Fantastic viewing of 4 grizzly bears, 2 black bears, and 9 wolves - 8 of them from the Slough Pack. Bison and calves were plentiful, elk, white tail deer, antelope, big horn sheep are everywhere. Saw only one coyote. Red tail hawks, osprey, sandhill cranes, blue birds and many other small birds are enjoying the spring weather.
Animal viewing was great in Yellowstone Park- six grizzly bears, 11 wolves, 15 coyotes and 2 moose. Sandhill cranes have paired up and we saw about a dozen. Beautiful osprey, hawks and young bald eagle.
It is opening weekend for automobile traffic in the Park. The elk and bison look haggard and gaunt due to the extreme winter conditions. It has been ten years since the Park has had so much snow. The west end of the park received an amazing 110 inches in March. Snow melt has been slow and snowstorms are still a common occurrence.
We are enjoying the sights in Yellowstone Park and watched 30 wolves from 4 packs. The howling of the wolves is amazing to listen to. We saw a pack of 7 coyotes a couple of times- the largest in the park. The bison are traveling on the roads because the snow is so deep. Fog, frost and light snow throughout the weekend made the park a winter wonderland. Numerous elk, antelope and bison are near the park entrance at Gardiner where there is no snow. Also saw a few big horned mountain sheep.
We had an incredibly spectacular trip to Yellowstone Park this week end. We experienced an amazing close up view of 3 beautiful cougars standing in the middle of the road! We were absolutely surprised and I think they were too as the car lights shone on them. We could hardly believe what we were seeing- they were so beautiful, powerful and agile and of course the long tail was unmistakable. It was so exciting.
We also saw 3 grizzly bears, 30 wolves from 2 packs, 1 fox, 25 coyotes, 2 eagles, several deer and hundreds of elk and bison.