Black Bear

Big Black Bear, Yellowstone National Park

Photo of large cinnamon black bear.
Big Boy

About the only negative to wildlife photography in Yellowstone is having to go through all your photos to separate the chaff from the wheat.  I shoot about 1,000 images a day and there is no time to go through them until I get home.  Going through 14,000 images is a daunting task.    I’ve started with black bears and I still have 1,800 black bear photos to delete or save.

This photo was taken at sunset at Phantom Lake using a 500mm lens and 1.4 tele-extender.  When shooting early and late in the day the delete rate goes up because it gets harder to stop subject movement.  This image was shot at 125th of a second at ISO 2,000.  I don’t like raising the ISO much above 800 but I had to go to 2000 to make sure I at least got some sharp photos of the animal standing still and, hopefully, moving as well.

Tule Elk

Two Young Bulls Debate Who Has the Right of Way on Game Trail, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of two tule elk bulls facing each other on a game trail.
“Outta My Way!”  “No, outta my way!”

Yesterday’s photo of the elk calf was taken an hour before sunset.  The light was still pretty strong as you could see.  This photo was taken at sunset and these young tule elk bulls are in the shade.  Much nicer light and color in the shade, especially at sunset.

Each of these young bulls has five points per antler.  Points are an indicator of age in elk.  According to the Park Service, one-year old bulls have a single spike.  Two-year olds usually have slender antlers with four  to five points.  Three year olds have thicker antlers with four to five points and four year old and older bulls usually have  six points on each antler and they get thicker each year.   Yellowstone Resources and Issues 2009 at p. 126.    While the Park Service document was focusing on Rocky Mountain elk, I don’t believe there is any difference with regard to the antlers of these tule elk at Point Reyes National Seashore.

So, are these five-point elk two or three years old?  I’m not sure, but I’m guessing they are three year olds.  Their antlers aren’t that slender and I’ve seen bulls with skinny antlers and four or five points and they’re still hanging out with the cows and yearlings.  These guys in the photo are hanging out with the big six (and seven) point bulls.

Tule Elk

Tule Elk Calf, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of tule elk calf.
One of Many Tule Elk Calves, Pierce Point Ranch

At the end of my most recent day out at Point Reyes I did what I usually do, which is to drive out the Tomales Peninsula to the Pierce Point Ranch area to photograph the elk that move to the east side of the road in the last light before sunset.  It’s great that they do that because you can use your car as a blind and be fairly close to them.   That they cross the road then is crucial so you don’t have to shoot into the sun.

Luckily, the cow elk do this most of the time about an hour before sunset.  They were right on schedule that day.   There were about 50 cows and yearlings and another 20 to 30 calves.  I don’t recall nearly as many calves there last year.   If you want to photograph elk calves this is a good time to do it there.

Osprey

Baling Twine, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of some discarded baling twine which is dangerous to wildlife.
Dangerous to Wildlife

A few days ago I wrote about the dangers of baling twine to ospreys.  This is what it looks like up close.  I found it on the edge of the road on the way to the turnoff for Chimney Rock.  I picked it up to properly dispose of it, but I took some photos first.  It’s made of plastic and seems light as a feather.  Given that it is used and has been coiled up, someone probably picked it up from a field and intended to dispose of it properly, but lost if from the back of a truck.  It looks like there are about three or four separate pieces of twine.

It was interesting that I found it yesterday morning because I planned to go out Limantour Road to check on something and on the way I intended to check on some osprey nests in a canyon that runs up to the road.   The two nests I had in mind were there and there was an osprey in each nest when I arrived.  I spotted a nest farther out that also had an osprey in it.  The osprey in the closest nest took off shortly after I parked my car in the little pull out.

Photo of an osprey nest in Point Reyes National Seashore
No Baling Twine

This is the closest nest.  It’s about 75 to 100 yards from where I parked.  The other nests are even farther away.   There didn’t seem to be any young in the nests.  I didn’t see any baling twine in them either, which was good.  The nests are not very close to the ranching areas of Point Reyes which lessens the chance that twine would get into them.  Plus,  I assume the Park Service has made an effort to educate the ranchers to the potential dangers of leaving twine in the fields if they didn’t know of the dangers already.

Update:  after I drafted this post I went out to my car and pulled the stuff apart.  There were five equal lengths.  Each was roughly 20 feet long.  It cuts easily using  a scissors.  It was very hard to cut with a box cutter.  I gathered each piece so it was four strands wide and then cut it across five times so I ended up with roughly foot-long strands.  It didn’t take long.  I then put all the pieces into a medium size plastic bag which I tied at the top.  The bag could have held several times more twine.  If the bag winds up on the top of a landfill it shouldn’t pose a potential risk.  I think if I were a rancher and had lots to get rid of I’d maybe skip the cutting and put it in large bags that were sealed closed.  There may be ways to re-cycle it as well.

