Day 1 was highlighted by this great gray owl sighting

"Boo!"

That's what I should have said as Bart and Monique did triple takes last night when I magically appeared at the K-Bar. Reunited with my Dutch friends (Helene and Rene somehow expected me to be there), I was eager to begin my first September park visit in a decade, and the first one during the rut/turning of the leaves.

Despite a fitful night of sleep, I managed to rise in time to hit the road behind H&R, they spry and refreshed with a cup of joe in hand, me groggily trying to wash down a banana without spilling water all over myself behind the wheel.

It was slowly starting to lighten as we stopped briefly at Mammoth. An adult bull elk, not one of the giants of the village but impressive nonetheless, walked by us, bugling a response to a rival's call over the hillside. We watched him disappear before jumping back in the cars and heading east. Near Lava Creek, another bull stood grandly on a far slope guarding his harem. A veil of fog hung behind him in the damp air... really a great setting for some photos, except that he was way too far away. We drove past, still waiting for the first photo op of the day.

No bears in sight all the way past Tower. A couple of young mulie bucks scampered over a ridgeline quickly, but otherwise it was a really quiet morning. A few bison scattered across the slopes near the road toward Dunraven, but again, no bears.

So we made it to Canyon and quickly headed to the area where that popular great gray owl has been seen over the last several months. A caravan of photographers, led by our own Sandi and Rick, were already there. Rick tromped off on his own to look for the owl in the woods, and within minutes was radioing that he had found it. Amazing! Naturally, we all gathered our gear and hit the trail.

Sure enough, there was the owl, in the first clearing.

On the prowl, it soon glided off to another snag and the "chase" was on. Bart and Monique had managed to track us down at this point, and the quiet little herd of photographers followed that owl all over the woods. A couple times it disappeared in the trees, but reappeared further along in another clearing.

Though I had first seen a great gray (possibly the same one) here in May, this jaunt through the forest was an incredible experience and served up a number of good photos to boot.

Playful gray jays chased each other through the woods

As we were walking back to the cars, some gray jays kept chasing each other along the treeline near us. I had to take a few photos, since I've never had a chance to shoot these playful, inquisitive birds before.

The rest of the day was a slow blur, partially due to very few animal sightings. H & R and I saw three bald eagles battling stiff breezes along Mary Bay, but they rocketed by us so quickly that only Helene was able to fire one frame at 'em (it turned out pretty well, IMO). We hit Lake Butte Overlook and made it up to Sylvan Lake, the first time I'd actually been to either location.

Stopping for lunch back on Dunraven Pass, we met Dave, who'd actually moved his home base to Gardiner after noting a lack of elk the last day or two at Madison. After gabbing for a bit, we pressed on further, still seeking our first bear of the day, and eventually we got it. The popular black sow with cub caused a jam west of Petrified Tree. Unfortunately, they were plowing up a hillside right into the sunlight, which made for some really difficult photography. About the only saving grace was the cool effect of the glowing plantlife that lit up around the bears.

Spending our fair share of time there after reuniting with Bart and Monique and meeting Loren, we managed to just miss a large grizzly out toward Blacktail Plateau. Instead of chasing down the road where the grizz *may* have gone, we instead headed toward Mammoth to try and catch some elk action.

It was a dud. One very large, lonely bull sat alone in a corner, while some other younger males sat lazily or grazed... we almost witnessed some sparring, but that lasted all of two seconds. The other two big males who had harems were taking the rest of the day off, undoubtedly counting their prized females.

On the way out, a quick stop for a large bighorn family on the way to Gardiner, and then a special dinner in Bozeman to cap off the night. Tomorrow, an extra early wakeup call. Oh boy!