Black Bear

Black Bear, Yellowstone National Park

Photo of a soaking-wet black bear after it swam across a pond.

I just got back from Yellowstone.  I used to go to Yellowstone for a month each spring, but I hadn’t been there since 2015.  A lot has changed.  Gardiner, where I stay, has been greatly changed by the fire several years ago. The park has changed due to the flood in June of 2022.  It seems to me some wildlife numbers have changed too.  I saw a lot less elk than I think I used to see.  I googled elk numbers and found an interesting article about elk numbers here.   I also saw a lot more bears than I was used to.  I didn’t google that.

Anyway, here’s one of those bears that I photographed near the Yellowstone Picnic Area.  It had just been in that pond across the road from the picnic area and was walking back toward the road.

Elk

Elk Calf, Yellowstone National Park

Photo of an elk calf less that one day old lying along the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park.

An elk calf that is less than a day old rests near its mother along the Madison River  A pair of coyotes was also nearby.  If I could talk to it, I would tell it that it needs to find a better place to hide from predators.

Bluebird

Western Bluebird; Petaluma, California

This is a photo of a female western bluebird perched on a limb.

This is the female of the pair of western bluebirds nesting in one of our bird boxes. She has a habit of flying to our windows and those of our neighbor. Sometimes she bumps into the window with her breast and other times stops just short of hitting the window. I understand it’s a territorial thing, in that she sees her reflection and thinks it’s a rival. She does this many, many times each day. I’m wondering if she will ever realize it’s not another bird.

Bluebird

Western Bluebird, Petaluma, California

This is the female of the pair of western bluebirds nesting in one of our bird boxes.  She has a habit of flying to our windows and those of our neighbor.  She stops just short of hitting the windows, but she repeats this oddity numerous times throughout the day.

Bluebird

Western Bluebird, Petaluma, California

Photo of a male western bluebird on a broken branch.

For several years now we’ve been fortunate to have a pair of western bluebirds use one of the nest boxes in our backyard. The female this year has a strange habit. She constantly flies into windows at our house and our neighbor’s house. She doesn’t injure herself, it’s more of a bump with her breast and then she will drop down to the small sill at the bottom of the window and then repeat the process over and over. It may be that she sees her reflection and is maybe trying to scare away what she thinks is a rival. I don’t know if this is right. That’s what I get when I google the question. Has anyone else seen a bluebird do this?  Does anyone have a different theory for why?