direction. Forget the bugs, we're outta here! Rummaging through my backpack I dug out my bear spray (surely being this close to the road we wouldn't have any problems with bears, I won't put my spray on my belt.... ha, ha, ha, ha...). The cubs started bounding toward us, stopping only to stand on their hind legs for a better view over the sagebrush. We backpedaled ASAP to the on looking gallery of nearly 150 people on the road - what I would have given for a tape recording of those conversations at the road. Mom was hot footing it behind the cubs. Walking very briskly we climbed the closest hill and bought enough time to view the situation, make like a tree, and leave. 6/17/04 The sweeping knife-edged wings of a peregrine falcon cut through the sky as it plucks a swallow out of mid air: it never knew what hit it. Minutes later, out of the faceless blue sky plummets an osprey. It disappears in the Lamar River only to re-emerge with a gleaming trout in its talons. To our delight it perches with the fish and mangles it with beak and claw. The fish eagle first starts dismantling the head of fish - pulling apart the gill plate and gill arches. I can only assume this is to keep it from swimming off if it happens to drop it, or maybe to temper the unruly thrashing of its shiny body? 6/16/04 Had a great day afield with Mary Eastman and companion Tom, with their kids Catherine, Kevin, Ben and Caroline. A sow black bear with two romping cubs-of-the-year stopped traffic, and us, along the Calcite Springs section of road near Tower Falls. The cubs came down the tree to nurse then proceeded to wrestle in front of us at a distance of ~120 yds. Through the spotting scopes it was hysterical to watch as the one cub climbed the trunk of the fir only to spring backwards from a height of 3 feet and onto the back of its sibling. Not much further down the road a bighorn ewe was with her newborn lamb. The latter still had the umbilical chord hanging from its tummy. 6/15/04 Spent the afternoon chasing butterflies and other various bugs around the upper terrace loop around Mammoth Hotsprings. Fluttery white parnassian butterflies abound and a sharp-looking variegated meadow hawk dragonfly lands on the pulverized travertine at my feet. Snapped a quick photo before it levitated then disappeared. 6/14/04 Old Faithful erupts from 10:13:25 until 10:14:45 and is soon followed by Beehive Geyser from 10:21-10:24. Our press group then makes for the Lake (Yellowstone) shore and up to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. 6/13/04 Summer is in full swing; the tourist season is here. A grandmotherly figure stands outside of the Old Faithful Inn saying to her grandson, "wanna play the leash game, wanna play the leash game?" She holds out one of those cherry red, phone chord-style tethers with a toddler-sized nylon wrist band attached to the end of it. The kid bolts... 6/12/04 The first of our "Learning Yellowstone Butterflies" sessions was held today and attended by 5 curious butterfliers-to-be! After a short indoor session, three of us, including Greg Gordon and Fred Baker, went up to the Howard Eaton Trail along the Upper Terrace Loop drive in Mammoth Hotsprings inside the Park. We had a good time chasing blues around the upper hills, bounding after common alpines (all with binoculars, of course... no capture or collecting is allowed in the Park) and I got to see my first phoebis parnassian of the year! Another plus was spotting what we figured to be an aphrodite fritillary... a very flighty and difficult individual to follow indeed. And we finished up the day, ahead of schedule, when a man endeavoring to steal 3 elk antlers from the Park. We gave him the benefit of the doubt at first, in effect saying, "chuck the antlers or you'll get a fine and maybe a court appearance." He ignored us and kept walking with his prize. Needless to say, we ended up reporting him, he became very vocal and threatening at our second encounter. So, we finished the day helping rangers locate and identify the individual and his antlers (I got a nifty photo of the guy with the digital camera as he was walking away the second time). After searching his truck, Rangers discovered ~6 more antlers he had already swiped. 6/9/04 While out with Gean and Waren Bowen in Lamar Valley today we found some fantastic viewing of a golden eagle being harassed by 2 ravens. The ravens pursued it in flight with reckless abandon as the eagle dove and swooped, looking over its shoulder while trying not to get pummeled. All the while the ravens spoke in intent and critical voices. At one point the eagle landed out in the open on a small hill; all was backlit in the morning sun. We watched as one of the ravens made contact. Slamming into the eagle's back, the raven loosened several feathers and dust that gleamed in the sunlight. WOW!!! 6/8/04 A badger family in Lamar Valley! I was out with Mei Mei Engel and her husband Jeff and their neat kids on a Personal Ed-Venture for YAI. Found a pair of bull moose up near Cooke City and apparently the ospreys at Tower Falls have hatched 4 chicks. Also had a look at a black bear just east of Pebble Creek before it grazed its way out of sight into the undergrowth. 6/7/04 Somewhere over Minnesota - 35,000'. Flying back home from Jenny's brother, Johnny's wedding on the shores of Lake Erie. It was so wonderful to see my parents and Jenny's family. Being out west, ie. beyond left field, makes visiting a bit hard, so when we all can get together in one place it is both joyous and exhausting. My dad looks fantastic, mom is nutty as always (doing an anonymous butter sculpture at the wedding reception), and sister Amy is sweet as ever, and still soundly at the helm of the S.S. Harass-my-brother. 5/31/04 Bighorn ewe with a newborn lamb near Calcite Springs overlook. Peregrines flying about with the ospreys... all thinking of love and nesting. 