USA 2018 (13), Wolves?

Tags

American magpie, Bald eagle, BBC, BBC Wildlife magazine, Bighorn sheep, Bison, Cooke City, coyote, Don Hartman, elk, Golden eagle, Great grey owl, Jackson Hole, Lamar River, mountain goat, Natural Habitat, Raven, red fox, Rick McIntyre, Silver Gate, tracking wolves, Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park

USA 2018 (13), Wolves?  It was still dark – and minus 33ºC/minus 28ºF – when we set off at 7 a.m., to look seriously for wolves on this Tuesday morning, 20th February. After all, the name of the trip was ‘Yellowstone: Ultimate Wolf and Wildlife Safari’. We were essentially retracing the last part of our journey the day before, westwards from Cooke City, which is just outside the north-east corner of Yellowstone National Park, back along the Lamar valley, and then continuing parallel with the Yellowstone River westwards a little further. At our first stop, where we looked in vain for a wolf pack before the sun had even risen above the mountains, we saw water vapour rising from the creek, as if a hot sun were evaporating the water prior to a scorching hot day! But I was told it was case of thermal inversion. Our next stop, for ‘comfort’ purposes, was in yet another beautiful spot. Then we pulled up again, when we saw a group of photographer tourists parked and looking upwards – at four sleeping coyotes, of which here are two.

Female bighorn sheep. Unusually, the female of this species has horns, but this one is lacking one of them.

Female bighorn sheep encounters bison, with no untoward outcome

We arrived at the furthest point intended for the day, where there was a good chance, we were told, of seeing a given pack of wolves.  We met Lizzie, who spends much of her time tracking the animals. She passed round a collar which had been round a wolf’s neck, and that felt quite spooky to me. It was pretty heavy, and we were reminded that the wolf is a very large animal, though it’s difficult to realise when you see them from a distance – IF ever we should see them, from a distance or no. No luck this morning and we made our way back to Cooke City for lunch, quite slowly as we kept seeing interesting things and stopping.

The other two ‘sleeping’ coyotes

Icing sugar? Ice cream? Thick snow?

Bald eagle

Male bighorn sheep

Pawing the snow aside to reach the vegetation.  Despite appearances, it is the legs of the sheep which are vertical, not the camera crooked

Ravens eating carcase, antler and vertebrae visible

Coyote

There is a tiny cream-coloured smudge in this photo, three-quarters of the way from the left and about a third down, below and to the right of the second big tree in from the right.  It is at least two, perhaps three miles away, and is a mountain goat. Tim somehow spotted it for us.

Enlarging this photo further would just make the animal very blurry indeed.

Cooke City

The view from my room, not seen in the dark the night before or in the morning

Plans for the afternoon were to meet a wildlife cinematographer, and then to have an individual choice between: resting for a while, going snow-shoeing, or further wildlife searching. Most people seemed to be going to opt for the last, including me. But then all plans changed. Wolves had been seen, where we had been that morning. So we ‘rushed’ off there, as safely as we could, but even so it took about an hour. En route we saw…

Male Bighorn sheep, presumably the same we had seen before lunch

A red fox, the only one all week. (Just how do these animals survive?)

And more bison. So difficult not to take photos of them.

Arrived at the same spot as the morning, we met Rick McIntyre, who gave us a fascinating talk on the ecology of the animal. [PS, three weeks later. Rick is featured in a fascinating article on one of the Yellowstone wolves in the March  edition of ‘BBC Wildlife Magazine’.] But the wolves had gone. ‘Hang on, there they are!’ the cry rang out from one of the leaders (now three as Tim from Nat Hab had joined us.).  A very, very long way away.  I was not the only one not to see them, whether through binoculars, cameras, or telescopes.  Try, try and try, no, we just couldn’t.  Moreover, it was said they were disturbing elk and bison, which would have been even more fascinating to see.  But no, not many of us saw them. Not us amateurs anyway.  I took several photos of where we were meant to be looking, hoping to blow them up and at least see them on my screen.

