On May 6 the weather turned back to spring and we were ready for more wildlife spotting. This time we decided to drive south and east from Mammoth to reach Hayden Valley and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The south entrance from Grand Teton and the road between Roosevelt and Canyon were both still closed, so we were working around those obstacles on parts of the Grand Loop. After visiting Yellowstone Falls and Hayden Valley we took an evening drive from Mammoth towards Roosevelt. Here are some of our photos:
Classic view of Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. So classic, in fact, that there were two artists there painting the scene. As you can see, we were still dealing with drifts of winter snow, and some of the trails to canyon overlooks were still closed. In fact, the Firehole Lake Drive, Blacktail Deer Plateau Drive, Tower Falls, Dunraven Pass, and trail to the overlook on the ridge above Grand Prismatic Spring were all still closed during our visit.Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, looking the opposite direction from the falls. You can see where the name of the canyon and river might have originated, although there does not seem to be any clear historical evidence for how they were actually named. We were hoping to see bighorn sheep or other animals on the slopes, but struck out.Closer view of the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone. If you look closely at the left side of the bottom of the falls and use your imagination, the pile of snow and ice kind of looks like a bear taking a nap. The river was in full flow because of the spring runoff, and made for an impressive sight.While driving along the Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley we spotted some trumpeter swans. The image includes four swans (one has his head underwater) and an assortment of ducks. Bird identification is not our strength, but we think we saw mallards, harlequin ducks, coots, and maybe some loons. Problem is, we don’t know which is which, and we were not fast enough with Cornell’s Merlin bird ID app to identify what we saw. We also saw numerous ravens, geese, and magpies, but those were easy. It was nice to see such a variety as we moved about the park.Great Blue Heron wading in a backwater of the Yellowstone River. He had probably been fishing until we arrived, but then he stopped to keep an eye on what we were doing. A striking bird, although a little shaggy looking.White pelican fishing for his lunch. He would dip his bill and part of his head underwater and come up with something to swallow, but even though we took several photos in sequence, we did not get a picture of what he was finding.After returning to Mammoth in the afternoon, we decided to take a spin east towards Roosevelt to see what we could find. First thing was this black bear with a glossy coat. Bears had been coming out of hibernation for at least the past month, and we expected to find them lean and mean. Instead, nearly every bear we saw looked kind of prosperous even though clearly looking for food. A ranger told us winter was not as harsh as usual this year, and the spring was good in terms of opportunities to find food. So the bears looked healthy and the new cubs were growing fast.Further down the road we found this mother grizzly and her cub foraging among the sagebrush and undergrowth. Good looking bears! And look at how big the cub has already grown. We thought that many of the cubs we saw might be yearlings, but a ranger assured us that they were newborn and fast-growing, and not yearlings.As we passed the Petrified Tree turn-off en route to Roosevelt, a fellow tourist helped us spot this grouse beside the highway. Actually, there were two of them foraging for food along the ground. They did not seem to be spooked by passing cars, but we suspect that passing coyotes would get more of their attention.Last but not least on this fourth full day of our visit, we found this mother black bear and her cub. They were relaxed and playing, and, although the distance was too far to shoot a decent video, we were able to take a series of photos as they played rough-and-tumble on the grass. Fun to watch.The fun came to an end when they noticed us watching from the road. At that point we decided to move on rather than disturb their play, or business, or whatever.
Next post: more bears and more wildlife on our last full day in the park.