5/29/04 Hiked up Slough Creek with Jim Garry, Jenny, and our friends Fred and Julianne Baker. The day was a healthy mix of "wow, how bright and warm the sun is" to "holy crap I can't see anything through the snow." It's refreshing to be out in inclement weather. Keeps you on an even keel. It's been balmy enough though for a small number of Calypso orchids, aka fairy slippers, to be blooming along the trail. 5/25/04 Newborn pronghorns and mountain goats! The season of youngsters is upon us. The first 1 of the 2 sandhill crane eggs at Floating Island Lake hatched today! There was a yellow warbler at the Lamar Valley Buffalo Ranch this afternoon too! 5/24/04 A badger, my first of the year, in Lamar Valley! Elk cows are shedding. Most are nearly into their sleek, reddish summer coats in the Mammoth area yet those in the Old Faithful area are perhaps only 10% of the way out of their winter finery. 5/22/04 First elk calf of the year!!! Spotted the little tike with mom on the north shore of Yellowstone Lake with a group of students taking part in the Legacy and Learning program through the Yellowstone Association Institute. 5/20/04 Went for a hike into Superintendent Meadows today in search of butterflies. I was quite surprised that I didn't see any bears. I did see lots of elk and some nice wolf tracks in the melting snows along the upper Gardner River and some impressive bull elk skeletons from the winter. Snow fleas were covering a mud puddle along the trail en masse... nearly half of the 9x15' puddle was covered with their blue-black jumping bodies. Oh, yeah, and I found 5 Freija Fritillary butterflies before I got caught in a thunder-lightening-downpour. The rattling boom of the thunder careening down the valley and off of the backs of Sepulcher and Electric Peaks emphasized my insignificant role in the larger scheme of things. 5/19/04 Grizzly sow sleeping on an elk carcass at Slough Creek. She had 2 cubs with her and we got some wonderful views of her nursing the cubs once the sun came up and warmed the air. Spotted the first barn swallow of the year in Little America in side the Park. Some well-needed rain has given the hills around Gardiner, and even the prickly pear cactus, a subtle blush of green. 5/5/04 Went for a hike above the terraces today by myself. The first Sara Orange-tip butterflies were out (both male and females). Put on some good miles in the Mammoth area exploring new terrain. Eventually I made it up to the emerald ponds on the way up to Mt. Sepulcher. While relaxing on the shore, my shoes off and airing out, a cow moose walked to the water's edge opposite from me. She was shedding and the long ruff on her neck and along the top of her back were still shaggy giving her a side-shaven-crew-cut style of hairdo. I laid quiet and if she saw me, it never bothered her. She walked up a rock slide, the clack and clatter of her hooves on the rocks audible, and feasted on a few aspen saplings that, until this point, had escaped being browsed... she took care of that and bit them of soundly. It was surprising to see how thick the twigs were that she broke off to eat. some where easily the size of my pinky finger. Slid my boots back on after some time and slipped away... 5/2/04 Hiked up Bear Creek with friends Betsy Robinson, Steve Gehman, and their friend Penelope, Melissa Scott, Jenny, myself and the DOGS! We spotted some great blooming flowers and just enjoyed each other's company. We had the most amazing look at a pair of 3-toed woodpeckers in a stand of aspen trees. Butterflies were out too including the first Blue sp. of the year. I chased many around, but like the blue sp., it was all in vain :) 5/1/04 Today's my baby sister's 25th birthday... sent her some flowers in Buffalo, NY... happy birthday sis! The emergence of the "Mother's Day caddisfly hatch" is in full swing. Clouds of winged insects fresh out of the Yellowstone River fill the air, cover the walls of buildings and coat the grill of ours, and many other peoples cars. An emergence of Desert Pearly Marble butterflies also happened today. Near the Yellowstone I captured and released 13 after confirming their identity. It was a little hard to do with binoculars as the wind kept them stirred up quite a bit. 4/30/04 Drove to Lamar to day for an unbelievable view of 8 of the Druid wolves, more specifically, 21M the alpha male. There happened to be a dead elk in the Lamar River and the wolves moved from just south of the Midpoint pullout where I was, over to the Picnic area where the carcass was. A mob of watchers developed near the Picnic area so I opted to stay out of it and watch from afar for ~2 hours. At the last 15 minutes before I had to leave, I decided to go up to the Picnic area just for a look as some people said the view was just "incredible". So I bit the bullet and went up there, and sure enough, I should have sucked it up and went earlier. Wolf 21 was standing in the river a bit over 100yds away eating on the elk carcass. The sunlight was immaculate making his graying coat shimmer in the breeze and his amber eyes glow. The group watched in joy and amazement as 21 worked the meat and hide of the dead elk loose, snarled at a younger wolf attempting to feed; all the while, highlights of sun on his wet toenails, nose, teeth and eyes were aglow. At one point, through the 60x scope we could clearly see that he pulled loose, and swallowed the elk's tongue... but not after some hard chewing. I ended up staying a little longer than I was supposed to but it was well worth it! There was a moose at Floating Island Lake this morning as well and I counted 5 little red bison calves in among a group of 134 adults in Lamar. 