It sure feels like winter is over in Yellowstone.  Day time highs are warm, the snow is melting off the roads, most of the facilities in the park are now closed, and the remainder of the roads will close in a few days.   I haven't posted much lately so I thought I'd post a few photos to recap the winter.

Above is a bull elk near Blacktail Creek.  This guy was biggest of the six bulls hanging in this area.  The image was made with a Canon 5D Mk2 and a 500 mm lens.

This shot of a young moose peering around a tree was made in Silver Gate, just outside the Northeast Entrance.  I saw four moose there on this particular day.  I can't remember the equipment I used, but it was shot out the car window.

Above is a Golden Eagle seen in Lamar Valley.  This guy was actually just on the side of the road.  I looked away for just a second and the eagle flew off.  I hope the guy in the car in front of me got a shot of that.  Photo made with a Canon 50D and 500mm lens out the car window.

And lastly, another wolf from one of my lucky wolf encounters.  This was shot with a Canon 50D and 500mm lens.  I can't remember if I used a TC on this one or not.  Equipment was mounted on a tripod.

On a side note, my Europe trip has been cancelled, so I am taking orders as usual.  However, I'm not much in a position to take photos right now, so Photos of the Week for a couple of weeks will probably be older images.

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.

I spent the past weekend up in the Northern Range of Yellowstone so I could do some wildlife photography.  My goal was for whatever critters I was lucky enough to see, but I had heard of a bobcat hanging out near Phantom Lake.  As much as I'd love to photograph one in the winter, I still struck out.  But I did get lucky with wolves this week, for the first time this winter.

One afternoon, while driving back towards Slough Creek, a grey wolf came down a hill near where I was parked and crossed the bridge over the Lamar River.  She was in heat and was followed by several other wolves, but they never approached the road.  Once the wolf was safely across the bridge, I went across too and parked in a pullout there.  The wolf walked about 100 yards off the road, found a place to nap, and slept for almost two hours.  I watched this by myself for about 90 minutes or so before others finally noticed her.  When she awoke, she howled to the other wolves for several minutes before moving off to rejoin them.  I was going to use the above image, "Winter's Call" as this week's Photo of the Week at www.travelsinbearcountry.com, but after going through some of the other images from that encounter, I've opted to use something else.  Meanwhile, here's two other images from that afternoon.

All of these images were made with a Canon 50D using a Canon 500mm L lens and 1.4 teleconverter mounted on a tripod with a gimbal head.

Occasionally by email, but more often when displaying prints in person, I get asked "how did you get this shot?"  I do a lot of different types of photography with most of my work being wildlife and landscapes but I've done some portrait stuff too.  Landscape photography, I feel, takes a lot of patience and talent.  It requires a special eye to see a good landscape image and then translate that into a piece of art.  More often too, it requires more photoshop skills than wildlife photography with the use of HDR techniques, blending, etc.  To clarify, I personally do not or have not used HDR on any of my shots, but I don't disapprove of photographers who do. It's a personal choice. This comment is based on what I see being done by some good landscape photographers, and I do not consider myself a good landscape photographer by any stretch!

For a shot like the above, and in my opinion, most good wildlife shots, require a good dose of luck.  There can be nice light, there can be a subject, but if that subject isn't doing anything interesting, then it can still be tough to get a good shot.  Where the landscape photographer is often alone, studying a scene through his or her camera, wildlife photographers are often congregated enmasse, standing around chatting while waiting for the subject to "do something". 

There are some obvious things also needed; the right equipment, a good deal of patience, nice light, and of course, a subject.  For example, the above photo, "Yellow Eyes" was created in February 2008 on a snowcoach trip from Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful.  I had my equipment with me, of course, the light was overcast, not ideal, but not harsh either, and I was looking out for subjects.  The snowcoach unexpectedly broke down on Swan Lake Flats and we ended up sitting there for about an hour before another one arrived to transport us.  After being frustrated with the situation at first, I finally told myself perhaps there's a purpose to this delay.  Sure enough, as we neared Norris, two gray wolves trotted down the road towards us.  We stopped so as to not scare the wolves and they passed by us.  Shortly after, a third wolf, this black one, came running down the road trying to catch up.  Again we stopped and this wolf can up to the front of our coach, indecisive on which side to pass us.  It was at this moment I captured this image, hanging out the window of the coach.

 So with the holiday season upon us, a great idea for an inexpensive gift is a calendar.  And as luck would have it, my 2010 calendars are available for $19.99 plus shipping at Lulu.com.  Click here for more details!

Here's an article on the Canyon wolves that drew so much attention this winter around Mammoth:

Since their visit to Yellowstone National Park's headquarters this winter and spring, wolves in the Canyon pack have been "model citizens," said Doug Smith, the park's wolf biologist. The pack of three males and one female caused quite a stir with their trek from Canyon, 32 miles away by car, to the residential confines of Mammoth, Wyo. They were visible next to the road and even killed a cow elk near the park's grade school. To move the human-habituated wolves away from the small community, Smith shot at them with rubber bullets and cracker shells when they ventured too close. The park even roped off a portion of the hillside just outside Mammoth this spring to keep curious tourists away when the pack's lone female denned to give birth to pups. It was believed the pack picked the small area between other packs because of the abundance of elk. Once the elk dispersed in spring, the pack moved, too, traveling back to the Hayden Valley near the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone in the park's interior.

The rest of this article, from the Billings Gazette, can be read at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_f0c774c0-7b2a-11de-a205-001cc4c002e0.html

From a personal basis, I never really saw the Canyon wolves causing any trouble.  They, as far as I saw or heard, had not approached people.  They were hunting in an area where there were plenty of elk and no other wolves.  It just happened to be in and around Mammoth Hot Springs.  This isn't the first time wolves have hunted at Mammoth.  Several years back a kill occurred on the steps of the Mammoth Dining Room, leaving quite a mess for visitors on their way to breakfast.  The photo above is of the Canyons before anyone really had any idea who they were.  The image was made at Blacktail Ponds.