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June 16, 2005
Our day started out with a lot of surprises. Just as we turned
onto the road, one of our spotters saw two coyotes stalking their
prey. We watched for several minutes until their prey disappeared
into a burrow, safe for another day. Through the scopes we could
cleary see that these coyotes were being studied by researchers,
because of their radio collars and ear tags. One played and chased
its tail and they came within 10 yards of our group. We backed
away to give them their space.
 We began a four mile hike on the Yellowstone River Picnic Area Trail
with a welcome from a bighorn sheep ram sitting in the shade,
chewing his cud. On the top of the trail we sat and reflected
on the spectacular view of the Yellowstone River across from Tower
Falls. Can you believe what we have seen on the trail: pronghorn
antelope, yellow-bellied marmot, Uinta ground squirrels, a glorious
male western tanager, mountain bluebirds, Clark’s nutcrackers
and a bighorn ewe. We even found a buffalo wallow, in which Anne
Wilson obligingly wallowed to demonstrate the bisons’ technique.
The wildflowers were beautiful; we saw balsamroot, sticky geranium,
and shooting star. The day was beautiful but in Yellowstone things
can change quickly. You’ve not seen anything until you’ve
seen 14 teachers scamper to put on their ponchos with a crack
of thunder.
We met with Roy Renkin, who’s been in fire ecology for
more than 20 years. He took us to a site that burned in the 1988
fires, where logdepole pine saplings are renewing the forest.
 At dusk, we traveled to Slough Creek to try to see the wolves
again. We watched two black wolf pups playing near their den.
We’ve been learning you should always look behind you, because
you never know when a black bear will be chased across a creek
by a coyote… something quite unusual. One biologist thought
that the coyote might have been protecting a den. As we left we
spotted a golden eagle nest on the cliff with two chicks. The
marvels of this place never cease.
Yep! Black bear on the left right now; signing off until tomorrow.
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