4/29/04 Chilly and windy day but I had to get out of the house for some scouting, or something; I went to Mammoth. Dandelions near the Mammoth terraces are munch, gone, vamoose... bison came through and consumed all of the nectaring sources for the butterflies I was watching on the previous days. 4/27/04 Explored the butterfly situation on Bear Creek near Jardine this afternoon. Found a couple beautiful green commas and a satyr comma with its light, milk-chocolaty underside. When Jenny was done with work I picked her up in the truck and we went for a hike on the Yellowstone River Trail... spotted our first wandering garter snake of the year! 4/24/04-4/26/04 Car camping/birding at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge west of Yellowstone Park: "We awoke to a sunlit menagerie among the aspens next to the truck. Sweet ebullience of the trees swallows could be heard as they stood their ground against the chortling of flickers (competing for a nest cavity). Mountain blue birds bopped about until the male, a gleaming sapphire, landed 10' from the open end of our pickup bed were we had been slooping. A moose bull with small nubs for antlers plucked the tips from the local willows until something scared him and he trotted off to his own understated retort of "uhg, uhg, uhg, uhg," in a heavy-throated tone." We found 67 species of birds (highlights were a red-necked grebe, common loon, and a marsh wren sang with unending vigor) and spotted the first blooms of pasque flower of the spring, as well as buttercups, and spring beauties! 4/23/04 Helped the Bear Management Office do some bear/ungulate carcass surveys near Old Faithful. We found a real nice set of grizz tracks near Biscuit Basin but they weren't inside the survey route... we never saw any fresh sign of bears in the surveys at all that day... go figure. Boreal chorus frogs were singing along the creeks and wet areas. Shauna Baron actually spotted one of the little songsters with its head sticking up out of a pond's surface. One the route we spotted 2 ravens on a stick nest as well as a Canada goose on its just down the creek a ways. Not far from there we found a good sized egg that was eaten, probably by a raven. It was blue, almost robin's egg blue. This threw me for a loop - fresh goose egg? crane??? 4/22/04 Went out for a walk with Dan Hartman today. We found a number of elk sheds (left there there of course, being in the Park and all). The sapsuckers were tapping away their territorial announcements. One of them actually found the resonance of the metal trail marker to be a pleasing sound and tapped on it with its beak a few times. Dan is really keyed into the alarm calls of birds when looking for owls and other predators. "Don't trust the Clark's Nutcrackers at this time of year though." It became apparent why a little further down the trail as we spotted for of them (nutcrackers) going through all sorts of mating ritual shenanigans. There were also some butterflies around the Mammoth Terraces today too, they included: spring whites, Milbert's tortoiseshells, Polygonia sp., Mourning cloak, California tortoiseshell, western whites, and the year's first Painted lady! 4/21/04 It's snowing in Gardiner - very damp and heavy. Keep it coming we say! 4/20/04 Back at the drawing table... design is just about done! LOOK for it in upcoming updates. Hope to get out for some field sketching today. 4/19/04 Yes, been drawing again... all day. But I did manage to get outside and do some rock wall construction in the side yard. 4/18/04 Been illustrating the t-shirt design for the Yellowstone Association Institute... all day. 4/17/04 Jenny and I hiked up Snow Pass today amid, bright sun, still forest air, gusting winds, overcast skies, rain, and you guessed it - snow! A lot of 'weather' for one short hike for sure! We also got to see our first grizzly bear tracks (traveling the opposite direction as we and a few days old). Also phlox (Phlox hoodi), spring beauties, dandelions, larkspur (about to bloom), buttercups, & Bessaya wyomingensis were blooming... a little too cold for butterflies today. Along the Glen Creek section of trail in Swan Lake flats we found a scattered covering of whitish-gray hair. Mountain goat came to mind but as we looked around we found the tail of a gray wolf... This must have been the one that was found dead in that area this winter. I've also heard that 3 bison calves have been spotted in the Northern Range of the Park! 4/16/04 I spotted my first grizzly of the spring... yes, yes, there's been grizz out since the first week of March, but I been preoccupied in other places. Also saw 4 bighorn sheep ewes up on specimen ridge, as well as the Druid wolves out at their rendezvous site. Included in the group of wolves were 21M, 253M, 2 collared grays and 2 collared blacks. The yearling blacks were playing and pouncing on each other, biting, chasing, etc... just having a ball! When the wolves went out of view my gaze wandered and found, in air, a red-tailed hawk with a Uintah ground squirrel! It soon landed and started eating! Interestingly, I also spotted 2 white-tailed deer near Roosevelt in the Park. White-tails are quite common regionally, but not in the Park, so, hence my posting. 4/15/04 Spent the afternoon sketching the elk in Mammoth. All of them are remarkably unique both in mannerisms and body/facial features... go figure... they're all individuals... 4/14/04 Some new flowers are blooming! Along Glen Creek, in the Park, I found Oregon Grape, strawberry (Fragaria vesca), and buttercups (Ranunculus jovis and R. glaberimus) as well as the aspens. Cottonwood leaves 2" long on Gardiner River. 4/12/04 On the Yellowstone River Trail today I found a Large Marble butterfly and a few spring whites, 2 mourning cloaks, and 3 unidentified comma butterflies AND lizards.. still have yet to id this lizard... 4/10/04 Jenny and I hiked near Roosevelt today. Ravens are pairing in flight, shrimp (Gamerus sp?) are paired in the shallows of the still thawing ponds, geese honk their alarm in duet, and that crazy ruffed grouse is still hanging around the aspen grove where it approached us this winter... we're quite surprised this guy hasn't been killed by a predator yet. Bull elk have 3" bulbs of velvety antlers beginning. Some of the spike bulls and rag-horns still carry their ivory. 