Not here

 

But here, on maximum zoom

No such luck. ‘They’ve gone now’. We left the scene, and made our way back towards Cooke City.

Golden eagle and American magpie on carcase

Fleeting glimpse of an elk which had not made its way to the refuge at Jackson Hole, 100 miles or so to the south

However, we stopped at Silver Gate, just a short distance from Cooke City (not a city but more a large village, by the way).  Our stop there was to meet the very patient Don Hartman.  But then wildlife photographers are used to being patient.

I was especially thrilled to meet him. In post (5) of these USA 2018 posts, I mentioned that there had been a second BBC series on Yellowstone just before I left for the trip. Don Hartman had taken its amazing footage on the Great Grey Owl family through the seasons. He show us some of this footage, some more which didn’t make the cut, and other work of his, then answered many questions. What a surprise and privilege to meet him, and here he is.

It was dark as we left for another good meal in Cooke City.  But a little warmer (!) as we bade each other goodnight, minus 25ºC/minus 13ºF.

[My apologies for the changes of type, which I have no idea how to correct. Retyping has made no difference. Any advice from fellow WordPress bloggers would be gratefully received.]

USA 2018 (12), the beautiful day’s end

Tags

Bison, Cooke City, Gardiner, Mammoth Hot Springs, Natural Habitat, Travertine, travertine terrace, wolves, Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park

USA 2018 (12), the beautiful day’s end.  As we arrived in Mammoth Hot Springs, around 3.30,  we learned that contingency alternative accommodation had been reserved for us in Gardiner, but also that the authorities were hoping that the road to Cooke City would be cleared by 5.30.  So instead of continuing straight on with our journey, Jeremy took us on a visit that had been intended for a day or so later, while Drew stayed behind to do whatever had to be done.  This visit was to the Upper Travertine Terraces.  Where silica is the main mineral which separates out from the hot water in the Old Faithful area, at Mammoth it is limestone. (I did ask if the remains of a mammoth had been found in this area, but it seems the name comes from the size of the terraces.)  This was perhaps the only time in the whole of the trip where I might have preferred to have been there in warmer weather.  The extreme cold meant that the water vapour was so very extensive that it was difficult to get a full idea of the splendours. Our nevertheless lovely walk was a There-and-Back one.

From the start of our walk There

I kept finding myself a little behind the group as I stopped to take photos

When we were at the furthest extent of There, Jeremy had a call to say that the road to Cooke City was now clear, an hour earlier even than hoped. Great! We could continue on our way!

We start walking Back to the vehicles, in the shade, as the sun starts to disappear behind the mountains

In the course of this time in the Mammoth area we said goodbye to our faithful snow coaches, and reverted to Natural Habitat ‘ordinary’ Sprinters. On this last lap of the day, a further couple of hours’ driving, pretty well due east now, it was minus 23ºC/minus 9ºF.

 

Drew said there was a rule that drivers should do nothing to impede the intended paths of the wildlife, but that it was not always respected. Here it was the bison who moved over and decided to impede us!

 

And then it became too dark to take any more photos.

The last two days were to be spent concentrating on wolves…

USA 2018 (7), Otters!

Tags

Flagg Ranch, Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole, JD Rockefeller Memorial Parkway, Lewis Falls, Natural Habitat, otter, River otter, Snake River, Yellowstone National Park

USA 2018 (7) Otters! If I had been disappointed at the lack of snow hitherto, I could have no complaint now. This was the view from my Lexington hotel bedroom at Jackson Hole on the Sunday morning.

It had snowed!

We set off northwards through Grand Teton National Park.  The views were beautiful, (though not as beautiful as the following day).

Like many of my photos, taken through the smoked glass of the vehicle window. And the mist.

Wanting the opportunity to take photos in the open, we stopped after a while by the Snake River/Jackson Lake, to be delighted to see through the mist and snow some little dots – which turned out to be river otters! Now otters, along with dolphins and felines, are my favourite animals – not very original, but there we are.

