With the winter season about to come to a close for me, I thought I'd post a few photos of some of the wildlife scene in the park.  The above image is a grey wolf that crossed the road near where I was parked.  I rolled down my window and shot through it, using the window to hold the lens steady.  This image was made with a Canon 5D mk 2 shot at 500mm.  The wolf crossed the road near the Slough Creek turn off.

Bald eagles can usually be found near winter kill or wolf kill carcasses.  These two bald eagles were in this dead tree at Mammoth waiting for a turn to feed on a wolf kill carcass.  Again, in order not to scare off the eagles, I shot through my car window, braced against the window, using a Canon 50D and shot at 500mm.

These bison were blocking the road in Lamar Valley.  Often when stuck behind cars due to animals on the road, I pull out my camera while waiting.  I shot with the window down using a Canon 5D mk 2 and zoom lens.   The near bison was on the far side of the road while the distant bison was out in the valley.

And finally, this coyote, was shot in Little America late one afternoon.  I used a Canon 50D  and 500mm lens to capture this image.  Again, the image was shot from the car.  The coyote was howling to its mate, which was further down the road.  I shoot from the car alot for several reasons.  First, if the animal is close to the road, it's safer for me and the animal if I stay in the car.  Second, animals in Yellowstone are more accustomed to seeing vehicles so they are less likely to flee and act natural if there is a car pulled over on the side of the road.  Countless times I've been photographing this way only to have another car pull up and the occupants climb out causing the animal to run off.

Any time I can photograph wildlife, I'm content.  While the Smokies don't have the number or diversity of wildlife as the western parks do, there's still some nice wildlife to see.  The only bear I saw was one grazing in a meadow at a great distance, so I was unable to photograph it.  But I saw several deer and a lot more turkeys than I remember from the days when I frequented this park regularly.  The whitetail buck photographed above was about the largest I saw.  In this image, he is walking towards the road, a soft misty fog enveloping the scene as the sun back lit everything.  I exposed for the deer, letting everything else fall where it may.  The backlighting on the leaves and grasses was nice, especially with the light fog.

 Elk are more common in the Smokies.  They can regularly been seen in Cataloochee Valley, but this bull had his harem of cows near Oconaluftee, where they can also frequently be seen.  The morning mist lay close to the ground as the bull moved towards a rival.  The sun still sat below the mountains.  While I hoped that the elk would stay in the meadow and the sun would backlight the elk and the mist, it would not be so, and the elk moved into the forest before the sun crested the mountains.  I metered the exposure off the elk and adjusted the white balance later.

Finally, while I saw more turkeys than I could count, rarely where they close enough to photograph.  And when they were, the light was often not strong enough for a fast shutter speed.  This turkey however, stepped out of the shadows and into this patch of light, giving me a fast enough shutter as well as some interesting lighting.  I metered the overall scene but then underexposed the shot so all would be in shadow except the area were the sun was shining.

The Smokies are home to an amazing diversity of wildlife, including a huge variety of salamanders, raccoons, opossums, deer, elk, black bears, coyotes, squirrels, and other creatures.  I do feel fortunate however, to come away with the limited number of wildlife shots that I did, as any chance to see and photograph wildlife is always a blessing!

Well, it's finally snowing in Yellowstone.  It snowed most of the day today, though the snow that accumulated is less than an inch.  Dunraven Pass is currently closed.  Fishing Bridge to West Thumb is still closed due to damage done to the road from the Arnica Fire.  The Arnica Fire, now that the snow has come, is almost just a bad memory.  Though it's a memory that's left it's scar on the landscape.  The area in the photos from my first post on the Arnica Fire have, reported to me from someone working on the fire, been burned.  That area won't look the same in my lifetime.  In any event, the fire crews have left and mother nature is tending to itself.

With less than a week to my season here in the park, I haven't had much chance to take photos.  Other than the black bear on Dunraven, and a few elk here and there, I haven't heard of any exciting wildlife sightings.  But with cooler weather here, the wildlife could start to be more visible again soon.

The mid summer months can be a hard time to find and photograph wildlife.  When something cool is visible, there's often so many cars stopped that trying to get images can still be very difficult.  I often hear people say they haven't seen anything except bison, or maybe a few mule deer, and perhaps a few elk at Mammoth.  It's actually easy in July and August not to see anything and seeing something out of the ordinary takes some work.

