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Tag: yellowstone national park
Posters of Yellowstone Wildlife
I was remiss in my postings last month and one of the reasons was that I was working on a series of posters of Yellowstone wildlife for the The Paradise Gallery in Gardiner, Montana. Here’s one of the posters.
It’s the first poster series I’ve done. I think it came out OK, but only time will tell. Here’s a collage poster showing all the photos in the series.
It was difficult to decide which 16 images to use. The only criterion I had was that it had to include all the major species one could hope to see in a trip to Yellowstone. It was fun. I’m looking for another poster project.
Black Bear Sow and Cub, Yellowstone National Park
A black bear sow and her spring cub take a rest near Calcite Springs. I saw them several times in mid May between Calcite Springs and Tower Falls. I wonder if the sow is a descendant of that well-known and much-loved bear known as “Rosie”?
A Week at Blacktail Pond (Continued from Yesterday)
Yesterday’s post ended with mama bear attacking her cub. While I said that I thought it was probably because she was agitated over the wolf having been at the carcass, there is more to it than that. The cub is 2 years old (actually 21/2 years old) and from mom’s point of view it’s about time for the cub to hit the road. Biologically, she’s ready to mate again. This fact is not lost on nearby male grizzlies. Here is one suitor who has come calling. The cub moved off when he came on the scene.
The next time I saw the sow and boar they were in the act of mating a bit beyond the pond. The cub was in the vicinity of the pond, but making sure it kept a good distance between itself and the boar.
As I mentioned before, there were other scavengers who benefited from the misfortune of the two bison. One was a coyote who got some meat from the carcass on the east side of the pond and promptly left. It probably felt that with grizzlies and wolves around it could find a better place to enjoy a meal than at Blacktail.
I mentioned earlier that bald eagles and ravens also benefited from the misfortune of the bison. I wasn’t sure I had any photos of them, but I looked and found one.
This photo was quite underexposed probably due to the surface of the pond. It also has some noise. Note the blood on the beak of the eagle.
In addition to the wildlife, Yellowstone visitors benefited from the demise of the bison. The Blacktail Pond area was crowded with visitors, and photographers in particular, for more than a week.
For the most part, these photos were taken under less than ideal conditions due to poor lighting and excessive distance. The bear and wolf photos were shot at about 175 yards. In my experience you can’t get good quality images at that distance. The equipment used was as follows: Canon 500mm f/4 lens; Canon 1.4 TC; Canon 7D. I should also mention a book I have found to be very valuable in understanding bears in general and Yellowstone’s in particular. The book is “Yellowstone Bears In the Wild.” The author is James C. Halfpenny. You can find it at almost any book store. If you’re in Gardiner, Montana, you can pick up a copy of Jim’s book at The Paradise Gallery. If you go there, you should also check out the wildlife photos on display by several wildlife photographers, including yours truly.
A Week at Yellowstone’s Blacktail Pond
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.
The Bison of Yellowstone
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.
Curious Bison Calf
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.
