This time, nobody scared my cranes away.

The last few days I'd been getting up at 5:00, leaving the hotel by 5:30 and getting to the Lamar at 6:30 or so... right about the time it was getting light enough for decent viewing/photography. I mentioned this to Willem the night before, since he had such a long day coming from New York. No need to get up earlier than necessary.

Good thing Willem didn't take my advice! I got to the Lamar and was stopped by some of the wolf patrol, who were essentially trying to keep folks from driving down the road in order to prevent a repeat of the previous day's drama. The Sloughs had been separated again on opposite sides of the road. This time Sharp Right and the yearling were together down by the river, while the alpha male was up in the hills. As I got out and waited and watched the two wolves make their way along the river, Willem pulled up. He had left Gardiner earlier anyway, and got caught right in the middle of the wolf "crossfire" not a half hour beforehand. It turns out the alpha was right be the road as Willem drove by, and he managed to get a few shots in the pre-dawn haze (really nice shots, despite being hand-held in low light... See Willem's photos here).

After the wolves had successfully crossed the road, we explored further down toward Soda Butte and out toward Round Prairie. Not much action there, so we worked our way back toward Roosevelt, where Willem wanted to get some shots of the bear on the carcass (yes, he was still there). In the meantime, I went back up to where I had spotted the sheep the previous evening. Sure enough, they were bedded down a few yards down a trail, so I took a few "sheep sleep" shots.

Bison were just starting to bear their young. This calf is no more than a couple days old.

I had promised myself that I'd make it back down to check out the Old Faithful area, so I picked this day to do it. I didn't make it far past Mammoth though, sacking out in the Sheepeater Cliffs parking lot for a two hour nap before proceeding south. Once again, I spotted the sandhill cranes I had passed a couple days before (which had been scared away). This time, I didn't bother waiting for anyone to show up and scare them again... I fired off a few shots from the car before moving into the trees with my tripod to get a few shots. Things worked out this time.

I passed a number of the geyser basins, but chose not to stop. I'm not a huge fan of the thermals to begin with, and I was opting to concentrate on the walk around Old Faithful. What did make me stop was a small herd of bison. There was a wee bisonlet huddled on the ground, trying to stay warm on this chilly, windy day. It couldn't have been more than a couple of days old.

Eventually, I made it to Old Faithful. The parking lot had been plowed, and snow was stacked high, high up (10+ feet) in between areas of the lot. I traversed the upper boardwalk, and then returned to wait out the famous geyser, figuring it had been a couple years since I had taken any shots. I waited and waited... and waited. Apparently, I had arrived just after its last eruption, because I sat there in the bitter wind for well over an hour. Ravens and bluebirds swooped and fluttered by, overturning bison droppings and digging in for the bugs that were found beneath. At long last, Old Faithful went off... not for long of course, and I felt sorry for the next batch of stragglers who were just arriving and had missed the show. Hopefully the wind would die down a bit during their wait.

A pair of sandhills cranes hung out near Floating Island Lake.

The drive north and back toward Lamar was relatively uneventful. Another bison calf walking along the road, and I spotted a kestrel. This is the first time I've actually noticed kestrels in the park, but unfortunately they were too small and kept flying on to the next tree before I could get any decent shots.

Lamar was quiet, though the wolf-watchers were camped at Slough Creek again. We did manage to spot a huge grizz far up on a hillside, but he was on a mission, and soon disappeared over the hill. Time to head back to Gardiner. The pair of sandhills at Floating Island Lake was back, and this time close to the road. I stayed in the car and they didn't fly off, so I managed to get a few shots in the fading light.

The arrival of evening was accelerated by dark clouds and extremely high winds. As I approached the north entrance, an osprey caught my eye. It was soooooo cold, but I stubbornly hung around hoping to get a shot of it taking off. It did of course, but flew behind a tree, and then very slowly, it glided downriver, buffeted by the high winds which nearly held it in place as it scanned for fish. Still, it was too far and the wind was too cold for me... time to get inside and warm up.