4/9/04 Went to Lamar today for some field sketching and spotted red-tailed hawks, Canada geese, Mallards, American Coot, western meadowlarks, common ravens, sandhill cranes, Barrows goldeneye, black-billed magpie, American robin, northern flicker, red-breasted nuthatch, mountain chickadees, and dark-eyed juncos... AND the first moose of the spring; a cow in Floating Island Lake! Also thought that i heard a falcon cry on the cliff face to the south of the lake. Spotted a black bear in Lamar Canyon which entertained a few people on the road surface before dropping into the depths of the canyon. 4/6/04 Spotted first American Kestrel of the year on the flats along the Old Yellowstone Road west of Gardiner. It was a female. 4/3/04-4/4/04 Hiked the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone with Rebecca & Jonmikel Pardo as an overnight backpack. This was Rebecca's first time backpacking! Snow from the 18th of March was gone from the upper part of the trail and everything was nearly dry; this is scary for this early in the year. Needless to say, we endured the early April 'heat' and had a fantastic hike. Along the way we spotted 29 species of birds including the year's first osprey, 8 species of butterflies (including the year's first large marble, spring white, and Sheridan's hairstreak!), and 8 species of mammals including our first bears of the year! A black bear sow with 2 yearlings was defending her cubs from a larger male on the opposite side of the Yellowstone River near Turkey Pen Peak. Uintah ground squirrels are now coming out in force as we saw the red-tailed hawks and coyotes eyeing their surroundings a little more closely. It was a great introduction to backpacking for Rebecca and by all accounts "the bears were the best" end note possible... even though i was still caught up, with my back to the bears, trying to get a look at some butterflies... only for a few minutes though :) This is supposedly the due date for the alpha female of the Druid Peak wolf pack... will we have new pups at the traditional den site again this year??? Supposedly, the pack was on a kill near Soda Butte Cone yesterday and she was not with them... 3/29/04 I spent a long time this morning along the Yellowstone River Trail. There was a pair of satyr comma butterflies in the dogwood copse along the freshet in the 'cottonwood alley'. I had a great chance to sit at close range and compare their field markings with those in the guide I carried along. Rich brown under wings we visible as they flitted about and fed on the sap of the trees. They kept taking flight as pesky ants touched their legs and crawled about on them. Jenny and I walked the Campground on Forest Service land north of Gardiner and spotted an entire family of 5 beaver. They we all busily feeding when we happened upon them at close range. The wind, and their poor eyesight, was in our favor so we watched for over 30 minutes as they crawled up on the banks of the tiny pond, cut sticks and trees and pulled them back into the water. Subtleties of their vocalizations, sloshing about, and chewing could all be heard clearly as the 2 adults and 3 kits went about their spring cleaning. The funniest point was when one of the youngsters drug a small twig down the steep ramp to the water's edge and slipped - falling face first into the muddy shallows and nearly going end over end :) Amid the excitement of this we also heard the flute music of the first hermit thrush of the year! 3/26/04 First pronghorn antelope enter Lamar Valley! The migration has begun from the low elevations. There was also a cow bison fell through the ice at Blacktail Ponds today. She broke through ~100yds of ice along the shore and eventually freed herself from the mire and mud, slush and ice. 3/23/04 Great horned owls hooting along Yellowstone near Gardiner, MT... some late season courting going on? 3/20/04 Jenny and i hiked Mt. Everts today under bluebird skies and unseasonable warmth. While walking the rim of the southern cliff face we spotted our first sharp-shinned hawk of the year, a grasshopper, AND the year's first sandhill crane. Pausing, I thought I detected something out of line with the recent sound-scape, and sure enough, high overhead was a beautiful sunlit crane with neck out, ushering in the season. Another answered far off in the direction of Rainbow Lakes on the foothills of Sepulcher Peak. Snow still blanketed the top of the mountain and we were thankful for the pre-established tracks put through the slushy white by a lone moose. We also counted 34 bighorn sheep and 8 pronghorn antelope on McMinn Bench along the Gardiner River. 3/18/04 Hiked the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone with Don McDougal and Melissa Scott today. We found 2 fresh elk antler sheds and 14 species of birds including the year's first canyon wren singing from high on the cliffs over the Yellowstone. A few more new butterflies have made the scene too! We spotted some commas (Polygonia spp.), Milbert's and California tortoishells, AND we spotted the first reported blooming flower in the whole Northern Range of Yellowstone (according to Jen Whipple, YNP botanist); it was a buttercup (Ranunculus glaberimus) on the up-river side of the Black Canyon! 3/17/04 Back home in MT! American dippers are nest building at Rescue Creek inside the Park. Mountain bluebirds have also come back to the Rocky Mountain west since we left for the east. 3/13/04 Seasonal phenology is further along in Maryland. Tree swallows were flitting about in Bel Aire, croakises, red maples and daffodils are blooming in Fulton, and Arlington, VA. Seeing Joey, Jenny's new nephew, was a treat as well as seeing her brother Johnny and meeting his fiance Connie. Jenny's mom and dad were good too. John, Sr. was kind enough to drop me off at the Baltimore aquarium for some drawing on one of the days. First Grizzly bear seen in Lamar Valley today in Round Prairie! 