Day 161: June 9th – Mammals of Lamar Valley

Clearing but chilly with temps in the mid 40s, becoming quite windy

       We tour the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park in search of some of the “charismatic megafauna”, a term referring to large and impressive animals…..honestly, those which often are the main reason a place like Yellowstone is so fully supported by public funding!

       The first and most abundant of the megafauna are of course the bison of Yellowstone.  Wherever we went, we were sure to find the 2000 pound mammals roaming the plains and hillsides of the park.  Young were always found with the adults, portending the successful future of these giants.  The bison were often at close range, making for easy photography, but also reminding us to be careful and not take the apparent disinterest of the bison for granted.  At any moment, they could easily turn and attack……something we certainly wished to avoid.

       We often found the beautiful Pronghorn antelopes grazing in the fields with the bison.  They were wary, for we also saw Grizzly bears roaming on the distant hillsides.  We needed the scopes to get good looks at the bears.  They constantly kept their distance, but the antelope were often in close.

       While the grizzlies were prone to stay far from humans, the Black bears were another story.  On one occasion, we were stuck in our vehicles in what the locals call a “bear-jam” as a Black bear grazed withing 20 yards of the roadway, inviting the interest and hence the slowed traffic of any and all cars passing by. 

       While most of the mammals we saw were of the “mega” variety, we did have some views of smaller but just as charismatic furry warm-blooded creatures.  This Uinta ground squirrel.  This little guy sat perched in twigs, watching us with as much interest as we had in him.   We also had good looks and decent photographs of elk and moose, but we’ll save those for another day.

       Finally, on the mammal stage, we had both Mountain goats and sheep.  It never fails to amaze us as to how these agile quadrupeds can manage to maneuver over the steep terrain of the canyon walls.

       We didn’t completely ignore the birds, today by the way.  We had several really interesting sightings.  In one case, a spectacular Golden eagle was harassed by three ravens bent upon driving the eagle from their territory.  We watched for more than ten minutes as the ravens bombarded the eagle from all angles, whether he was in flight or at “rest” upon the ground.

       Two other fine sightings of the avian kind were of the Lincoln’s sparrow and the Wilson’s warbler. 

       Tomorrow, it will be more about the geology and topography of this fantastic landscape.  It’s up and away at 5:30 once again in the park as we hope to catch still more glimpses and maybe another image of two of the grizzlies, wolves, and elk.  Till then…