Something about Sandhill Cranes
Something about sandhill cranes catches our attention in northern Yellowstone. The cranes fly up to 200 miles per day when migrating north to their spring nesting grounds here, announcing their arrival in an insistent and raspy chorus. Their unmistakable calls — made possible by long windpipes that curl into their sternums, adding richness — can…
May 27, 2023
May, Mother Grizzly Bears, and Family Breakup
May is a fabulous time to view grizzly bears in Yellowstone! In this video a mother grizzly and her two 2.5-year-old cubs play and wrestle in a small snow patch on Yellowstone’s famed Northern Range. This level of somewhat violent play may be the beginnings of mom pushing the young ones out on their own….
May 22, 2023
On Buttercups and Baby Bison
Each spring in Yellowstone snowmelt cascades from the highlands and newly exposed earth soaks in the lengthening daylight. It’s this time of year a quiet magic unfolds across our mountainous, high-desert landscape. Dogged tufts of green grass push through dormant yellow undergrowth. This greenery entices ungulates higher and higher onto hills, valleys, and plateaus, following a “wave” of new growth moving upward. Then, in a slowly evolving wash of rainbow color, wildflowers follow closely behind speckling dashes of flair throughout the earth-toned backdrop. Sagebrush buttercups cluster loosely in open spaces, their golden petals bowllike; Wyoming kittentails stand erect with their numerous lavender flowers bunched at their outer edges; and the pristine-white petals of Rocky Mountain phlox pop in contrast to the greens, yellows, blues, and other colors in their surroundings. It’s here, in this fecund landscape, we see the emergence…
May 15, 2023