Yellowstone Journal

Observations Off the Beaten Path in Yellowstone-- A Short Walk Along the Madison River, late July

I'm a volunteer in the park and work on identifying and helping to eradicate exotic plant species which enter the park on vehicles, visitor's shoes, and horses on the trails. I was looking for bull thistle on a trail close to the road. When I was ready for a break from my weed watch I followed a ridge above the Madison River. Along the way I saw an elk antler shed in March lying in the sage where rodents will gnaw on it for the calcium it contains. The feather of a raptor lay upside down on my path. Sparrows were flitting from shrub to shrub in the sagebrush--probably a Savannah sparrow I guessed from my binocular inspection. (The sparrows are very hard to distinguish from each other!)

From under a limber pine providing some shade, I watched a bald eagle on a snag which burned in the fires of 1988. The eagle was across the river from the nest it had occupied during the spring. Two chicks hatched there but sometime in June, a big wind tipped this old nest and the chicks fell to their death. The adult eagles have stayed in the area but don't have enough time before winter to attempt hatching more chicks.

The next observation I made from my shady perch was a hot bull bison crossing the river over to my side. He trotted up the slope and was coming my direction but veered away toward the new forest of lodgepole pine. An alert marmot sat on a rock near me, sensing my presence (marmots don't see well and use their other senses to recognize danger.)

Above the young trees, a great vista of mountains stretches to include the Gallatin Range and the southern end of the Madison Range. The snow is gone except for an occasional patch. The expanse of rock looked hot and dry and the sky a pale, dusty blue although it was only 10 in the morning. Forest fire was on my mind. We've had good rain since May but each hot, dry day reminds me that we could still have a bad fire season in the Northern Rockies. We're in our sixth year of drought now and it will take a long time to recover the water we need.

Below, in the river, I saw a common merganser land and not far downstream a Trumpeter Swan was feeding in the aquatic vegetation. Further downstream a family of Canada Geese was standing along the river's edge--feet in the water.

My break over, I returned to the trail and my task of removing bull thistle. I stopped for birdsong and found a yellow-rumped warbler moving quickly through a section of a Douglas Fir as it collected insects for its meal. Nearby a flycatcher sat on a dead branch and a little further down the trail I spotted a fledgling warbler practicing flight and resting on a branch. With my binoculars I had a good viewing of his still downy feathers wiggling in the breeze.

I heard the song of the ruby crowned kinglet but didn't see him. The trail is lined in places with wild raspberry bushes. They are loaded with berries now not yet ripe. I'll be back to watch their progress as I continue my work removing bull thistle from along this trail.

Recent Black Bear Sighting


On May 16th in the area of Tower Junction, I enjoyed observing these two black bears (they sometimes come in a shade of cinnamon brown) as they tried to satisfy their big appetites following a winter burning their fat reserves while asleep in their dens. These two were making their way across an old lakebed which is drying up as we enter a fifth year of drought. The cinnamon brown bear was the most interesting to watch as he foraged for food among the grasses. He was not more than 50 yards away as the crowd watched from the road under the supervision of a park ranger.

This bear, although very healthy looking, clearly had suffered some problems serious physical problems. It appeared that he had lost one eye and that both legs on the left side (facing camera) had been injured as he flinched when he walked. He'd been in a fight with another bear or perhaps had found the carcass of an elk the wolves had killed and was helping himself to an easy meal. In any case, he had overcome these handicaps and appeared to be eating well, but he often had to turn his good eye toward the ground before pulling his claws through the soil to turn up roots and tubers to eat.
When his appetite was satisfied, he started up the hill at the back of the photo till he came to a tree he could use as a scratching post. He stood and scratched his back against the trunk. Next he found a spot above a downed tree and lay down for a late afternoon nap.

I've been fortunate to see two grizzly bears in the last couple of visits to the park. Each was working the ground hunting for roots or rodents such as ground squirrels or pocket gophers. It will be a while before the trout start spawning and the bears concentrate on fish in their diet.

