A long drive south was rewarded with a great fox encounter |
This trip report was originally posted live on the Yellowstone.net forums during a trip to Yellowstone National Park in May, 2008. There are some references to that forum in these reports, so beware of obscure references! Some photos have been removed or resized to accomodate these pages. View the full sized photos and many, many more images from the trip in the Yellowstone May 2008 Photo Gallery.
Today was a looong day, highlighted by one 10 minute event. All the rest was driving.
We opted to head to Jackson to find the foxes. It seemed like sacrilege not heading to Roosevelt, Tower and the Lamar first thing. I was holding out hope that yesterday's good weather would continue, but that notion was dispelled as soon as we crested Swan Lake Flats. For the next four hours, we would be pelted with all forms of moisture (except for sweat, since we never had to move a muscle to get out of the car and see something).
On the way down, there was a bald eagle and a few sandhills in the saturated Swan Lake Flats area, and nothing but bison the rest of the way until we saw one moose near the ponds at the Jackson Lake Lodge.
Before continuing on to Jackson, we did the rounds at Oxbow, the dam, etc., and saw a few pelicans, but no other moose, bears or small furry critters. As we hit Jackson, the skies dried up a bit, and I was getting eager to step outside and shoot before the rain returned. Unfortunately, we were thrust headlong into a parade that had tied up half the roads in town. In fact, the road on which the foxes were located was the same road being used as the parade staging area!
After circling around half the town, we finally managed to spot a small group of photographers huddled under umbrellas (yes, the rain was back). Just as we started unloading our gear, they all packed up and left. So at least we knew this was the right spot, even if there were no foxes to be seen.
Luckily, momma fox showed up almost immediately, and she was bringing a meal.
Two kits sprung out of the den and greeted her, and immediately began wrestling over the food. Funny, we thought there were more than two kits... In the meantime, the vixen left. She quickly reappeared, but was led by another kit, which had been hiding in the bushes. Apparently this kit had won the honor of transporting the second part of dinner home, and it bounded forward proudly with a ground squirrel almost as large as itself firmly clamped in its jaws.
Eventually one more kit emerged from the bushes, so we saw four of the five, but never more than two at a time. Mom left again to go hunt, and for the next hour we watched her make two revolutions around the den site without catching anything. In the meantime, it had started to rain harder and it was our lunch time, so we decided to leave.
8 hours of driving, 1 hour of waiting, 10 minutes of fox time, but it was certainly worth the effort since I had never been up close and personal with a red fox before. :)
Back north to Yellowstone in a constant drizzle, occasionally wet snow. Everywhere was quiet. We saw an immature bald eagle along the lake shore, people waiting at Mary Bay for the grizz and cubs to reappear and Bart when he was heading home. He insists the weather will be better tomorrow, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll finally get to meet Rosie and her cubs.
Day 2 >> | Yellowstone Home
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