One thing I always do is to follow up on tips.  However, wildlife rarely stay in the same spot for long.  Seeing a bear at Canyon today doesn't guarantee that it will be there tomorrow.  In fact,  unless there's a carcass, it will probably be long gone.  But when there is something to hold a particular animal in an area, such as a roadside carcass, then it may be worth investigating.  Of course, I use a carcass only as an example.  One should never approach a carcass, especially when it's evident that something has been feeding on it.  And I recommend avoiding searching for carcasses in the backcountry.  I had heard that the otters were back at Trout Lake this year, so I made three different trips.  As a result, I was able to get some nice otter shots that, if I hadn't have followed up, I would never have taken.

Another piece of photography advice I learned fairly quickly in Yellowstone is to always have a camera with me.  Even when it is July or August, you never know if you will come across something.  I learned this lesson by not having a camera with me several times when I could have had some nice shots.  I often joked that if I didn't bring my camera, then I'd see something cool.  Now I always carry it, even if I'm going to town.  This grizzly bear image was made on a road trip to Cody, WY.  As we drove along the East Entrance Road, this bear was seen.  Had I not had my camera, I wouldn't have been able to take this and the other photos I did.  So an outing that had nothing to do with photography ended up yielding a few nice shots.

Lastly, much of the mega fauna that everyone wants to see have typically moved into the high country, away from roads, to escape the heat and biting insects.  But there's still plenty of other critters to aim a lens at.  Marmots, pikas, mule deer, ducks, ground squirrels, and other critters can offer nice photo opportunities for those willing to see.  I saw this goldeneye at Trout Lake on one of my trips to photograph otters.  I was skunked on the otters but ended up spending a beautiful morning at Trout Lake with some friends and photographing a few ducks.  While I didn't get the otter shots I was after, I still came away with some nice images and had a good time talking to my friends.

Wildlife sightings are never guaranteed. I think that's one of the things that makes photographing them so challeninging and interesting.  Even if you have a lovely seen and beautiful light, you still can't make a nice wildlife image without the wildlife.  And when you have the animal, if you don't have nice light and interesting behavior, then there's still no guarantees.  July adds to those challenges with creatures being harder to find, but with patience, great images can still be had.

This week in Yellowstone has been a wildlife photographer's dream.  I didn't think each day would be better than the last, but sure enough, I'd get lucky and come across something cool.  Opening day, April 17th, brought the grizzly in the snow (see previous entry).  April 18th was a fairly slow day, but I did get to see some wolves.  April 19th started with a grizzly on a carcass along the Madison River.  The bear didn't stay long, dragging the bison carcass into the woods once a large crowd started to gather.

That afternoon, the Canyon group had another kill in the Mammoth campground.  The harsh light didn't allow for real great photos, but watching a coyote chase off a wolf (yes, that's right) was pretty interesting.

April 21st started out with two wolf sightings, including one of the nicest wolf shots I've ever taken (see the upcoming photo of the week on Sunday, April 26) and included a small black bear, two more wolves (Canyon group wolves on kill near the Mammoth High Bridge), sandhill cranes, trumpeter swans, baby bison, and more, including this meadowlark.

But April 22nd ended up being the highlight of the week to date.  The day started with a black wolf sighting (though it was too far away for photos).  But the main attraction was found north of Roaring Mountain.  Two cars were stopped on the side of the road and I almost didn't notice the grizzly grazing along Obsidan Creek.  I ended up watching and photographing this bear for almost two hours.  The rangers did a nice job of keeping people safely back while allowing everyone to get some nice shots.  Two ravens were scavenging worms and other grubs that the bear missed.  The bear frequently chased the ravens, as seen in this image below.

On the drive home, I saw several more bison calves, including the one photographed below.  I also saw that pronghorn had returned to their summer range, as, for the first time this year, they were visible in both Little America and Lamar Valley.

Definitely a great week.  Today is cloudy and windy, with rain and snow are in the forecast for the next several days.  While the weather may turn, at least the first part of the week couldn't have been any better.