Another special wildlife sighting has been Harlequin ducks. They are found in fast moving water and I saw them on the Yellowstone River--10 of them.

100th Birthday Celebration for Old Faithful Inn

On May 7, The Old Faithful Inn opened its big red doors for its one hundredth season. For the celebration, Yellowstone's Superintendent, Suzanne Lewis, convened various dignitaries to extol the praises of this venerable inn which overlooks Old Faithful Geyser and the many thermal features on Geyser hill. To mark the occasion, the old yellow touring buses (see photo) were brought out to carry dignitaries and a busload of school children up to the Inn's porte cochere where they alighted and entered the foyer. When they had taken their places around the towering stone fireplace, the manager of the Inn appeared at the doors and welcomed the crowd of about 100 to the festivities.
In we went to hear the speeches, see the displays about the Inn's first 100 years and mingle with the guests wearing attire of 1904. A quartet played on the mezzanine level and cake and punch were served in the foyer. It was announced that over the next 3 seasons, the Inn-- the National Park Services's first example of "parkitecture"--will undergo a facelift and have her underpinings shored up at an expense of many millions of dollars. At the same time a campaign is underway to finance the replacement of an inadequate visitor center adjacent to the Inn. The Yellowstone Park Foundation is undertaking this project.
If you haven't stayed in the Inn, this might be the summer to do so. Festivities commemorating the 100th birthday will continue through the summer. I stayed there in 1970 when a room without a bath was $14. I awoke at 5 a.m. and looked out our window in time to see Old Faithful erupt. I imagined that I may have been the only person to observe this particular eruption. At that time the interval between eruptions was about 75 minutes. Today the interval is closer to 90 minutes.
Touring buses at Old Faithful

Rare winter sighting

In mid-February, I was snowshoeing in the Tower Falls area when I came upon a story in the snow of a recent wildlife event. To understand the story I had to study the several clues in the snow.

Along the Yellowstone River there was evidence that a bird had been killed: a few gray feathers in one spot and blood a few feet away. Near the feathers were the foot prints of a large bird. The bloodied area was not far from the river's edge. On the riverbank I noticed a large indentation in the snow and on either side, the imprint of wings. Now the story in the snow was taking shape. A Gray Jay or Clark's Nutcracker (both frequent the area) had been taking a drink from the river when a large bird had swooped down and snatched it up. There had been a struggle and blood was shed. Perhaps the victim had been able to move as far as the area where the feathers lay on the snow or the predator bird had hopped with the jay in its beak to eat it there.

Now I needed to identify the footprints. I didn't have a ruler with me so I couldn't measure them. I suspected an eagle or a hawk and when I got home, I checked my copy of Scats and Tracks of the Rocky Mountains by James Halfpenny. I concluded that it probably was a raven as they sometimes make a meal of a bird and their prints are similar to the eagle's. Ravens are in this area year round.

Next winter I'll have my ruler and my camera with me on every outing!

Skiing Yellowstone at 14 below zero!

January started out with super cold temperatures in this part of the world--and lots of snow. Good news for an area that has seen drought for 5 years. On January 5th, dawn registered at -30F in many spots around Bozeman, MT, north of Yellowstone. It was a gorgeous, ice crystal-clear day and I headed down with a friend to Yellowstone's north entrance where the road remains open to cars in winter. We followed the Yellowstone River through the Paradise Valley and spotted 9 bald eagles in the cottonwoods along the riverbank. One golden eagle flew over the valley with an eye out for a rodent in the fields. A few miles north of the park entrance we crossed a bridge and found a group of 9 bighorn sheep grazing in the sun on last summer's grasses.
Steam was rising off the Gardner River as we entered the park. Here hot water from the Mammoth Terraces flows from underground into the river. When we arrived at Mammoth--park headquarters--it was noon and the temperature had risen to seven below! The steam from the terraces was billowing into the bright blue sky (see photo.) We headed east toward the Blacktail Plateau to see if we could ski at such cold temperatures. Along the way we encountered a bachelor "gang" of 14 bull elk. They were browsing the grass under the snow or resting in the sun--all with magnificent sets of antlers which they will carry until late March or early April. A large set of antlers can add as much as 30 pounds to the weight their necks must carry. Occasionally, you see two locking antlers but not fighting as they do during the fall rut.
At 2:30 pm, the thermometer on the car registered 14 below. We slipped into our skis and set out. The sun was already low in the sky and my thighs, fingers and toes felt the cold. Within half an hour, we were warmed up although stopping to gaze across the landscape was not something we did for long. Total silence--something very hard to find--greeted us on this trail when we did stop. Only the occasional cawing of a raven in the top of a Douglas Fir was heard. Animal tracks abound in the snow now: elk, bison, coyote, pine squirrel, snowshoe hare and mice had all left their footprints for us to see. We found several elk beds in the snow where they had spent the previous night.
We returned to the car at 4:30 pm and were surprised to see the temperature now stood at only 3 below. A nearly full moon was already up in the northeast as we looked across to the Absaroka Mountains. A great afternoon in Yellowstone and we shared it with scarcely any other visitors. Winter is a spectacular time to visit Yellowstone!