Emerging from their holt

 

There were swans as well – this is a very long way off…

Right on cue they came bounding in our direction, though they were not aware of us. (These photos were taken with my camera on maximum – x24 – zoom, and I have enlarged them a little since.)  Then two more otters revealed themselves, nearer to us, and the first group ran towards them.

I love how you can see their converging tracks.

All enjoyed a playful bundle for a couple of minutes.  Then, just like that, all seven decided to turn back. I decided it was time to take a video,

and the otters disappeared back to where they had come from.

The swans were still there

What a magical experience!  Many agreed at the end of the trip that this had been a real highlight.

We continued, leaving the Grand Teton NP, and stopped at the Flagg Ranch Information Station in the JD Rockefeller Memorial Parkway, for hot chocolate and a change of vehicle. (For some reason they didn’t charge me for my hot chocolate as I had provided my own insulated drinking can, a gift, along with a metal water bottle, from Natural Habitat at the outset.) We continued climbing, into Yellowstone National Park, the first (1872) NP ever declared in the world. The snow was getting thicker and falling faster. Snowcoaches it was now.

I don’t know how our luggage made it from hotel to hotel every night, but it was following us on skis at this point!

Our next stop – and descent from the vehicles – was to see the Lewis Falls. These are at the southern rim of the Yellowstone supervolcano caldera.  Not that I was aware of it at the time.

The NP is in the NE corner of Wyoming, slightly overlapping Montana and Idaho to the N and E respectively. The approximate line of the caldera is shown here in grey.

Our lunch stop was at West Thumb, in a ‘warming hut’.

 

The warming hut – outside

The warming hut – inside. Two of the Nat Hab water bottles can be seen.

The loos. Talk about amazing surroundings!

The hut was actually too warm for me, all wrapped up in the great boots and fantastic parka provided by Natural Habitat for the trip.  (The parka was 80% duck down and 20% feather.  I had packed silk sock liners and silk glove liners, which I wore under alpaca looped long socks and Hollofil mittens. I had very few problems with the cold, at which I was very surprised, given my usual hatred of anything below 21 deg C/70 deg F.  In addition, the leaders provided toe and hand warmers as topping up, of which I only availed myself on the last two days.)

We assembled to go for a walk in the snow.

USA 2018 (5), Jackson Hole, morning

Tags

coyote, elk, Grand Teton National Park, Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, Jackson Hole, Jackson WY, John D Rockefeller Memorial Parkway, moose, Natural Habitat, trumpeter swan, wolf, Yellowstone National Park, |National Museum of Wildlife Art

USA 2018, (5) Jackson Hole, morning. Some years previously, I had seen a series of programmes on the BBC about Yellowstone National Park through the year.  And ever since then I had wanted to visit in the winter – all that snow and beauty principally, but with great wildlife as well.  In the month before I actually left on this trip, there had been a further series of BBC programmes on the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, following particular creatures through the year, and dealing also with the extraordinary geology of the place.  These programmes provided a wonderful pre-trip briefing.

Jackson Hole (hole in effect means valley in this context) is at the southern end of Grand Teton National Park, itself just to the south of Yellowstone National Park, the two joined by a small area called the John D Rockefeller Jr Memorial Parkway.

We had an early start on Friday 16th February. This was the view from my hotel window as I rose. Given the attraction of the deep piles of snow I had seen on those BBC programmes, I confess to having been a little disappointed, even as I was being driven from the airport the previous day, that there was not more of it, and this feeling persisted through this day. (Following days more than compensated!)

At the start of the trip the 14 of us – all American bar me – travelled in two of these Sprinter vans, each of us with a window seat.  Our Natural Habitat leaders were Drew and Jeremy.

(At our final dinner)

Our first stop in the Grand Teton NP was to look at the surroundings, and particularly at a couple of trumpeter swans, initially curled up and asleep in the icy water. It was not easy to get a decent photo through the wire. What’s this? A wolf already?  No, a coyote – but an interesting sighting nevertheless. (I just had to stop calling them jackals.)

