Wildlife and Ecology of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

September 1 to 9, 2007*
 

Photos by Don Freiday

*(Note:  This tour is being offered again September 6 to 14, 2008)

(To download the species list from this trip in PDF format, click here.)

Saturday September 1
We met for a short introduction at 8:00 P.M. When Don and Sean asked the group what they hoped to see, the responses came in this order: 1. Wolves. 2. Grizzly bear. 3. Old Faithful. One out of three we could guarantee!
Night in Jackson Hole.

Sunday September 2
We rolled out after breakfast at 7:30 a.m. to explore Jackson “Hole,” the long valley east of the Tetons, as well as part of the Gros Ventre Range. After driving past Black-billed Magpies, Brewer’s Blackbirds, and even Trumpeter Swans (all of which we expected to study at length later), we glassed and birded the sagebrush flats near Blacktail Butte, where we saw many pronghorn, a few distant bison, and some of the special birds of that habitat. These included many Mountain Bluebirds, Brewer’s Sparrow, Western Meadowlarks, and loads of Vesper Sparrows. Continuing up towards the Gros Ventre Slide, the scenery featured forested mountainsides, red cliffs, and of course the spectacular slide itself, which in 1925 moved 50 million cubic yards of rock and debris off the mountain and created Lower Slide Lake, setting the stage for a deadly flood two years later. Bird sightings in the upper Gros Ventre River Valley included a number of Clark’s Nutcrackers, 4 Bald Eagles, and many American Robins, familiar friends.

We picked up Antelope Flats Road on the way back, where a herd of Bison clogged the roadway, literally close enough to touch from the vehicles.

In the afternoon we visited the National Museum of Wildlife Art, featuring the works of Robert Bateman and others. A Prairie Falcon graced the cliffs behind the museum as we left. Everyone did a little shopping, and we returned to the hotel at 4:15 for a little downtime before our optional evening expedition for Moose and Great Gray Owl

Back in the field at 7:00, we checked Blacktail Ponds for Moose - negative on Moose, but positive on a pair of Red-naped Sapsuckers flycatching from a dead snag in the company of Yellow-rumped Warblers and American Goldfinches. We checked Moose-Wilson Road for Great Gray, another negative but Elk and Mule Deer were our consolation prizes.
Night in Jackson Hole.

Monday September 3
After a 6:00 a.m. start and a brief coffee stop, we were at the Snake River View pull-off (near where Ansel Adams composed his famous Tetons photograph) in time to catch the first hint of sunlight on the Teton Range. Before the sun crested in the east, we found ourselves looking over the broad, mist-decorated Snake River valley where a herd of elk, 160 head strong, fed and milled in preparation for bedding for the day. Several bulls bugled and pursued cows, and occasionally each other. One dominant bull off to the south seemed to have his harem under complete control, with no rivals nearby. Black-billed Magpies fed among, and occasionally on, the elk.

This seemed like an auspicious start, but we had no idea what was about to follow. On our way to Oxbow bend, we located a throng of people viewing perhaps the chief objective of our tour: grizzlies! Four to be exact, a mother and her three one and a half year old cubs, foraging actively in a dried out kettle wetland, where they rooted and excavated for tubers - hardly 150 yards away, and in perfect light! We watched these bears for over an hour, cameras alternately churning and silent as we simply absorbed the sight. This, we learned, was bear #399 of the Teton Range - she wore a red earring (tag) - a bear that had been frequenting this area near Pacific Creek for much of the summer. One of her cubs was dark brown like its mother, and the other two were much more silvery, perhaps taking after their father. We undoubtedly spent more time with these bears than anyone else this morning, indeed, some people just snapped pictures from their car windows. We sympathized with the Park Rangers who were assigned to crowd and traffic control.

We finally left when the bears moved out of sight, ready for our own breakfast, but were detained by “Bullwinkle,” a big bull moose standing belly deep in Oxbow Bend, again in perfect light with Mount Moran in the background. There was no passing this sight up. The big bull fed on aquatic plants, often turning his 4’ wide antlers side-to-side, revealing the shedding and still somewhat blood-stained velvet.

Enough? Not quite, because soon a family of four river otters emerged from around the bend and swam upstream past the moose, followed in succession by a kingfisher and then an immature Bald Eagle. The day at this point had taken on a decidedly unreal quality, which it maintained until dark.

