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.

Greylake Nature Reserve

Tags

coot, fieldfare, gadwall, greta white egret, Greylake, Ham Wall, hare, lapwing, mink, otter, redwing, RSPB, shoveler, snipe, Somerset Wildlife Trust, sparrowhawk, stonechat, swan, teal, wetlands, wigeon

Greylake Nature Reserve, owned by the RSPB.  I’d visited it just once before, and that only briefly. The prospect of a guided tour with birding experts, set up by the Somerset Wildlife Trust, and led by an RSPB volunteer, was too good to miss, so this was my third outdoor outing this week in near freezing temperatures.The briefing told us that the land had been in cultivation until 2003, when it was bought by the RSPB and converted into wetland for wildlife.  We would make our way to the main hide, where we would spend about half our time, and then walk around those parts accessible to the public.  Most of the area was kept behind electric fencing for the tranquillity of the birds and animals.  It was good to come at all times of the year, but this season was the best time because of the thousands of different birds over-wintering there.

On the way to the hide, I managed to get an indifferent picture of a fieldfare.

Once at the hide, we had this general view ahead of us.Looking round, and closing in a little with binoculars and camera, here are other aspects.

Wigeon, shovelers and coot

Wigeon, shoveler, coot and gadwall

Experienced birders were soon exclaiming at this clump, just 20 metres or so from us.A pair of teal can be seen easily, especially the male.  But are there really snipe there? And four?In due course I managed to find three, and indeed once you knew that they were there, it was even possible to pick the nearest one out with the naked eye, they were so close.  But what wonderful camouflage!  They didn’t move the whole of the time we were there.

 

It was not possible to get photos of all the species we saw, but here are some. (If birder readers wish to comment with further names, or corrections to any of these photos, above and below, please feel free!)

Shovelers, the male’s bill demonstrating just why they bear that name. The female has the same bill, but that is hidden here.

 

I just love lapwings, (also known as peewits) for their green iridescence, their cheeky crest, their wonderful courtship flight, their flappy way of flying (I call them flapwings).  This one all alone entertained us close to the hide for ages.

And as at Ham Wall, there was a Great white egret in the distance.

 

Three in fact. and here is one of the others flying around

 

Not long after leaving the hide, and keeping to the established path, we were shown by one of the RSPB volunteers, to the right of the path, some otter poo and some mink poo, the former more welcome than the latter.  The otter spraint was on a well-established otter path.To the left, the other part of the otter path could be seen.We were pleased then to see crowds and crowds of lapwing flying around, as if there had been a signal to the thousands in the area all to rise up at once. Here are just a few of them.Swans have no need to fear humans, and they know it. This one made for an easy photo, just a very few metres away from where we were walking.A distant view of another great white egret.Evidence of a recent hare boxing match.And of a sparrowhawk kill.We hoped to see more small birds, and indeed we did see redwing, and stonechat, but I couldn’t get photos.  We went on to a viewpoint:But few wetland birds were favouring this area of the reserve. Perhaps, along with the small birds, they were favouring the more sheltered areas on this chilly day.  But I, usually spending far too much of my life in front of a computer, had really enjoyed my three outdoors outings this week.  I must do it more often, and certainly return to Greylake at other seasons.