Animal Extravaganza!!

It should come as no surprise that we saw loads of wild animals on our trip through Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier. We had a badger digging a hole just three or four tent sites down from us in Grand Teton on our first night there, and then the moose that wandered right past out tent the very next morning.

There were a couple of smaller herds of bison in Grand Teton, but nothing prepared us for the many hundreds we saw (and heard) in the Hayden Valley and Lamar Valley in Yellowstone. There were two bison at this pull-off (below), and the one obliging decided to take a dust bath, which I've crudely pieced together. We saw so many bison in Yellowstone in our first full day there that when we would pass them later on, it was like "meh, just another bison. Drive on Jeets".

We saw a fair bit of elk, but mostly mothers and their young ones, but just this one bull elk that was calming laying in the shade while half of the known universe parked their cars (me included) to stop and take photos.

While walking around Swiftcurrent Lake in the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park, Ian and I came across this red-tailed hawk (we think) that was sitting right over the trail. He kept screeching and when other hikers approached from the opposite direction, he eventually flew off.

Not much longer after that, we saw these two (three really, there was another young bear with this mother) grizzly bears on the mountainside. The photos aren't great because even with a very powerful lens I had to crop in really close to get a good look at these two.

Shortly after that, we met up with the girls again and went to get lunch. This was on Ian's birthday, so you may recall that we waited out a thunderstorm, and then walked to this unnamed pond where we saw this moose eating his lunch.

That night, Leah and I went out to photograph the local lake at sunset. We had head back to camp a bit early, but the upshot to that was this silly coyote. He lost a fight with a white-tailed deer (which we watched) just moments earlier, and then proceeded to trot down the road for quite a ways. Leah and I tagged along beside him for a little bit, but then decided to give him a break. I saw him again the next day, but he was scarred away but some numbskull who jumped out of his truck very nearby in order to see the coyote better. So Wile E. Coyote decided to run off. Oh well.

And finally, the little ground squirrel. These little beggars were very bold in approaching anyone and anything at the Hidden Lake Overlook. I couldn't hardly set my tripod down without one of these creatures coming over to verify I hadn't left some food behind.

Of course there were bald eagles, pronghorn antelope, otters, trumpeter swans, and other birds galore that never got in front of my camera, but we had a good time looking at the different animals. It was a part of the Junior Ranger Badge requirements, so hopefully the kids will remember this fondly.

Cheers!

Marc