We breakfasted at the historic Jackson Lake Lodge, with the Tetons rising behind, then headed up Signal Mountain for an overview of Jackson Hole and the Tetons. We discussed zonation of montane vegetation on the way up, and on the way down encountered yet another moose, this one apparently feeling the heat of the day because she took a full-body swim in a pond. A brace of Gray Jays feeding on a road-killed Chickaree, or Red Squirrel, finished out our wildlife sightings of the morning. . .almost, because soon we crossed paths with two Coyotes, and were forced to pause once again to watch these intelligent canids forage for pocket gophers.

Finally we made it back to Jackson for a brief rest before heading out for our evening float on the Snake River. The Snake here is swift but not really whitewater, so the incidents of our float were of the wildlife kind - three eagles, four ospreys, two elk, two beavers, all with the Tetons in the backdrop. An outdoor dinner at Dornans capped a day that we all counted among the best wildlife watching experiences we’d ever had.

Night Jackson Hole.

Tuesday September 4
Not without regret, we bade farewell to Jackson this morning and began our journey north towards Yellowstone National Park. Jackson is an interesting town - part tourist, part year-round outdoor-sport headquarters, set in some of the most beautiful and wildlife-rich country anywhere. Proving that point, our first stop, barely a mile out of town at the southern edge of the National Elk Refuge, produced multiple Trumpeter Swans, Sandhill Cranes, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, and a variety of ducks. On the bluffs above us, Black-billed Magpies pursued first a kestrel, then a Sharp-shinned Hawk, back and forth from limber pine to western red-cedar to rock outcrop, and back again. A Northern (red-shafted) Flicker joined in periodically, wings flashing red as it sallied back and forth across the hillside with the sun low behind us.

We encountered a huge, seemingly loner bison on the west side of the road as we drove up through Jackson Hole, and because it seemed to have something on its mind we paused to watch. Purposefully, the big bull strode along the sagebrush flats, crossed the road in front of us, and headed towards a large herd comprised of perhaps 125 animals, including several other big bulls. This was getting interesting.

“Our” big bull sauntered along the fence separating him from the herd, and proceeded to urinate in a wallow, drop and roll, sending clouds of dust skyward. The biggest bull across the fence did the same thing. This went on for fifteen minutes or so, each bull wallowing for a while, then standing and shaking. Our bull then walked up to the fence and proceeded to hop it from a standstill, and began checking each cow in turn, with his tail raised in a sign of aggression.

Meanwhile the whole herd had begun crossing the road back to the west, where the big boy had originally come from. The herd found a gap in the fence to pass through on the east side of the road, but once it crossed it faced another fence with no gap, and proceeded to pile up there and one by one jump across. The big bull was now spending his time chasing less dominant bulls around, and soon other bulls were chasing each other, too. Calves in a range of sizes and colors, from the new light tan ones to the older, browner ones, succeeded in crossing the fence, and soon the whole herd was on the west side again, framed by the Tetons.

Clearly we were going to need some time to get to Yellowstone with so much to watch. And sure enough, there at Oxbow bend was our now familiar friend, the big shedding bull moose, wading in the river and feeding on aquatic plants. Not something one can just pass by!
We finally got where we were headed for, Jackson Lake dam, to scope the water and flats for shorebirds, ducks, and other species. Both Western and Clark’s Grebes floated in the water, as did Eared and Horned Grebes and a variety of ducks. A few White Pelicans were in the area, and three Sandhill Cranes put in a lovely display as they glided down to land on the flats.

Since it was almost noon, we stopped to enjoy the wonderful atmosphere of the restaurant at Signal Mountain, then continued our way north to Yellowstone. We paused one last time at the north end of Jackson Lake, where a group of White Pelicans demonstrated their on-the-water group fishing tactics, a very different foraging method from the plunge-dives of Brown Pelicans on the coast. A Mule Deer doe fed on the grassy flats across the lake, and a few Pine Siskins flew overhead.

Yellowstone is 8 miles north of Grand Teton on the John D.Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial highway, and we discussed Rockefeller’s contribution to Grand Teton National Park - he bought much of the valley floor and eventually gave it to the National Park Service.

We finally passed through the south entrance of Yellowstone, and drove up the Lewis River Valley discussing the impacts, good and bad, of the fires of 1988, which burned over 1.2 million acres in the GYE. Crossing the Continental divide into the Atlantic side (we’d be crossing back, and back again, on our way to Old Faithful later), we headed for Fishing Bridge and a 4-year old burn on the road to the East Entrance of Yellowstone. Such young burns are ideal habitat for woodpeckers, especially the elusive Three-toed and Black-backed.