Welcome to my Yellowstone Journal! Once a month I will be posting an entry of my recent observations and other news from Yellowstone National Park. Check my website's photo gallery for photos of some of these observations.

Spring Grizzly Sighting--Norris Geyser Basin

On April 18 the park roads reopened to vehicles after the winter season. This is a great time to watch for spring wildlife activity. A friend and I set out to look for bears as they searched for winter-killed carcasses, ravenously hungry after burning off their fat reserves in their winter dens. There was still a foot or so of snow on the ground in some sections and only a coyote was visible until we came to the overlook of Norris Geyser Basin. Here several hundred yards away, a big grizzly, snout to the ground, was loping along the basin. He was a handsome specimen to watch. Eventually he disappeared into a stand of trees and we headed for the Norris thermal features where we were to witness an amazing scene.

It was lunchtime so we picnicked overlooking Porcelain Basin thermal area. We were completely alone as all other visitors this afternoon were waiting for an eruption over at Echinus geyser. Soon after we sat down, a bull elk, sprouting new velvety antler buds, came out of the trees below and wandered off to our right out of sight. About 10 minutes later we were startled when he came running out of the trees with a young grizzly bear chasing him. They ran along the boardwalk in the middle of the basin, slowed a bit by wet, heavy soil. When the elk ran around the end of the boardwalk--which has a three-sided railing to keep people from stepping off the end--the grizzly jumped onto it. We thought when he ran up against the railing he would stop. Instead, he sailed right over the top and pursued the elk around a small hill that comes down to the basin. Now they were both out of sight.

After getting over the shock and excitement at what we'd just witnessed, we decided to climb the hill and try to see where the elk and grizzly had gone. We were very watchful in case the bear had brought the elk down nearby. I carried bear spray but we moved slowly and kept talking to announce our presence in the area. We found tracks on the other side of the hill but no sign of either animal.

We decided to walk up the next hill which would allow us to look out with binoculars onto the next open plain. Nothing. We were ready to turn back when maybe half a mile away, I spotted the grizzly standing alone at the edge of a small lake. No sign of the elk. I scanned across the lake and in the middle of the water the elk was submerged, just his head and neck showing. He was watching the grizzly who now lowered himself into the water and swam out toward the elk. Not until the bear reached the middle of the lake did the elk start swimming away. Unable to attack the elk in the water, the grizzly stopped following and got out on the bank. He watched the elk make its way across the lake, putting the most water possible between himself and the bear. What a great strategy the elk used in this encounter!

The bear stood on the bank, silhouetted against the water for a long while. He'd probably had quite a workout since we first spotted him chasing the elk back by the boardwalk.
Eventually the elk left the water and went into dense forest. The bear sauntered away in the opposite direction and we headed back to the boardwalk. We wondered if this young grizzly was practicing his hunting skills and had just learned that he was unlikely to be successful if an elk went into water. In any case, we knew we had just witnessed a most amazing scene of wildlife behavior in Yellowstone.