A drive-by photo of the elk herd we were to visit in the afternoon

We drove to the parking lot of the National Museum of Wildlife Art and stood for ages looking at this view. 

Close-up

Some managed to see as a far off speck a wolf. The leaders swore it was so, and I believe them.  They were giving a particular telegraph pole as a reference point but I think I must have been concentrating on the wrong one.  Actually, right at the end, I do believe I saw the wolf for five seconds, barely that, as it ran behind the buildings – but I certainly didn’t manage to get a photo of it.

 

We drove on to a pond. Here we saw, but I got no decent photos of, goldeneye, bufflehead, gadwall, and a bald eagle.  As we drove on, wolf tracks were spied. We had stopped by the side of a river, where we were delighted to see a moose, browsing on willow, its favourite food. Moose (called elk in British English, explanation here, which leaves me even more confused) are far from rare, but you do not see them every day.

Our next stop again caused ripples of excitement as we thought we might be seeing a wolf, and it took a long time before it was agreed that it was ‘only’ a coyote. It appeared  to have a broken jaw, but seemed to be managing to survive OK, unless of course the injury had only just happened.

Returning towards Jackson, we stopped when we saw more moose, which came very close to us in our vans, and crossed the road right by us. Lunch was taken in the restaurant of the National Museum of Wildlife Art, which we would tour in the afternoon.

USA 2018 (4) A day with Nicole

Tags

Bedford NH, Dunkin' Donut, Durham NH, Hampton Beach, Isle of Shoals, Jackson Hole CO, Lincoln NH, Manchester NH, Natural Habitat, New Hampshire, Portsmouth NH, River House Portsmouth NH, University of New Hampshire

USA 2018 (4) A day with Nicole, and then moving on. Thursday and Friday 15th/16th February. Fewer photo opps, but no less enjoyable.  Well, the Thursday anyway.

Nicole first took me to the New Hampshire coast.  The state’s coastline is only 19 miles long, but it has some historic connections.  We started at Hampton Beach, and drove northwards to Portsmouth, where we had coffee (not nearly as good as Geoff’s!) in a Dunkin’ Donut, before moving on to Durham to pick up their older daughter, Claire, who is in her first year at the University of New Hampshire, reading maths and really enjoying the chance to be with others who love the subject.

Back to Portsmouth, where we had a delicious lunch at a seafood place there. I had lobster roll, and clam chowder, which I would never have know to choose from the extensive menu without my relatives’ help.  Lots of natter, a wander around the port,

Um, a merganser?

back to Durham to deposit Claire,

A historic submarine on display

Rivers were freezing

Hall of residence – called ‘dorm’ there.

and back to Bedford.

I know. Bedford, Manchester (a former cotton town), Lincoln, Portsmouth (a port), Durham, all within not much more than an hour or so of each other! And all inside (New) Hampshire!

I didn’t stay up too long, as I was to have another very early start and stretched day on the Friday.

Geoff drove me to Manchester Airport to catch a 6 a.m. plane to Newark, there to change for Denver, Colorado, where I was to catch a flight after a four-hour wait to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, two time zones further westwards across the States from NH.

I think this was at Denver, but perhaps it was at Newark.  Anyway, delighted as I was to see this, I was glad not to be flying in it! (Though in other circumstances…)

The first two flights went fine, but there was an hour’s delay before the third took off. The reason? Just a broken seat.  But as the flight was 100% full, it had to be repaired before take-off.  As a result, and there was also of a slight muddle – no-one’s fault – over where the taxi meeting me was to take me to. So instead of arriving with an hour or so to spare before meeting all my companions for the next 6 days, I was technically 30 minutes late. The briefing over dinner had started – though I missed little I was told, and the meal hadn’t actually begun.

Once at the hotel, the Lexington, where I was to sleep, I was able to examine the cold-weather gear the company – Natural Habitat – was lending me for the week, including these absolutely excellent boots!

Only 21 hours  between rising and getting to bed this time.