Yellowstone in Winter

Established in 1872 as the first National Park in the world. Yellowstone National Park is one of the most unique and beautiful locations in North America.

We've just returned from a winter trip to Yellowstone. With a focus on the wildlife that are found in the park. Here are some images from our trip...

Coyote - He was hunting in the river flats and took off running right towards our position

Bison - These are the iconic wildlife of the park. Every individual (at least those off the road) has snow clinging to them from wading through the snow to find food, and using their heads to 'bulldoze' the snow to find grass below.

This is a minus 22 degree morning near the Firehole River and the thermals of the Old Faithful area. Trees and bison were covered in frost.

Close Up ! From the safety of the vehicle ;-)

This pair of young bulls was watching our group as the sun rose over the ridge

Long Tailed Weasel - He is a quick and cautious little fellow. His winter phase coat is a perfect camouflage for the snowy landscape

Bighorn Sheep - Another of the iconic species of Yellowstone

This fellow is one of the biggest rams that our guides had ever seen in the Yellowstone region. Note the long curl of his horns. You can count the ridges of their horns like rings of a tree. He is 9 or 10 years old. And note the big piece missing from his left horn. He has seen a few battles.

We found this fellow down in the valley with his harem. We could creep to the edge of the hill to capture him up close.



The other icon that we did not get images of were wolves. The numbers of wolves in the park are down, and there has not been enough snow to force them down to the valleys to hunt.

Overall a great trip to a great national treasure. Highly recommend it for landscape or wildlife enthusiasts !

Dale

The Bears of Katmai

I recently returned from a great adventure. I traveled to Alaska to visit the Brown Bears in South-East Alaska

The Brooks River in the Katmai National Park and Preserve is a long way from the Midwest. It takes three or four airplane rides to travel all the way to Brooks Camp

In September the Bears are busy with one thing: eating!!

Since leaving their dens in March and April, the bears have been busy regaining the 40% of body weight that was lost during the winter hibernation.

The cubs and their mammas travel up and down the river fishing and grazing on late season berries.

These are 'cubs of the season'. Born in January, they emerged from the den with their mother in the spring. They will hibernate with her this winter and spend next summer with her as well.

The juvenile bears that have separated from their mothers are out there too. When not eating they are often wrestling, practicing for the more serious battles that will take place in the future. The battles we saw could be loud and vigorous, but usually (but not always !) no blood is shed.

The big male bears hang out at Brooks Falls. These bears are the expert fishermen. One bear might catch and eat six or eight salmon in a matter of a few hours. The guides said that we were witnessing a strong fall salmon run.

Fields Afire !

Recently I had the great opportunity to document a prairie burn in the Kansas Flint Hills

The ranches in this grassland country use prescribed burns to clear the pastures of the dead grass from the previous season. This allows for more and better new grass and provides control the weeds and brush.

For the photographer this is an environment of heat, smoke, sharp contrasts in light, and sometimes smoke in your eyes.

The burning is highly controlled to provide the desired effects while minimizing risk.

Adding the light of fire to the shadows of dusk make for some striking images

A Conservation Discussion - for the readers with interest in preservation of natural environments, you may be concerned about the effects of fire on the prairie. No need to be concerned! Fire on these lands are a natural and beneficial event. See these articles from the Nature Conservancy and National Geographic.

The prairies of the Flint Hills and the larger Great Plains region would not have existed as wide open spaces without the actions of fire. Fire maintains the open nature of the grasslands. Without fire woody species sprout into the open spaces and eventually crowd out the grasses. You may have heard or read about the large and destructive wildfires in Kansas and Oklahoma this spring. These were in areas where controlled burning is not practiced. The invasive red cedars were a big part of the fuel for these fires.

You may be thinking that this is a practice that was introduced by the settlers from the east. Not True! Native Americans used fire for much the same reason that the ranchers do today. Burned areas grow more and better new grass. In this historic case the increase in new grass attracted more bison and other grazing species, which were a prime food source for the tribes. Additionally the grazing animals prefer the shorter grass areas because there is less cover for the predators to approach undetected. And in the geographic history of these lands prairie fire, sparked by lightning, are part of the geologic record.