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.

Rocky Mountain Elk

Nervous Cow Elk, Yellowstone National Park

Photo of a cow elk.
“Nervous Nellie”

As I was driving from Mammoth to Tower shortly after sunrise one morning I spotted this lone cow elk looking at me.  She seemed very nervous.  She looks like she may be pregnant and I assume she was close to giving birth.  When cow elk are close to giving birth they go off by themselves for the birthing.    The calf is kept hidden for about a week.  The cow moves her calf (or calves) several times a day during that seven days and they stay motionless until their mom comes back to feed and move them.  Even so, predators find a lot of them.

The lighting was very bad for this photo.  You can see from the rim lighting around the elk’s body that the sun was coming from behind it.  The number one rule in outdoor photography is keep the sun at your back.  Well, you can’t always follow the rules in wildlife photography.  Elk aren’t models you can move around.  I did what I could at the time which was to compensate some by overexposing a bit and then compensated some more in Photoshop.  In the film days one could do, or attempt to do, the same thing in printing by dodging and burning, but the methods then were somewhat crude compared to what Photoshop allows one to do to mitigate exposure problems.   In this case I used the adjustment brush in Adobe Camera Raw to lighten the face and neck and then further refined the lighting/exposure using Shadows/Highlights and Curves.

Photo of underexposed elk.
Backlit Cow Elk

Here is what the image would have looked like, but for the adjustments described above in camera and Photoshop.  (The other difference from the top image is that I didn’t bother to crop this image.)

Red Fox

Red Fox Vixen and Kits, Yellowstone National Park

Photo of a female red fox with her kits.
Mom and the Kids

I almost always see red foxes in Yellowstone, but I’ve never gotten a good photo of one until this year.  When it rains it pours.  This year I saw and photographed several, including this vixen and her two kits.

I’ve read that red foxes usually produce four to seven kits.  Thus, these two may be what’s left of a larger litter.   I was fortunate to be able to observe them for a while.  One kit was very outgoing and the other was very shy.

Seeing baby animals is why I like to visit Yellowstone in the spring.  Bear cubs and bison calves will be the first thing you’ll see in May.  Elk calves, bighorn lambs and pronghorn fawns start to appear the first week in June.  Deer fawns appear later in June.

Photo of a gray fox.
Gray Fox or Red Fox?

I was looking at some of my fox photos from the trip and this one looked different.  I just did some checking and now realize this fox seems to be a gray fox.  Red foxes have very distinctive black stockings. This one doesn’t have them.    Plus its trunk is mostly gray.

Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Cub at Grand Teton National Park

Photo of 1.5 year old grizzly cub on its own.
Abandoned by Its Mother

I haven’t ever gone through Grand Teton on my way to or from Yellowstone, but I was leaning toward doing that on the way home this year when someone in Yellowstone told me of a spot to photograph a great gray owl.  That was all I needed to hear to make up my mind.  I didn’t find the owl, but this grizzly cub made up for it.

It is one of three cubs born to famous #399 a year and a half ago.  399 has become famous because of her habit of living with her cubs close to roads and humans.  Some believe she does this because boars are less likely to frequent such areas and thus the likelihood of a boar killing her cubs is lessened.  The downside to this is that her cubs can pick up the same habit and bears that are comfortable near humans and roads is not a good thing.  This cub is spending a lot of time close to the road at the intersection with Pilgrim Creek.

It’s not normal for a grizzly sow to give her cubs the boot at one year of age, but that’s what 399 does.  NPS says 399 was abandoned by her mom at that age and thus to 399 that’s what a mom does, I guess.  This cub’s chances of survival would seem to be lessened somewhat without the extra year of protection and education mom could provide.

Song Bird

Large Number of Mountain Bluebirds in Yellowstone National Park

Photo of mountain bluebird.
Proud Hunter

When I’m in Yellowstone in May I usually see a few mountain bluebirds and I usually try to get a decent photo of one.  I haven’t had much success until this year.  I’ve had some incredible opportunities this time.  I don’t know why this year has been different, but the number of bluebirds I’ve seen this year is much, much higher than I’ve seen before.

I photographed this male while waiting for the mother pronghorn just inside the north entrance (Roosevelt Arch) to come back to her young and feed and move them.

Photo of female mountain bluebird.
A mountain bluebird takes a perch while hunting.

I photographed this female at the same time.

Photo of a pronghorn doe and fawn.
Mom and One of Her Two Babies

Mom finally showed up and fed and moved her babies.  She hid them far from each other.  I think that is to increase the odds of fawn survival.  When she finished feeding and hiding them I went back to the bluebirds.

Black Bear

A Black Bear Protects an Elk Carcass, Yellowstone National Park

Photo of cinnamon black bear lying on elk carcass.
“This one’s mine.”

The road over Dunraven Pass opened May 29.  I didn’t know the pass had been cleared until yesterday.  As I began the drive over it from Tower to Canyon I quickly saw a bunch of cars parked.  It turns out the day the pass opened some people found a wolf kill of an elk.  By the time I came along most of the carcass had been consumed and a cinnamon black bear was in possession of it.  One wolf came by and the bear was able to keep possession.  I proceeded over Dunraven Pass to Canyon and didn’t see anything of interest.

 

Spring Cubs at Play

Photo of two black bear spring cubs.
Spring Cubs at Play

In my previous post I overstated my case when I said bears were getting hard to find because they weren’t spending all their time feeding on grass, but were taking advantage of elk calving.  There isn’t an elk calf (or other prey species) around every turn for the bears so they haven’t completely stopped eating grass.  I photographed these cubs yesterday.  They were playing king of the hill while their mother grazed on grass.  I’m 99 per cent sure they’re the same cubs that were in an earlier blog because they are in  the same location.  I still haven’t seen an elk calf.  I also haven’t seen any badgers.  I’ve seen a lot of other critters though.  One thing I’m amazed at is how many mountain bluebirds I’ve seen and photographed.

Black Bear, Grizzly Bear, Pronghorn

Yellowstone’s Bears Have Disappeared

Well, not really.  It’s just that they’re not grazing on grass as much any more and thus not as easy to see.  Elk (and pronghorn and bighorn) are giving birth and the word is out.  Grass was OK when meat wasn’t readily available, but now that meat is available the bears don’t have to settle for grass.  They need the protein to survive.  As I was driving from Mammoth to Gardiner yesterday there was a traffic jam mid-way due to a black bear kill of an elk calf.  This can be unsettling when you experience it, but that’s nature and let’s not forget most of us eat meat and it’s not much different, except we rely mostly on others to do our bidding.

Photo of pronghorn doe nursing fawn.
Mom and Baby

I don’t have any photos of elk calves yet, but I saw this female pronghorn and her twins close to the Roosevelt Arch the past couple of days.  I’ve gotten attached to them from photographing them.  I hope they survive the next four days or so until then can keep up with mom.