Following up our previous blog posts, here is one more batch of favorite photos from our late-September visit to Yellowstone National Park:
Many of us have heard coyotes howl, or sing, but fewer of us have seen it happen. We were on our way to Lamar Valley at sunrise when we noticed these two coyotes within range of my telephoto lens. Shortly after we pulled off the road to take pictures, they started singing. We later realized that they were singing to other coyotes about a mile down the road. By the way, a pack of coyotes is also known as a band of coyotes. Why not call them a choir?Looking down on the upper terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs in the northwest part of Yellowstone. The white surfaces are mineral deposits from evaporation of the hot water coming up from below. The flows constantly shift to form new pools; the older pools dry out and the mineral deposits gradually turn from white to gray.Terraced mineral deposits in the flow from one of the spring outlets in Mammoth Hot Springs. Like we showed you in an earlier blog picture of Grand Prismatic Spring, thermophilic bacteria growing in the warm water give it the typical red, yellow, orange, or brown color.Back to Lamar Valley to see birds hitchhiking on a bison. Maybe they are there to eat insect pests?Wolves from the Junction Butte Pack, roaming Lamar Valley. The Junction Butte Pack is probably the largest wolf pack in the Park, with about 25 members. We saw 10 of them, probably young members of the pack. We did not see the alpha male or alpha female. These wolves were a looong way off, on the other side of the valley. I shot this and the next photo with a high-resolution sensor and a 500mm telephoto lens and then enlarged and cropped the image.Another long-reach shot of eight wolves with a lone bison. The wolves had apparently eaten recently from a nearby kill, so they showed no interest in attacking the bison. While the wolves ambled along, the bison moved off and rejoined his herd. Or his obstinance, if you recall our previous Yellowstone blog post.
Shameless plug: speaking of this post and previous Yellowstone blog posts, if any of the photos catch your eye as artwork for your home or office, or as a gift for someone else, I would be happy to sell it to you as a framed print, a print on canvas, or a print on metal.