A pause at Indian Pond yielded a female Barrow’s Goldeneye which humorously preened while lying on her back in the water, as well as a female Redhead amidst a group of Lesser Scaup. A few miles farther, our first stop at the burn was all we could have hoped for, as first one and eventually three Three-toed Woodpeckers gave us excellent, scope looks.

It started to rain, so we elected to head for our lodging at Old Faithful. Along the west shore of huge Lake Yellowstone, an impressive full rainbow formed - we had to stop for a photograph. Most agreed it was the best rainbow we’d ever seen, and again the day had taken on an unreal, dreamlike quality.

By 6:15 p.m. we were at historic Old Faithful Inn and its delightful native-wood architecture, the perfect place to capture the sense of what it means to be one of the “great parks.” Some of us hurried out to catch the forecast 6:25 p.m. eruption, which came a little early, as it often does, so some of us missed it. No matter - it is “Old Faithful” after all, and more chances would follow! We re-grouped for a delicious dinner at the Inn - the wild salmon and rib-eye were especially good.

Night at Old Faithful.

Wednesday September 5
Yellowstone is home to more geothermal features than any other area in the world, and our relaxed 8:30 a.m. start allowed us to visit some of the more interesting of these. Many participants had already taken in the pre-breakfast eruption of Old Faithful, and we proceeded northward to take in other geothermal features along the Firehole Lake Drive.

Wildlife, as usual, “interfered” with our schedule. We stopped first to view an adult Bald Eagle perched along the Firehole River, with mist rising in the background. Mist was everywhere, as a matter of fact, thanks to cool temperatures and occasional light showers that actually made the morning ideal for geyser-gazing. Farther along, three cow Elk fed along the roadside, one wearing a collar that might mean she was one of the animals that would make the trek south to the National Elk Refuge. Along the Firehole Lake Drive, a coyote and numerous hot springs and geysers fascinated us.

After enjoying all four types of features (geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles) at the Fountain Paint Pot board walk, we moved south to view Grand Prismatic Spring, the biggest hot spring in the park and probably the world. We finished at Emerald Pool in Black Sand Basin, and by 12:30 p.m. were back at Old Faithful to watch the early-afternoon eruption and get some lunch.

Out optional afternoon hike to Great Gray Owl country was disrupted by thunderstorms that approached as near as one mile, and we decided to play it safe and hike back out to the vehicles before they came closer. The excursion turned into a game and scenery drive: we all particularly enjoyed the cliff faces and waterfall along the Firehole Canyon Drive.

Night at Old Faithful.

Thursday September 6
We began our day with a rainy, misty drive east and then north along the shore of Yellowstone Lake. An immature Northern Goshawk emerged from the dense woods in front of us as we drove, perched briefly, and disappeared like the ghosts goshawks are. Remarkably, not a mile farther on an adult goshawk sped across the road, showing gray a little darker than one might expect thanks to the rain. Unfortunately, not all participants were able to glimpse this forest predator.

A Brown Creeper entertained us during our rest stop at Fishing Creek, as did an unfortunately tame Coyote. We drove up the Hayden Valley, pausing at length below LeHardy Rapids to watch a very cooperative American Dipper as well as two adult and one immature Bald Eagles and a flotilla of fishing Common Mergansers. LeHardy’s Harlequin Ducks seemed to have left for their wintering grounds on the Pacific Coast.

The Hayden Valley was crowded, with Bison, but also people. We encountered some bad behavior by people, as they apparently surrounded a pair of wolves that had crossed the Yellowstone River in an (unsuccessful) effort to see the animals. We decided we didn’t want to see wolves that way, and pressed on to Canyon Village for lunch and a chance to see the visitor center there. Many of us watched the overview video about Yellowstone, which included a dramatic scene of what happens when people approach bison too closely.

After viewing the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from several points, we pressed on to Mount Washburn, scanning for mammals and rewarded by Steller’s Jays, western Red-tailed Hawks, and numerous Clark’s Nutcrackers. On the south slope of Mount Washburn we hit paydirt in the form of the Agate Creek wolf pack - remarkably, we could see several wolves naked eye, CLOSE in wolf terms. A big black wolf crossed the valley below us, and at least 7 other animals including a white wolf slept under pines across the valley. Bull and cow elk were visible in the distance, as well. This was a true trip highlight.

Tower Falls held no Bighorn Sheep, but a sleeping Mule Deer and a close Steller’s Jay were consolations. As we closed in on the Lamar Valley, we watched and photographed a Red Fox hunting in a meadow.