If you come across any of this stuff please pick it up and dispose of it properly.

Deer

“My, What Big Ears You Have.”

Photo of mule deer doe in snow.
Mule Deer Doe, Yellowstone National Park

There are two species of deer in Yellowstone, the mule deer and the somewhat rare white-tailed deer.  There are various ways to tell them apart.  One way is by the size of the ears.  Mule deer have, as you might guess, mule-like or big ears.   When white-tails run, at least when fleeing, they raise their tails and wave them like a white flag.  A mule deer has a black tip on its tail and it doesn’t raise and wave it when it runs.  A mule deer has an unusual gait in that it bounds with all four feet off the ground at the same time.  It is believed they evolved this way to make it easier to move quickly through sage and other large shrubs.  You can also tell the bucks apart by the way the antlers divide (or don’t divide in the case of the white-tail).  Mule deer give birth much later than the other ungulates in the park, including white-tails.

Other Mammal

Yellow-bellied Marmots, Yellowstone National Park

Photo of yellow-bellied marmot.
On the Look-out

Yellow-bellied marmots are one of the largest rodents in Yellowstone.  They are about 20 t0 28 inches in length and weigh from 3.5 to 11 pounds.  They are found at all elevations in the park and hibernate for up to eight months a year at the higher elevations.

Photo of a Marmot.
Always Looking for Enemies

A colony consists of one male, several females and young of the year.  They breed shortly after emerging from hibernation.  Their calls include a loud whistle and a scream when predators are nearby.  They are preyed upon by eagles, coyotes and grizzlies.  The preceding info is based on the Park Service’s 2005 edition of “Yellowstone Resources & Issues.”

Photo of a marmot at Sedge Bay.
Marmot near Sedge Bay

Marmots can be found throughout the park.  Look for rocky areas with grass nearby.  One good spot is the rock outcropping across from the Sedge Bay picnic area.  A couple of years ago I was photographing them there when they started screaming about something behind them.  They were a little above me so I couldn’t see what they were agitated about.  They took cover in the rocks.  I picked up my gear and turned to go back to my truck which was parked on the road’s shoulder about 50 feet away.  As I did so a black wolf disappeared into some cover about 40 feet from me.  He had apparently walked between me and my truck.  A guy pulled up and asked if I saw the white wolf above the rock outcropping.  That was the wolf the marmots were screaming about.  I said “no,” but I spotted it shortly thereafter.  It was going in the opposite direction of the black wolf.  For a link to that blog click here.

Osprey

Baling Twine, Potential Osprey Death Trap

Photo of osprey nest made up mostly of baling twine.
Osprey Nest Comprised Mostly of Baling Twine

As I was driving home after my visit to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, I saw something in the distance that caught my eye.  It turned out to be a raptor nest made mostly of baling twine.  I didn’t see any bird(s) in the nest at the time, but given the nest itself atop a power pole with baling twine as the main nest material, and the fact that the nest was near a river, I assumed the nest was built by ospreys.

I wrote an article about the dangers of baling twine to wildlife last August.  It was triggered by a photo I took of a bull elk with a bit of baling twine caught in its antlers.  You can read the article by clicking here.  Ospreys are especially prone to injury and death by baling twine.  The internet is full of articles about ospreys and the deadly effects of baling twine on them.  Ospreys really like this light, soft material for nest-building.

The nest is close to the highway and at the entrance to Cooke’s Warm Creek Ranch which is in the Victor, Idaho, area.  I did a google search and got one hit for the ranch.  It turns out that the ranch is the site of a wetland restoration project that was done by Ducks Unlimited, the Teton Regional Land Trust and the ranch.  That told me that the rancher was interested in protecting wildlife.  You can read about the project here.

Photo of entrance to ranch.
Location of Nest

I felt the nest was an issue I needed to pursue.  I called the Teton Regional Land Trust and spoke to a fellow named Matt.  Matt was aware of the nest.  He told me the nest has been used for 15 years and, so far, no casualties.   He said baling twine is a serious problem and his organization has been working with ranchers to make sure no twine is left in the fields any more, but that there are nests like the one above with twine in them due to old practices.  It’s not a simple matter of going to the nests and removing the twine because ospreys may abandon the nests.  Because of this concern Idaho fish and Game’s policy is to leave the nests alone unless there is a power problem cause by the twine.

The upshot of this is that I have a better understanding of the problem.  Just because a nest has baling twine in it doesn’t mean it should be removed from the nest.  It seems to me the most important thing to do about baling twine is to not let ospreys get any of it in the first place.  That means educating ranchers about its dangers.  The Regional Teton Land Trust is doing that as I’m sure many other organizations are.  I hope the manufacturers of baling twine are doing that as well with some sort of warning on their packaging.

Matt told me that Warm Creek is just that.  It is a spring creek that, due to its warm water, is an important open water area in winter for species like trumpeter swans and moose.  It is a tributary of the Teton River.