Bighorn sheep were getting frisky in Lamar Valley.

I was hoping this was my last early morning for a while. I'd decided that this would be my last day in the park. Despite having a few hours the following morning before heading north to Bozeman, I figured sleeping in for once would do me some good.

First run through the Lamar... it was overcast, cold (again) and darker than the last few mornings. I spotted movement out in the scrub. No wolf this time, just a coyote. But it was on the prowl, and I had a decent angle from my car window. It was listening intently to what was happening beneath the snow. Maybe I'd luck into some mousing and pouncing.

After a few pokes into the snow here and there, it moved out away from the road. Time for me to move along as well.

I rounded the bend near the confluence and caught site of a large group of bighorns that had been there the last day or two. As I sat and watched, a few of the males started going at it, butting horns. I fired a few uncomfortable shots from my window, before finally parking the car and setting up on the tripod.

Naturally, they stopped after I set up. The rams were getting frisky though, sniffing and chasing many of the females, with a number of failed attempts to mount. Meanwhile, the kids were ignoring all this, sprinting back and forth along the hillside. Soon, even playtime died down. Willem had stopped by and said he was heading out to Round Prairie, so I drove off to catch up to him. He hadn't made it yet, so we drove up past Otter Creek. It had been snowing on and off and the road was covered with a thin white blanket. We soon were able to make out footprints heading down the road. Parking at the first turnout in Round Prairie, I examined the tracks... bear prints, heading back toward the Lamar. I decided to follow these to see how far they went. I didn't make it far.

Coyotes sprint to avoid traffic in the Lamar.

Glancing to my left out to the tree line, I noticed something. This something was big, black and had loooong legs, and was staring back at me. "Wolf! There's a wolf!" I shouted to Willem as I scrambled back to my car. Willem grabbed his Bigma, spotted the wolf and fired away (and got some nice shots!). Meanwhile, I started setting up my tripod, praying that it wouldn't head back into the trees.

Naturally, I didn't quite get my wish. I managed to get a few shots as it turned tail and disappeared into the woods. Sigh. Luckily, our patience was rewarded as the wolf reappeared further down along the treeline and began to skirt the border of the prairie. We followed it as it continued northeast, before it ultimately disappeared from sight. We later learned this was probably 302, a collared black male in the Druid Pack. I had missed out on getting a decent shot, but this thrilling experience (spotting a wolf on my own, sans scope) was the highlight of the trip.

A few more passes through the Lamar yielded an encounter with a small pack of coyotes, probably the same group that had chased and harrassed the wolf a couple days ago.

Again, Willem and I met up. He asked if I had seen the grizz... there was no grizz of course, but we kept waiting for the opportunity! We chose to head back toward Gardiner. I pulled out at Slough Creek briefly and Willem passed me... soon on my way again, I was heading through Little America when, lo and behold, there was a grizz running across the far hillside! Poor Willem had missed it (though he more than made up for it a few days later). As seemed to be the case on this trip, the grizz was in a hurry to get somewhere, and it was a long ways off. No pics this time.

Black bears were already out and about during this time of the spring.

At Phantom Lake, there was another bear sighting. This time, there were two black bears up on the hill (and within photo range, thankfully).

The afternoon break in Gradiner came and went. As my final afternoon commenced, I ran across a familiar face (not literally!). The collared coyote I'd seen previously near Blacktail Plateau was back, and accompanied by two others. I figured this might be the family from last year's den... the pups look full grown now, though luckily not all of them are collared!

An uneventful afternoon in the Lamar was highlighted by more red dog sightings in Little America. To cap off the day, Willem and I had agreed to hike the Tower Road, which was closed to motor vehicles. Folks had reported bear sightings along the road, and there had even been a mountain lion spotted in the area a few days beforehand. Leaving our cars, we were immediately greeted by sandhill cranes (the male was even practicing his mating dance) and whitetail deer. Passing a meadow, we spotted two carcasses out in the open. Willem said someone had mentioned a mountain lion kill in the area.... who knows? We traveled up further, toward the Calcite Springs overlook. Lots of small birds in the area, but no bears... It was a nice little hike though. I'd never explored this area on foot before, so it was nice to get a real look at it.

We were able to look out across the canyon to where the Yellowstone Picnic Area trail heads up the ridge. Sure enough, there were bighorns there (undoubtedly since I wasn't on the trail!).

Ospreys don't mind chasing rival suitors far from the nest.

Willem wanted to turn back, presumably to hit the Lamar once more before it grew dark. I convinced him to go a bit further, as I didn't want to cut my last hike short. We continued until we got a better view of one of the osprey nests on the rim of the canyon. This one was occupied by a lone female. It wasn't long before her mate swooped down onto the nest and immediately got down to business (to see the results of this encounter, read the Summer 2006 trip report). A few moments later, another male flew in, veering away at the last second when he saw the female was spoken for! That's when the chase began. The first male took off after the intruder, chasing him around the canyon in an effort to drive him off.

This continued for some time. With at least three active nests along the canyon, there were a lot of nice close-up views of the raptors. A great way to end the trip!