wildlife

Yellowstone wildlife

~ MaryG ~ 18 Comments

I’ve already posted too many times about my recent trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. But what the heck…it’s my blog and I can post what I want, right?

As previously mentioned, spotting wildlife is a major activity in Yellowstone National Park. After your first 500 or so bison (aka buffalo), you start coveting sightings of the more rare animals— like wolves and bears.

Here’s everything we saw:

Bluebird
Lots of elk
Bison galore
Raven
Osprey (baby)
Killdeer
Magpie
Two grey wolves (one white and one black) from a long distance, but very clearly seen through a stranger’s scope
The black one looked like this
Chipmunk
Pronghorn
We saw mountain goats from a long distance in that cliff face behind us. They are non-native and therefore a bit controversial in Yellowstone.

We also saw sandhill cranes and vultures, but I wasn’t able to get photos.

The wolves were the most exciting to spot, partially because everyone else was so excited! There are people that go around spotting wolves all day long in Yellowstone. They know individual members of each pack. They have special spotting scopes and they sit in certain areas watching for wolves. When you see a clump of those people, you pull over to see what’s going on. Their excitement is infectious and they are very generous with their spotting equipment.

Despite all the warnings about bears and the need to carry bear spray on hikes, we never saw one! I’ve still never ever seen a bear in the wild.

I am pleased to report that with this recent trip to Montana and Wyoming, I have now visited more than half of the fifty United States (26 to be exact). I have 24 left to go!

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PS: Is anyone else disappointed that MyGenXerLife’s blog seems to have disappeared? Did he make an announcement while I was away or something? I really loved that blog! Any info appreciated.

Amateur wildlife photography

~ MaryG ~ 2 Comments

What have you been putting off doing? Why?

One of the things about being an empty nester is that you’ve got a lot more time than you used to. Consequently, I’ve done most of the things on my “to do” list.

Since the weather has been good, I’ve also been getting out for a 2-3 walk mile almost every day. A couple days ago, I saw a hawk in a tree at about eye level. I struggled to figure out how to quickly open the camera on my new iPhone. Also, I wasn’t wearing my glasses, so I couldn’t exactly see what was in the frame. Still, I ended up getting a pretty cool photo of a Red-tailed hawk with prey. Just after this photo, the hawk flew away with the meal dangling from its talon. I guess he/she wanted to eat elsewhere, unobserved.

Sorry, I realize this post has almost nothing to do with the writing prompt.