3/7/04 We've gone back east to see both our parents and Jenny's new nephew! We flew into Baltimore and drove up to my parents in NY. Along the drive we spotted 21 Turkey vultures, 8 red-tailed hawks, and 33 American crows, also 2 roadkilled raccoons, 2 woodchucks, and 1 muskrat. At home in NY the common grackles bubble in song, the "chury-up" of the robins can be heard, and the cardinals sound out in a chiming string of pearls. Ice is still thick and slushy on Big Bay of Oneida Lake. Skeins of geese fly overhead in anticipation of finding open water. Some are low enough to hear the softer inflections in their reedy highball honks and vibration of wing feathers. 3/2/04 Groups of Rosie finches are still hanging around the slopes of Phantom Lake in Yellowstone's Northern Range. 3/1/04 While out with a Winter Wildlife Discovery program today we counted 16 pronghorns along the old Yellowstone road and 12 mule deer taboot. Out along Lava Creek the dead bull in the water was being fed upon by 2 coyotes. One of these chased the other off with a wonderful demonstration of the 'alligator gape' with tail tucked and back arched. Most of the meat of the neck and head and upper back is gone exposing the vertebrae, the nose has finally been 'taken care of' by the scavengers, as have the eyes... probably the ravens. 2/29/04 Watching with the TNC group in the the northern range of the Park. We had a wonderful look at 302M and a gray (what looked like a female) wolf that walked through a group of bison, in the process, getting them all riled up and getting them to put their tails in the air. The two wolves moved south of us near crystal creek and laid down. Full scope views were had all around. It was a wonderful chance for close looks at this pair. 2/28/04 Spent a wonderful day skiing and visiting with the Montana Nature Conservancy at the B-Bar Ranch in the Tom Miner Basin. Ed Bangs spoke in the morning on the Rocky Mountain gray wolf restoration and I spoke in the evening on the dynamics of Yellowstone wolves. The B-Bar has a great set of trail and we took a short sleigh ride around the willow flats and had some great looks at the 'Ancient Park' breed of cattle - a distinctive white animal with striking black nose, ears, and gracefully upturned horns. Some of this breed are also completely black, but the image of the white ones stick with me the most. 2/27/04 FIRST BUTTERFLY OF THE YEAR!!!! I couldn't believe it as I walked down the hill below our house in Gardiner, a butterfly leapt into the air from the sunny trail at my feet (it was 12:00pm)! It was a very quick look but looked like a Nymphalis sp., probably a California or Milbert's tortoiseshell. I'm guessing it was the latter. Members of this genus over-winter as adults and are usually the first ones out in spring. 2/26/04 On the way to Lamar Valley this morning I had to stop at Elk Creek and look at the amazing sunrise coming through the washed, gray clouds. Dan Hartman stopped and we chatted for a bit before Dan said, "is that a coyote, no, is that a fox"? Sure enough it was a mountain fox and moments later it did the mousing routine and pounced headlong into the crusty snow. It came a way with something in its mouth which we soon discovered to be a pocket gopher. Are the gopher's getting antsy with the winter warm spell we've been having? Greg Gordon said that on his winter wolf class they watched a coyote get what sounded like a gopher on the same day. Apparently the wolves were doing a bit of mousing too. Druid wolves were hanging out in Lamar Valley today, all day long, in front of the Buffalo Ranch. Apparently female 255 is trying to come back to the pack again after 'hanging out with the boys' including the wolf known as 302 junior - a black male of unknown origin and a Slough Creek male buddy. Sue and John Mills and I watched as 5 coyotes harassed one of the collared gray pups, that was all by itself, to the point of making it leave. The bark-yips of coyotes were making it uneasy and hastened its departure. The coyotes, seemingly pleased with themselves, pranced about after their 'victory' and played keep-away with a piece of ice or hunk of bone. 2/25/04 I was out with Sue and John Mills today and we spotted a dead bull elk in the small creek just past Lava Creek, east of Mammoth. It, like the other bull elk in the area, had been feeding on aquatic plants in the small drainage and managed to get itself fatally trapped in the deep run. It died with one front leg up on the shore and another pinned underneath the sod bank. It came to rest with only it's head and neck sticking up above the snowy bank. The nose was pointing strait up in the air with half of its massive antlers submerged under water, as was the rest of its body. We walked out there after Mark Miller had a chance to get some photos of it and we discovered that it was very old indeed. Most of its incisors were missing and those that were there were worn right down almost to the gum. 2/21/-2/23/04 Teaching True To Life: the Art and Science of Drawing Animals with Peg Steunenberg at the Yellowstone Association Institute field campus at the Lamar Valley Buffalo Ranch. We had 12 ladies for the program and we had a BLAST! We spent a good amount of time talking about/practicing techniques of drawing and painting animals, skull, and mounts as well as discussing animal anatomy, form and function... though I must say, I think the highlight was watching the cow elk near Mammoth bring up cud balls to chew. Somehow that reverse peristalsis captivated the entire group sending a wave fitful laughter throughout as we watched :) 2/20/04 Apparently, our friend the crippled bighorn ram was found dead today on the road at the small cliff at the confluence of the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek. It sounds like his death came as a result of a fall. He was hit by a car last winter and we thought that he'd be dead before summer was over. Lo and behold he was still limping around on that bum right front leg until today. It looked so painful and rarely was he able to straighten it. I was told that there were wolf tracks on top of the cliff... did they cause him to fall? A walk along the Yellowstone River Trail revealed a huge flock (~500) of feeding Bohemian Waxwings in what I call the Juniper halls. Their soft trilling filled the air as they darted around the berry-filled trees. Further down the trail I found a group of ~12 cedar waxwings doing the same in slightly less grand a fashion. 