Wildlife Sighting!

This was the most incredible day for seeing wildlife along the road – specifically, bison/buffalo and black bears!  I’m not including all the images, just the ones that seemed to show them off the best…..

 

In another posting (On the Road to Watson Lake), I talked about a very foolish woman who was standing much too close to some bison.  These are the big boys she was up close and almost too personal with!  We were viewing them from our RV, nice and safe!  We saw a number of bison like this when we were at Yellowstone National Park last year, and one of the more interesting things about them is that when they move, they sort of grunt like a pig.  You’d think something of this size (these 2 are probably around 2,000 lbs. each) would make a bigger noise than that….

 

Here’s one of the black bears we saw on this day’s travel.  It’s interesting to note that there are also a fair number of people (more that I would have guessed there would be) who ride their bikes (laden with tents, sleeping bags, and their gear – I wouldn’t last a block biking all that stuff!) along the highway heading up to or back from Alaska.  I asked Jeff if it wasn’t dangerous being around the bears (they tend to swing way wide of the bison, who leave them alone….besides bison don’t eat people), given that the bears are along the side of the road, and he said that at this time of the year, there’s so much other stuff for the bears to eat, they really aren’t interested in people.  Hmmmm…..hope all those cyclists are back home before it gets to be later in the season and there isn’t so much for them to eat.

 

Here are a couple other bison we saw further along the road.  We slowed way down and swung way wide to avoid them – they would definitely do some damage to our rig if they had a mind to.  In all, on this leg of our journey, we easily saw at least a dozen bison.

 

I couldn’t resist sharing this image of a shy bear with you!  He’s in the left center of the image, peeking out from behind some bushes.  He was very “into” the grasses and stuff that were over there.  As for the number of bear we saw on this day, I think we probably saw just about as many bear as bison, which is saying a lot, since bison tend to be herd animals and bears…..not so much!

Enjoy!

 

 

Life as a Bison

Since we often found ourselves driving thru the Hayden Valley, we got a good look at many bison going about their daily activities.  Here are just a few photos that help capture that…..

 

One time, we were lucky enough to see a number of bison crossing the Yellowstone River.  This herd seemed to stay in this area.  They did migrate southward while we were there, but didn’t ever leave the valley.  This was also a large herd – perhaps numbering close to 1,000!

 

There were a number of baby bison in the herd, altho this shot was one of the sweetest that I took of a mom and her baby.  Whoever would think one would use the word sweet when talking about a bison?

 

This was a rather unnerving situation.  When the bulls started fighting with each other, they were pretty much oblivious to anything around them.  That’s ok, except when they are just up the little bluff from our Jeep, which was stopped in traffic.  I certainly hoped they kept their tussling up there on the bluff and not bring it down the little hill!

 

I won’t use the word “sweet” again, but the baby bison are sometimes pretty cute!

Enjoy!

Bison on the Road !

If you are in Yellowstone, and drive thru the Hayden Valley, you can just about bet on seeing some bison (aka buffalo)!  And, they are not shy about sharing the road with whatever’s driving on it!  Of course, it’s really the human drivers who are doing the sharing…… 

 

It wasn’t unusual for us to have to slow to a leisurely 2-3 mph when driving thru the valley.  But, you just can’t rush a bison.  If anyone tried to toot their horn (which, of course, no one would), the bison might be startled and butt into whatever vehicle is closest – and a 2,000 lb. animal can really do quite the “car butt” if it chooses to!

 

Here’s a bison passing us on the left.  Never mind that the passing was happening right down the middle of the road.  You can see a bit of the motorhome on the road going in the opposite direction from us.  Both of us just pulled over to the shoulder to give Mr. B a wide berth!

(Insert Bison approaching)

And, here’s a guy walking down the road toward us.  Frequently, when a bison starts to cross the road, he decides walking on the road for a bit seems like a good idea.  Who are we to argue?

Enjoy!

Bison on a Misty Morn

There will be more bison photos in a subsequent blog, but I wanted to include these images from a magical morning one day as we headed out to see more of Yellowstone.  It was an incredible morning, not one that I’ve seen that often…

 

Here’s a bison (buffalo) grazing, totally oblivious to the beautiful sunrise behind it!  The over-riding feeling of this morning was one of a peaceful way to start the day.

 

Here is more of the herd grazing in the morning.  The misty sunrise adds such a gentle touch to these beasts that seem to be anything but!

This image is a great profile of a bison as the herd seems to be heading toward the sun.  And, the sun thru the mist takes on a surreal glow.

I really like this last image – the sunrise, the bison and the mist moving across the water behind them.  What a great way to start the day.

Enjoy!