This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
This site is dedicated to wildlife and landscape photography.
This bison calf looks like it is smiling as it runs off some pent-up energy. Bison are the first of the ungulates to give birth in Yellowstone. Bison management in Yellowstone is difficult and controversial. Some of them migrate north out of the park in winter looking for forage. That puts ts them in the crosshairs of the State of Montana which feels the brucellosis some of them carry will infect livestock. The most common management solution is to shoot them.
A Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season to all!
As I mentioned in my last blog, there were two bison carcasses in Blacktail Pond in the spring of 2010. The first scavenger I saw there was a coyote who was standing on the carcass which was in the water next to the east edge of the pond. However, it was the carcass in a narrow channel on the west side of the pond that became the center of attention for scavengers as well as park visitors. The first species I saw feeding on that carcass was a grizzly sow with a two-year-old cub. Here the cub nuzzles its mother. It’s May 20.
The sow and cub stayed on a ridge above Blacktail when they weren’t feeding on the carcass. Another animal that I saw feeding on the carcass more than once was a lone wolf. Here he is the next day standing at the narrow channel. The bison carcass has slipped back into the water and is just under the surface.
This wolf worked as hard as the bears to pull the carcass out of the pond and I was surprised that he seemed to get the carcass about as far out of the pond as the much larger bears, although in fairness to the sow she might have done better without her cub’s help because he always pulled at right angles to mom.
One afternoon the wolf howled after feeding which brought the sow and cub running full speed from the ridge above the pond. Here is a photo of mom and cub right after they arrive at the carcass. She is really “amped up,” over the wolf’s howls. When the cub approached the carcass as she was trying to pull it up on the bank she attacked it. More to follow.
In my last post about baby bison I said that seeing and photographing them gave me a new appreciation of the adults. But for that I might not have stopped to watch and photograph this cow bison as she grazed on the succulent grasses in this pond. I wonder what the starlings are saying?
Bison sometimes get into trouble when they enter the waters of Yellowstone. Not far from this tiny pond is Blacktail Pond. At the time I took this photo (May 2010) there were two bison carcasses in Blacktail. I’m not sure how they got in there, but once they got in they were in trouble. Blacktail is much deeper than this little pond and it has very steep banks. Because of its body shape, I think a bison would have a tougher time getting out of Blacktail Pond than any other species of Yellowstone. Their deaths, however, provided needed protein for several predators this spring. I saw grizzlies, wolves, bald eagles, ravens and at least one coyote feed on those carcasses.
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of photographing at Yellowstone. With each new trip I find new interests. For example, I’ve never been very interested in photographing bison, but my last two visits have been in the Spring and that has meant baby bison. I have found bison calves to be about as photogenic a subject as there is. This little guy became very curious about me and kept moving closer for a better look. How can you not like a face like this? Spending time with the herds and watching these little “red dogs” run around and interact with other calves and their mothers has also given me a new interest in the adults.