2/19/04 There were 3 gray wolves (presumably from the Swan Lake Pack) visible from the visitors center in Mammoth today! People were watching with binocs and listening to them howl all morning long! What they were howling at, as it seems, were 2 other collared gray wolves that were with a black female (un-collared). She had a limp in her front right foot and had bred with one of the collared grays. She was obviously not a Swan Lake wolf as they are all gray. 2/18/04 It was raining in Gardiner this morning! The day ended quite balmy yesterday and Jenny and I awoke to the sound of rain drops on the metal roof. Rain brings out the smells of the land and vivid colors in the hills. 2/16/04 "Do bighorn sheep swim," Julie asked? Not a moment after telling the group of students that "yes, sheep can swim quite well when they want to," this 7-year old ram leapt into the Yellowstone River and swam to our side of the River. I had never seen a ram swim before and we were all very surprised. I really thought that this old fellow was just going to the water's edge to drink. 2/15/04 We spotted the Swan Lake wolves today! We didn't miss them as we did yesterday. Bill's keen eyes spotted them on the ridge to the east of the Mammoth Campground, and what a look it was! They were very close compared to most wolf sightings. All of these wolves are gray (Swan Lake and the Nez Perce packs are the only all-gray packs in Yellowstone) but we had a good enough view to see all the unique variations in their coat patterns. It looked like the male displaying dominant, alpha behavior had a neat, white tip to his fluffy tail. 2/14/04 I was out with Bill Merwin and family today. It was a wonderful sunny day and we got great looks at wolves, 13 coyotes, 2 golden eagles, and 3 bald eagles. The latter keyed us into a kill out across Lamar Valley. Little did we know, leaving Mammoth Hot Springs this morning, we missed the Swan Lake wolf pack making a kill right in Mammoth center - just in time for Valentine's Day! In fact, there was elk blood and wolf tracks peppered all over the snow, sidewalk, and around the dining room building. When we saw the area later in the day black billed magpies were eating the bloody snow near the dining building. The kill happened just before light and the wolves ended up bringing the elk down near the parade grounds. Instructor Greg Wright said he spotted 9 wolves leaving the kill at first light and that they hadn't consumed the heart and lungs yet... they were pushed off before having the opportunity to feed to satiation. 2/12/04 I was going to take a long hike today but found the weather and conditions overall, leading me to do some sketching. Soo, I went to Dan Hartman's today to sketch the pine martens that have been coming to his suet feeders. As luck usually has it, the marten was there for the first 15 min and then took off. I waited for another 4 hours but the little female that was scent marking and darting around the feeders didn't return. 2/9/04 Friend Julianne Baker saw 2 coyotes mating on Blacktail Plateau today and my group spotted the largest one day count of bighorn sheep from the road - 56 including ~16 at the narrows of the Gardiner River south of the north entrance, 8 at Cinnabar south of the boat launch and then 29 ewes and lambs another 1/2 mile west of the others at Cinnabar, and then a trio of large rams on the flats along Rescue Creek. 2/8/04 We had a 3 dog day! All 3 wild dogs of Yellowstone were found by our Winter Wildlife Program through the Yellowstone Association Institute. There was a sly red fox at Hellroaring at first light, a few packs of coyotes in Little America and Lamar Valley and 4 wolves including Druid female 255, a gray, and two black males. 2/2/04 Much sad news today. The famous wolf 42F, aka. the Cinderella wolf (dubbed so from the National Geographic film on Yellowstone Wolves), and alpha female of the Druid Peak Wolf pack, AND the second to last wolf left from the original Canadian reintroductees, was found dead today. It was confirmed by Dan Stahler of the Yellowstone Wolf Project during a routine flight. It was thought that she was killed by the Mollies pack who left their territory near Pelican Valley to visit the northern range. Another wolf, thought to be the 1/2 black female (the female Druid wolf that acquired a limp in her left hind leg this fall) was also found dead near the site of the apparent confrontation. Forty-two is survived by only one other original Canadian wolf - her sister #41F who is fading with age and still resides in Sunlight Basin pack she started in 1998 on the eastern border of Yellowstone. 1/30/04 - 2/1/04 We're breaking away for the weekend! Jenny, our roommate Greg Gordon, his friend Steve from Flagstaff, AZ, Julianne Baker, Don Mc Dougal, and friends Rachael Gray and Kerry Gunther, and I went out to the Cooke City Bike Shack's backcountry yurt. Owned and operated by Bill Blackford, the yurt is about as posh as on can get on a wilderness ski trip... check out the "In the Field" section for all the details! 