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Posted by Ballpark Frank (192.88.135.18) on 16:47:28 06/06/20

In Reply to: Wildlife posted by Amy Turner

Amy,

We were in the park yesterday, hiking in the morning and afternoon, then cruising the Northern Range, looking for wildlife photo opps.

The critters were abundant on the Beaver Pond Loop, which is typical of May and the first half of June. We saw bison, both mule and whitetail deer, elk, grouse, lesser scaup ducks, and sandhill cranes. In the evening, we saw many hundreds of bison scattered across the Northern Range, literally hundreds of new calves. The elk were scattered here and there, including right in the developed area of Mammoth. They had lots of drop dead cute calves in tow. There were TWO bears on Junction Butte, a grizzly up top and a black bear down near the bottom. Another black bear was grazing along the Mammoth-Tower road, just a half mile from the ranger station. Another one was further down the road, but it was gone by the time we got there.

The Hayden Valley bison cow/calf herds are still on the west side, in the Firehole and Madison valleys. They will migrate east into Hayden Valley at some point in the coming weeks. Last Monday, we saw an average size male grizzly on the hillside where the Grizzly Lake trail ascends the hillside. The East Entrance road did not produce any bruins, but we know there was a subadult bear in the Lake Butte area on Sunday. Hayden Valley was quiet, but there is a closure in the Crater Hills area. The signage does not identify the reason, but we suspect it may be due to a wolf den. (Based on observation and scanner traffic, the Canyon and Lake rangers are watching this area REAL CLOSE.) If it's not wolves, maybe it's a secret black helicopter base LOL.

The harlequin ducks at LeHardy Rapids were putting on quite a show on Monday. They may or may not still be around when you arrive.

You will be in the park right in the period of time when things are starting to transition from spring to summer, in terms of wildlife photo opps, depending on what the weather is doing. Once it gets hot, the critters tend to stay in the forest during the day, to escape the heat. Then, you have to be out real early and real late in the day, when wildlife is up and moving around.

I recommend traveling around, particularly through the high visibility wildlife areas, like the East Entrance Road, Hayden Valley, the Northern Range, and the Swan Lake Flat area. There will still be the serendipitous opportunities along the West Entrance road between Madison Junction and Seven Mile Bridge, the Obsidian Creek and Willow Park area on the Mammoth-Norris road, and various spots between Norris and Old Faithful.

Oh, before I forget, check LeHardy Rapids for spawning cutthroat trout. We saw ONE on Monday, but I suspect we were still early in the spawn. If you find some, and want to get decent photos, use a polarizing filter. It really makes a difference.

Ballpark



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