Tuesday, September 21, 2010

B is for Bison

September 21, 2010
The loops in Yellowstone are in a figure 8 so that you can drive as much or as little each day. We've gone in three days and finally did the last portion and found a huge herd of bison. We counted 250 in Hidden Valley along Yellowstone River. We have seen bison every day, but usually just one or two, or a small group of 8 or 9, so this is the biggest concentration we've seen.

This guy was just resting near the road and Bob got a close-up of his head. When Bob drove forward a bit to see if he could get more of his head and handed me the camera, the bison's eyes were closed.
 
We're seeing several young calves, out of their orange-ish colors, but still obviously this year's crop.
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We've been caught in a few "bison jams" and even one "bear jam" but haven't seen any bear or moose.  We did see 2 coyotes, which caused a mini-jam, but you should see the crowds the trumpeter swan draws! 
We have a thing about moose...when we went to Alaska the first time we saw the classic moose-in-pond- dripping antlers pose.  We assumed they were easily spotted, but that was the only moose we've seen that was at all in a predictible place.  Since then we've combed willow riverbeds, likely moose ponds, and other probable spots and have only seen them walking on a road, or lurking so far back in the trees that you can barely identify them.  This trip is no different...no moose, no sign of moose, no tales of moose-jams at such-and-such place.  But we'll keep looking!

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