1/28/04 I've been doing some office work in the Gardiner office as of late but have been walking to work from the new house. The sounds of the wind, birds, and the bustle of the town are lost on the indoors cat. Forty six pigeons are perched on the wires down the street this morning. There were 41 yesterday. Through the crosswinds and gliding pigeons comes a flock of ~ 30 pinion jays. "Ya ha! Ha ha!" they called. Captured by their movement, voices and the sound of wind through their feathers, I walked off into a ditch while staring upwards. There's a winter storm watch for Livingston, MT and Mammoth Hotsprings in the Park today. This means 'you best not watch because there's no reason to think something will happen'. It snows when it snows, it don't when it don't. Gardiner undoubtedly will remain unscathed either way. Sitting at ~ 5100' and in the rain shadow of Sepulcher and Electric peaks to the south, puts us in a rain/snow shadow. I was jubilant to see one and a half inches on the porch a few mornings ago. 1/26/04 Enjoying looking out through the sliding glass doors of the new house, and down on a bald eagle cruising the Yellowstone River where it cuts through town. It's neat sitting up in the bed (which is situated on the living room floor between piles of cardboard boxes... we're painting the bedroom) and seeing flocks of song birds - rosey finches? and bigger birds - Bohemian waxwings? that careen, at eye level, over the housetops nearby. 1/24/04 Big doings! Wolf 103F still appears to be alive! I took a group of folk out wolf viewing from the American Parks Network today and while, huh um, taking a bathroom break at Tower Junction, we spotted what looked to be wolf 103F. She was the original alpha female of the Agate Creek pack which formed in 2002 when she 'hooked up' with male 113 from the Chief Joseph Pack. As of the last sightings in the fall she was lagging behind the rest of the pack and had lost her dominant position. This appeared to be the case here as she was less than a mile away from a recent Agate Pack kill but was alone and moving slowly with a slight limp in her left? hind leg. Was this soreness from old age or an injury? Her black coat had faded to a dusky soot color her non-functioning radio collar was visible in the clear morning light. Some of the folks on the trip got digital pictures of her through the spotting scopes and Rick McIntyre agreed that this did in fact look like 103. She was last seen and her radio collar was last hear from this fall. Six American dippers were dipping and squabbling at the confluence of the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek. 1/22/04 WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOUSE! Jenny and I went up to Livingston today and signed the papers for our very first home which sits upon a terrace overlooking the Yellowstone River, the town of Gardiner, MT and the northern, mountainous border of Yellowstone National Park. The house we purchased is actually our friend Jim William's old place which he left when taking his new job with the International Wolf Center in Ely, MN. Moving/cleaning are now imminent. 1/20/04 Out bright and early our wildlife group stopped to listen in the predawn hour for signs of life in lower Lamar Valley. As soon as I stepped out of the bus mini-bus I could hear the howling of wolves. Not far to the north through the wan light of dawn, a chorus of 3 wolves (what we later discovered was the Leopold male 302, the Druid Peak Pack female known as the "U-Black," and an uncollared gray male wolf) sang out. Each animal contributing its own tone made it sound as though there were 6-8 wolves. Ravens to the north in the area of the howling soon alerted us to the presence of a kill. This was a kill from the previous day and thought to be that of a mountain lion - this was later confirmed via radio telemetry by the cougar research crew, apparently there was a collared male in the area. In Lamar Valley proper, we got some amazing views of 16 Druid Peak wolves who were lounging in the splendor of a fresh kill - an elk. Coyotes were hovering around the periphery waiting in turn, as were the ravens but, several black-billed magpies darted in for scraps at times as satiated wolves nibbled at the remains. 1/19/04 On one of our Winter Wildlife Expedition programs today we spotted the Geode Creek wolf pack near the lion kill. We got out early to hopefully see the cat again but to no avail. I heard later from other sources that the cat came out ~10am (an hour after we left) and then again at 3pm. The wolf viewing was great though with both alpha female 106 and her new gray suitor double scent marking on a sprig of sage brush... wolf pair bonding in action! The breeding season is just around the corner. Our group also took a ride out the old Yellowstone Trail and spotted 11 bighorn sheep at Cinnabar and another 7 up on McMinn Bench along the Gardiner River. 1/18/04 Today was one of those days that you dream of and fail to awaken from. Hoar frost glistens in the cottonwoods, shaggy bison, with their frosted hair backlit, plod through the snow, river steam rises and hits the ceiling of a temperature inversion in the Valley. Then, as we (myself and a press group of travel writer, editors, and photographers) stood marveling at bighorn sheep, 2 golden eagles burst from their perches and shot with laser precision, toward a drake, Barrow's goldeneye duck that had just taken flight. Through the binoculars I watched in awe as one of the massive birds lowered a pair of stout yellow talons and snatched the duck right out of the sky! We jumped and marveled as the eagle took its prize to the far side of the River to butcher its prize. A magpie danced about, darting in and out, trying to nab a bite from the dark eagle's lunch. A passer-bye then informed us of a mountain lion that was on a kill at Hellroaring overlook! A quick decision to eat lunch on the road got us up to the viewing point, which, by this time was choked with onlookers exclaiming things like "I have never...," "This is the first time...," "Holy cow!" and "Look through this spotting scope!" And yes, there it was, a sleek caramel-colored catamount in the valley below ~1mile away. She ? was lounging, if not reveling, in the sun and contentment of a full belly next to the carcass of a cached elk. The cat groomed, rolled, yawned, sat up, laid down, and circled all around the heap of snow covering her prize. We were all ecstatic for this is truly a once in a lifetime event for many people. Some folks have worked an entire career in the park and never seen a mountain lion in the wild. And here is one for all the world to see, rolling on its back staring at the ravens overhead like an infant captivated by a ebony-feathered mobile. 