The Lamar Valley needed no consolations at all. After pausing to view and photograph a marvelous Pronghorn buck, we paused at an overlook and found a pack of five Coyotes hunting together. We spotted a huge Grizzly and an attending crowd of watchers farther up the valley, and watched this magnificent animal from a respectful distance for quite some time. A rest stop at Pebble Creek yielded two Golden Eagles soaring over the ridge framing the north side of the valley, and farther east we located two Mountain Goats gleaming white on the gray cliffs.

We reached Cooke City a little after 6 p.m. - perhaps “city” should be in quotes since there is only one main street - where we dined at Soda Butte Lodge, where the saying “if you’re in cow country, eat cow” was never more apt.

Night in Cooke City.

Friday September 7
Beginning our day with a drive east into the craggy Absaroka range, we passed Mule Deer and encountered flocks of “Pink-sided” Juncoes before stopping at the headwaters of the Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone to investigate subalpine trees and look for lingering landbirds. Clark’s Nutcrackers continued to be a staple for the trip, probably thanks to back to back bumper crops of whitebark pine cones, and multiple “Red-shafted” Northern Flickers flashed red in the sun. Ascending the Bear Tooth Highway past some intrepid cyclists, we paused at the Pilot-Signal Overlook and were rewarded by not only one of the best views in the west, but also by two male Pine Grosbeaks, which we heard calling below and to our delight flew up into the tops of some spruces for a superb view. Higher still we climbed, pausing at a subalpine lake where an Osprey fished, and where, as we watched Blue-winged Teal and Northern Shovelers take wing and circle the lake, an adult Bald Eagle appeared in our binoculars as it flew directly in front of us and the ducks. We began seeing Yellow-bellied Marmots as we neared the top of Bear Tooth Pass, and at the west summit (elevation about 11,000 feet) two marmots paused at length on top of boulders for long views.

American Pipits were everywhere on the alpine tundra, and a few Mountain Bluebirds added color. We continued across the switch-backed summit and eastward descent, where both Golden Eagle and Prairie Falcon flashed by for quick but, at least in the case of the falcon, good views.

As we returned to Cooke City, we paused at an overlook of the Chief Joseph highway, and we imagined a group of 800 Native Americans and 3,000 horses fleeing the U.S. Army through the rugged valley below.

After a siesta in Cooke City, we met at 4:00 for two different excursions. Half the group joined Sean for a hike into the Lamar Valley, to experience the home of the Yellowstone wolf re-introduction program first hand. The group saw plenty of bison and mule deer, and found numerous wolf kills, including a bison. There is nothing quite like being on the ground in a vast land inhabited by lots of game, including large predators.

The other half of the group joined Don for a foray westward through the Lamar to the Blacktail Plateau area, looking for Black Bear and other wildlife. The grizzly from yesterday continued in more or less the same spot, and we watched it feed for a while before it bedded down. While there we located four Sandhill Cranes which were briefly and unsuccessfully stalked by a Coyote. West of Roosevelt Junction, we located a sow black bear with a small cub, and watched as the cub practiced climbing a tree. On the return drive bison bellowed at each other, we also found the unusual scene of a 1.5year old bison nursing, and saw a few Mule Deer, including a couple bucks.

We again dined at the Soda Butte Lodge for our last night in Cooke City.

Saturday, September 8
How can you possibly drive through the Lamar Valley just past dawn and not stop, and stop, and stop again? The answer is, you can’t, so we allowed from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. of our drive (5 hours without stops) back to Jackson Hole to the Lamar, and thus were able to see the big male grizzly (again) plus dozens of pronghorn, hundreds of bison, several mule deer and coyotes, and, finally, a band of 25 bighorn sheep ewes and young high on a ridgetop meadow. Score!

After a coffee stop and a pair of Wilson’s Warblers at Tower Falls, we continued up Mount Washburn and encountered once again some members of the Agate Creek wolf pack. How do you not stop again? So we devoted 20 minutes or so to watching the black alpha male and almost white alpha female sleep, and several varied-colored members of the pack walk about in the valley below us.

The rest of our drive to Jackson was “uneventful” - a handful of Bald Eagles, more bison, a bull elk, more mule deer, more pronghorns, a flock of Barrow’s Goldeneyes on the Yellowstone River in the Hayden Valley. . .Such great country, this land of the GYE. We paused briefly at the Native American Arts museum at Colter Bay, and reached or hotel in Jackson around 3:30 for a break before our celebratory dinner. Night in Jackson.

Sunday, September 9
Departure.

--SEAN GRACE AND DON FREIDAY
 

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