The highlight of Day 3: wolves!

Another early morning, another trip to the Lamar Valley. A couple of the Sloughs were high up in the hills above the Institute, barely seen through scopes as they hunkered down on a ridgeline. Every time they raised their head to howl, you'd be able to see them. Further down the road, folks were pulled over and out on a berm overlooking the area where the cottonwoods stand. Apparently, I just missed the action, as a couple wolves had crossed the road not a half hour beforehand... presumably, these were the wolves I had just been watching.

The rest of the valley being quiet, I headed back to Slough Creek. Spent some time on Dave's Hill chatting a bit with Lori(?), a retired school teacher who's pursuing her passion by participating in the wolf project. The mystery pack was in their usual spot at the den site, but little was happening. Time to take another drive back through the valley before deciding whether to move on elsewhere.

This time, I was in luck. Again, there were a number of vehicles pulled over. Peeking out into the valley, I was able to spot a wolf with my naked eye. Time to grab the photo gear and set up. Over the next hour-and-a-half or so, we watched as one of the Sloughs, "Sharp Right" (named for the severe bend in her tail) stood impatiently out by the river, howling away.

This pronghorn takes advantage of the spring growth.

She was extremely antsy and sported a noticeable limp, apparently the result of a run-in with some coyotes up on the northern side of the road. The coyotes had chased her out of their territory, a skirmish that was witnessed by a number of people. She ended up being separated from a Slough yearling, who was reluctant to cross the road due to the amount of human traffic. As he wandered cautiously in the foothills above, she continued to call to him.

He eventually worked his way up to the top of the hill and waited for her. Sharp Right eventually got fed up and headed toward the road. She crossed the river (note: this is right when my camera decided to have a convenient "error 99") and bolted through the grass to the west of us, crossing right in front of an SUV which was lucky enough to pull up just at the right moment. The wolves eventually reunited at the top of the hill and disappeared over the crest. This was the closest I had ever been to any of Yellowstone's wolves, and I came away knowing that it didn't matter what else had happened on the trip...

It was late morning, and I had promised myself I'd take a break for a couple hours in the afternoon to recuperate from all these early morning wake-up times. I headed back to Gardiner.

After a bit of rest, I headed back out. Near Blacktail Plateau, a coyote made a beeline for my car and the road. It didn't slow down as I approached slowly. I stopped just before it crossed right in front of my bumper. Out of the window, I gave it a quick whistle, and got this stare. This may part of the family that lived in the den so many of us saw last year in this area. I'd run into this one and more of them later...

Back toward Lamar, after more wolf action at Slough, I stopped at a pull out at the end of the "narrows" where a couple was setting up their scope. It turns out that they were looking at a great horned owl nest... one which Helene had tried to point me to last year, but I never found. No wonder, as it was extremely far away and difficult to spot without help. Later, I hiked down near the river to get as close as possible with my lens... and this is all I could see. You can barely see the owl peeking out above the nest!

Evening approached, and I headed back. I turned the corner past the Yellowstone Picnic Area, and lo and behold, there were bighorns by the road! Imagine that, I finally see the mythical bighorns of the YPA trail (after a few failed attempts), and I didn't even have to hike the trail to see them.

Bighorn sheep aren't shy and don't mind the paparazzi.

As I fired away on this group of rams, a gentleman got out of his SUV and approached. He was more interested in my lens than the sheep, peering at it intently. "Is that the 500?" he asked. "Yup."

"Are you Max?" Whaddya know, Willem had found me!

Willem grabbed his Bigma and fired a few shots off, but we soon decided to call it a night, as the sheep kept approaching us, eventually getting within a couple feet. A good way to end a long, eventful day.