1/17/04 Watching for wolves in Little America. Early as the sun came with a jack-o-lantern glow, a lone coyote howled from the granite bowl to the east. Its sound echoed out to the world from this little amphitheater and soon it was answered by eager songsters all around. One such reply came from 50yds behind me. Four stunningly furred coyotes appeared and shouted at the sky with open mouths. What I figured was the alpha female, as she was the apple of a large (alpha?) male's eye, scent-marked, then sat in the snow and scooted along on her rear end - like a dog might when afflicted by worms. Was she coming into heat? Seems early. 1/15/04 Hiked up Rattlesnake Butte today and spotted 12 bighorn sheep - all ewes and one young ram. Sunset was unspeakably divine. 1/11/04 Jenny and I skied Indian Creek. Lots of snowshoe hare tracks, as well as, weasel, marten, and squirrel tracks. We did see one hare right next to the trail. It plopped into the depression around a tree trunk like a dollop of wet snow, except this lump of snow had a glassy black eye! We looked quickly, I made a hasty sketch in my notepad, and we skied on as to keep its little heart from fluttering with anxiety. 1/9 - 1/10/04 Took avalanche safety class taught at the Lamar Valley Buffalo Ranch. In the evening of the 10th, I lay in bed. Through the logs and chinking of our cabin, the low, penetrating howl of a wolf in the Valley could be heard. It was a spirited sound that seeped through the walls like an invisible draft. With my boots on, and little more, I stood on the porch in the moonlight listening to the night tidings of a lone gray wolf in winter. 1/8/04 Last day with the film crew. They got some finishing footage, interviews with myself, Dan Stahler of the Yellowstone Wolf Project, and Hank Heasler (Yellowstone Park Geologist). We finished off the day and the 3 days of filming with a visit to the Mammoth terraces of some material on the hotsprings. This was a wonderful 3 days and I think the crew had just about as much fun as I did. Soon they will be off filming the next episode in the Sea of Cortez for this series of programs on the 'World's Best Wildlife Adventures'. This show we were doing on Yellowstone will probably air sometime in the summer and will be featured with other locales in the series such as the Everglades, polar bears of Churchill, grizzlies in coastal Canada, dolphins and whales in Cortez, etc. 1/7/04 What a fantastic day! Rob, Keith, Jon, Brian, Institute volunteers Chuck & Wynell Middlebrooks, YAI Instructor Shauna Baron, and I had the Druid Peak wolves with us all day long. It started out with 5 pups on the south side of Little America. From there, we spotted the rest of the Druid pack hot on the trail of wolf 302M from the Leopold Pack. He had been 'hanging' with the U-Black, Druid female and Druid Alphas were on his trail - down from Peregrine Rock, across the Yellowstone, up and over Mumm's Ridge... All the while, 302M and the U-Black were up on the top of Peregrine Rock! They had passed them right on bye. Though the light was not ideal, Rob got some wonderful footage of the Druids and 302. In the afternoon we split up in order to get some good footage of the Druids meeting back up with the pups. Brian got some wonderful recordings, and Rob, some great video, of coyotes sounding the "wolf! wolf!" alarm calls as the Druids crossed out of sight of us. At the same time, however, wolf 302 crossed the road right next to Keith while he was alone in the blazer! This was the "greatest thing I've ever seen in the outdoors," Keith said. He was just beside himself with excitement. We shared in his retelling of the event and how "this huge black wolf" walked right past him, as we marveled at the tracks in the snow on the road. 1/6/04 Finished our first day of filming for the Animal Planet Show with Kieth Cornell and Rob Engelhardt of Kaos Entertainment out of Los Angeles, CA. Along for the shoot was Brian Whitlock ('sound man'), and Jon Shier, a graduate student in the MSU film program. We had a wonderful day of bright sun, blue skies, vivid, snow-crested peaks, and heaps of rime ice - all amid the -35F temperatures. I actually frosted my ears a little on this day :(. The CA guys allowed that this was probably the coldest they have ever been. Got some great footage of some coyotes opening up an elk carcass near the confluence of Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek. 1/5/04 Ice coated the inside doorknob at the house in Gardiner this morning. The thermometer read -20F. It was -31F in Lamar. Billowing gasps of steam rise from the terraces up in Mammoth, as well as the Gardner and Yellowstone Rivers. A voice on the radio this morning said "exposed flesh can freeze in 15 minutes". 1/3/04 Jenny and I went to the dump in Gardiner today and spotted a small band of 5 bighorn sheep. One full curl ram was with 4 ewes right down near the road. 1/1/04 The Winter Wolf Class and I went out to Slough Creek this morning. We spotted a kill made by the Slough Creek Pack with some help from the ravens and some coyotes. We also got a nice look at the Druid Peak Pack in Lamar Valley. Five were visible including 253M, 21M, 42F, the gray yearling and one gray pup. An added highlight for the day was seeing a beautiful red fox in Lamar Canyon perched on a show-covered boulder. It was just ablaze in the early morning sun!
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