This little bison seemed happy to be alive

As the storm clouds move in and potentially turn the park into a cold, wet wonderland tomorrow, I'll try to quickly churn out my take on a mellow, relaxed and very fun Day 2. My morning commute to the Tower-Roosevelt area was interrupted by a mysterious shape that crossed the road before me in the pre-dawn light. It looked dog-shaped, but small and skinny like a pup... yet too big (and coordinated) to be one of the coyote pups from the nearby den. Frankly it looked a lot like a wolf pup, but when I got out to investigate, I found nothing but coyote tracks and droppings, so I can only assume it was something slightly less exciting than a wolf.

A large herd of bison were canvassing the bottom of the Tower Road and the Roosevelt area. The sun had just risen as I finally took some time to photograph some of the recent newborns.

The Tower area was virtually empty. No bears to speak of (though later we learned that Rosie was spotted there sometime this morning), so I was soon on my way to the Lamar. There was a large crowd at Slough Creek, all gathered apparently because someone had spotted a single wolf, and they were all searching in vain for signs of activity. It didn't take long for everyone to turn their attention to a grizzly sow and three cubs high up on the slopes of Specimen Ridge. The cubs were racing to a and fro, which was quite entertaining to watch through the scope.

It was a good morning for grizzlies in the area, though all were far away. Another sow and two cubs were later spotted above the east end of the Lamar, and a couple other loners were seen. I ran into Helene and Rene as they were having breakfast in the middle of the Lamar, and while were chatting, another gentleman pointed out yet another grizz straight across the valley from us on the other side of the river.

Bill stopped by with his wife at this point, but they soon left to go stalk badgers. Then a sleek, uncollared coyote snuck past us. Soon we got a report of yet another grizzly a few miles up the road. Helene and Rene took off to investigate, while I wandered out into the valley to show Bill where I had seen the badger yesterday. It was a bright, warm sunny day, but not too hot. A perfect day to explore the northern part of the park.

While searching for otters Max almost stepped on this garter snake

Heading toward the northeast entrance, I stopped briefly to see the grizz disappear into the trees at Round Prairie, and then stopped again to peek through scopes at 9 mountain goats on Baronette Peak. Then it was up to Silver Gate to meet up with H & R. Having found no moose there, we turned back and decided to attempt a Trout Lake hike.

All of the huffing and puffing up that hill must've scared any bears away, but I was carrying my spray just in case. We arrived at the lake and circled it clockwise. There were a lot of trout near the trailhead (where the lake filters down toward the Lamar) and plenty of otter droppings to be found on the trail as Bill had mentioned. But no otters. I happened to be pointing out the spot where I saw a snake last year when we almost stepped on a snake!

For some reason, Helene didn't want to get up close to take some pictures, instead choosing to watch the snake through binoculars.

The otters hadn't shown yet as we arrived at the inlet, so we trudged up to Buck Lake, in the offchance the otters might be there. Buck Lake was very quiet, as usual. A pair of goldeneyes and a rambunctious squirrel that was chasing birds, but no otters. So we trudged back to Trout Lake and continued on the trail around the lake. Just as we neared the trailhead, I spotted a sleek shape dip in and out of the water. It was an otter!

We tried to gauge where it was heading, but it swam in circles while keeping one eye focused on us. Eventually it appeared briefly on a grassy log on the far bank close to its den, but then slipped back into the water as we approached. This time it didn't resurface, so we chose to stake out a location along the shore next to the log, in hopes of at least having a view in case it appeared out of the den further down the bank. Five minutes of waiting was interrupted when the otter popped out onto the log, right in front of us! It had a hard time getting comfortable, and soon was munching away on the grass growing from the log. We thought that maybe it was gathering nesting materials for its den. Instead, it was simply trying to make a softer bed for its midday nap.

At the last moment, an otter appeared at Trout Lake

We sat and watched and photographed for quite a while as the otter unsuccessfully tried to get some sleep. It continued to toss and turn, never quite nodding off. Shannon had joined us at this point and was shooting away as well.

Satisfied that we had our highlight of the day, we had lunch at the Yellowstone Picnic Area before heading back up toward Tower, but not before a brief stop to shoot bighorn sheep just down the road from our lunch spot. At Tower, we checked on the owl nest and then Helene noticed that the flicker nest she had spotted yesterday had been torn asunder. We decided to investigate, and found claw marks on the tree that indicated that a predator had indeed come in at some point and destroyed the nest and its contents today. Either an older bear cub or maybe a bobcat are potential suspects, but we have no further leads at this time.

At this point, Bart and Monique showed up, and we took off to explore the Tower Campground for Rosie (nada), headed down the road to view and take some photos of the peregrine falcon and osprey nests, and then ventured further downhill to see a bear. It sounds like this was the same black bear Maniuk saw at the end of his day (though we certainly had no idea Maniuk was there!). The rain soon drove us back to our cars, or maybe it was just the crabby rangers...

Continuing the meeting trend, we next bumped into Bill again, and soon all of us were headed back to Mammoth to enjoy a fun dinner and a few laughs at the dining room. A great end to a fun day.