Yellowstone Wildlife
Yellowstone, of course, is famous for its wildlife. We were
fortunate in our drives to see a fair sampling of the range of animals the
park hosts. We didn't get to see a wolf. And we didn't see Moose, but we
did see Squirrel - gad, I don't think I could even say moose or squirrel without
a fake Russian accent.
We didn't photograph the myriad of birds that we saw, the most surprising being all the white pelicans. Nor did we photograph any of the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout, or any other fish for that matter. The Madision, Firehole and lower Gibbon Rivers were all closed to fishing because of the high water temperatures. These are three of the four major fisheries in the park, which in turn put a lot of pressure on the Yellowstone River. We caught a small brown trout on the upper Gibbon and got skunked on the Yellowstone and Lewis Rivers. However, the scenery was beautiful, and it was great to just stand in such splendid rivers. As my buddy Tom says about flyfishing, catching fish is the goal but not the point.
We didn't photograph the myriad of birds that we saw, the most surprising being all the white pelicans. Nor did we photograph any of the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout, or any other fish for that matter. The Madision, Firehole and lower Gibbon Rivers were all closed to fishing because of the high water temperatures. These are three of the four major fisheries in the park, which in turn put a lot of pressure on the Yellowstone River. We caught a small brown trout on the upper Gibbon and got skunked on the Yellowstone and Lewis Rivers. However, the scenery was beautiful, and it was great to just stand in such splendid rivers. As my buddy Tom says about flyfishing, catching fish is the goal but not the point.
We spotted this deer under a Limitus Speedius pine tree.
The Bison are flourishing in the park and a few herds live just north of
where we are staying at Fishing Bridge. There are signs all around the park
warning you not to approach the wildlife, the bison in particular injure quite
a few tourists every year. These guys carry a pretty big attitude with them.
I believe it's because so many people still call them buffalo instead of
bison and they're pretty touchy about it. Buffalo is a generic term for this
type of animal, and these are American Bison, and they're damn proud of it.
Let's all treat them with a little respect and they might quite goring people
every time they get the chance.Ah, the illusive bear. Two types of bear live in the park, Yogi and Boo Boo. Sorry, it's that moose and squirrel thing again; I can also only pronounce picnic as "pic-a-nic."
Anyway, there are grizzly and black bears in the park. The grizzly carry even more attitude than the bison, and they don't even have a reason. We saw this black bear rooting around in the brush near the road. Yes, that's a dumb tourist walking up close to it on the right.
Below is the same picture from a different angle. This is known as a "bear jam." You might as well get out and take pictures, since traffic doesn't move until the bear does.
