Kind of a slow day for megafauna so we decided to focus on the smaller critters during our safari. Rodents are everywhere in the GYE and they all seem to have very short attention spans and will often go about their business with humans close by. Today we had great up close views of Beavers, Marmots, Uinta Ground Squirrels, and Least Chipmunks. Our safari group was able to capture amazing images of all these animals just by quietly hanging out by where they were foraging.
Black Bears near the road...
Had a great sighting today of a mother bear with her young cub. Not quite sure what they were feeding on but they appeared to be digging under some downed trees. When they lifted their heads they often had plants hanging out of their mouth. I think they were feeding mostly on ants though. In addition to this bear cub we also spotted baby moose, elk, beavers, and bison. Early June is such a fine time to watch baby animals learning what it takes to survive in an often harsh world.
Tense Standoff!
Witnessed a tense standoff between a Gray Wolf and a Bison this afternoon. The weather was cool and rainy but that never seems to stop the wildlife from putting on a show. A bison calf had died in the first few weeks of its life. This is usually an easy meal for wolves, the Bison in the photo had likely seen this calf fed on for several days and had enough. This bison chased the wolf around preventing it from feeding on the remains of the carcass. Every time the wolf would get the carcass in her mouth a Bison would come at her full speed till she eventually lost interest. This went on for over a half hour before the Wolf left the area.
The parsley is blooming and bears are loving it!
A drive down a somewhat popular dirt road in the northern part of Grand Teton NP yielded some close up views of a Grizzly. She was feeding on the flower tops of the Nine Leaved Desert Parsley. May is such a good time to get private views of wildlife, not another vehicle in sight. We also saw a mother Moose with her calf near the Death Canyon junction and noticed that some of our resident summer birds are getting quite protective of nesting territories.
Spring Wildlife in Grand Teton
This is an amazing time for wildlife here in Jackson Hole and on our most recent safari we had wonderful sightings of newborn bison, many birds of prey, recently returned pronghorn and much more. The highlight was certainly seeing nine newborn coyote puppies as they wrestled and investigated their new world.
Black bear, moose, and much more
We began this morning's wildlife safari with sightings of bull elk within 10 minutes followed by moose and then a cinnamon black bear feeding on an elk carcass. Many black bears in this region are 'cinnamon' colored and easily confused with grizzly bears. This sighting was a bit gory at times but fascinating to watch up close. Bison can now be seen with newborn calves and the birdlife is close to peaking here in Jackson Hole.
