I spent yesterday afternoon and early evening in Yellowstone with my family and the animals were out in force. We saw dozens of buffalo and elk, of course, but also a half-dozen pronghorn, and (of critical importance) two young black bears, one by the petrified tree turnoff and the other by Roosevelt Junction. Both were quite close, but neither made it easy to get a mug shot. Oh well.
As a bonus, we also saw what was either a lone wolf or (more likely) a large coyote on the Blacktail Plateau, but we weren’t quick enough with the camera to get a good shot.
Jfoobar says:
Both of my in-the-wild black bear shots (taken in Jasper NP in Alberta) ended up being not much better than black blobs in the undergrowth. By comparison, yours are pretty solid.
July 25, 2011, 7:19 amklerk says:
Not on any of the official visitor guides, but if you are still there, bring a swimsuit and drive north of mammoth until you see a bunch of parked cars. (its about a mile north or south of the Montana border, I forget which way). At the end of the parking lot on the east side of the road, there is a walkway to a hotspings where swimming is approved, although its not on any visitor map. I learned of this secret spot, and would love to share it with Volokh readers. It is perfect after a day or two of hiking, to cure all the soreness. I believe it is called Sulpher springs, but do not recall. If you ask at the Mammoth visitor center, they can likely give you better directions, although (again), its not on any map.
July 25, 2011, 8:48 amMaryG says:
You’re too self deprecating on the photography skills — those are great, esp. the background colors. Thanks for sharing.
July 25, 2011, 9:08 amcampanile says:
we also saw what was either a lone wolf or (more likely) a large coyote
If that large coyote were all by himself, he could be a lone wolf, too.
July 25, 2011, 10:09 amJPKK says:
Looking at the body shape, what appears to be a narrow snout and pointed rather than rounded ears I’d say its a Coyote.
July 25, 2011, 10:58 amcampanile says:
If that large coyote were all by himself, he could be a “lone wolf,” too, as in personality type.
Nevermind.
July 25, 2011, 11:14 amtheobromophile says:
Love the photos! Lovely. Hope you are having fun there.
Thank you for bringing back “Monday Bear Blogging.”
July 25, 2011, 11:18 amMark Carrara says:
We were in Yellowstone at the end of June and saw hundreds of bison, dozens of elk and five bears. Most of the bears were just blobs in the forest in my photos, but I did get one walking across a hot springs near west thumb. It was a young grizzly on the trail of an elk with calf that had crossed minutes before the bear.
July 25, 2011, 1:07 pmHey Skipper says:
Just a week ago I got a couple decent, close-up, pictures of a bear and her cubs that my Golden Retriever had put up a tree in my Eagle River, AK, backyard.
July 25, 2011, 2:03 pmDJR says:
In other bear news:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/25/joshua-berg-samuel-gottsegen-grizzly-bear_n_908345.html
July 25, 2011, 2:54 pmZoologist says:
I love bears and all members of the family Ursidae. I think people should realize that the grizzly is on the state flag of California. The largest grizzlies to have ever lived came from California. The subspecies was (magister), Ursus arctos magister. Grizzlies had brief hibernations in California because of the dazzling weather and were able to fatten up throughout the year. One grizzly, taken in San Diego county in the 1880′s allegedly weighed 1,959 pounds! I shudder to think what the poor Indiands must have thought of the great grizzled bear “old Ephraim’, when having to confront him with their primitive weapons. Not until the advent of the repeating rifle, were Grizzlies brought under control, sadly.
July 25, 2011, 3:08 pmnoblesse says:
Clever but futile attempt to distract from the real bear news of the day: “A bear destroyed my car looking for Chicken McNuggets”
July 25, 2011, 3:36 pmThe Drill SGT says:
the most important thing to remember is those flyers they hand out.
July 25, 2011, 6:18 pmThe.wild.animals.are.Wild!
Fub says:
In Soviet California, grizzly blogs you!
July 25, 2011, 7:06 pmZoologist says:
Mammologists from Canada have now discovered skulls and vertebra from a species of “grizz”, that was known to inhabit the province of Labrador! This is quite fantastic, as grizzlies, even the barren ground variety, were never known to inhabit terrain this far east. I believe the skull was unearthed at an Indian midden.
July 25, 2011, 8:03 pmChrisTS says:
I believe that the low hanging head is a sign of coyotes as distinguished from wolves. (Not that wolves never dip their heads; rather that coyotes tend to walk with their heads at this sort of extended,low angle.)
July 26, 2011, 12:18 amInvasive Buffalo says:
If I saw buffalo in Yellowstone, I’d think that even more photo-worthy than bears, even on a Monday!
July 26, 2011, 2:16 pmPerhaps you saw Bison?
David McCourt says:
I saw a coyote — he passed within 20 feet or so — while walking at dawn recently in the small park a few blocks from my house — on the near north side of Chicago. Some scientist estimates that there are at least 2,000 coyotes in the Chicago metropolitan area. Yikes!
July 27, 2011, 12:12 pm