Rock Bear is a dangerous foe.

And then there was one carload.

Everyone that was left had no qualms about waking up early to search for wildlife... especially since I was driving. We opted to head back toward Lamar via Dunraven Pass. We hadn't been through the Lamar since our first full day in the park, so we were overdue. Heading down past Tower, we passed Rainy Lake (now more or less dry) and slowed for a couple of deer crossing the road. Just up ahead, more cars had slowed... a black bear was ambling along the forested hillside.

We pulled a quick U Turn and stopped the car further down the road, hoping the bear would make its way toward us and out into the sunlight. Slowly but surely, it emerged from the trees and came toward us and the couple other cars that had stopped near us. Meanwhile, the first vehicles that had stopped for the bear shadowed it, slowly creeping behind it down the road. The bear continued toward us, but rather than approaching the road, it decided to head back into the trees and climb up the small ridge overlooking the road. We thought it had disappeared, but soon more cars were stopping further up the road, so we hopped in the car and pulled forward. Sure enough, the bear was out in the open above us.

As we watched from inside the car, it snuffled about, munching flowers and peeking under rocks. Just as it moved parallel with us, the bear found a large flat stone, dug its claws beneath the edge and heaved it up and out of the way...

...down the hill...

...right toward the car.

*tumble*tumble*tumble*

(silence)

BANG!

"Oh great," muttered my girlfriend. It was her car, after all. I, however, couldn't help but laugh. I insisted that this new dent, which joined all of the others caused by terrible drivers on our street back home, would make for a great story.

We didn't see otters, but these fuzzballs on a log sure were cute.

We left Rock Bear behind, not before coming across another deer... which turned out to be chasing a coyote down the road. It was a bizarre morning, to say the least. Through the Lamar we went, making one stop for a group of pronghorns that had four youngsters in tow.

Breakfast followed, as we stopped at the lovely Soda Butte Creek picnic area for blueberry pancakes. Had to finish off those blueberries, after all! After breakfast, we were finally going to tackle Trout Lake, in hopes of finding otters.

No dice. While the trout were active and could be spotted everywhere, including far up the creek that empties into Trout Lake, the otters were nowhere to be seen. A couple of folks were camped out near their den site, but the only attraction at that moment was a common goldeneye and her brood, all perched in a row along a log. The cute babies were constantly shuffling about, nipping at the bugs flying about and nodding off in random stages.

No otters this time, but we had a couple days left. I was still confident we'd find 'em. We returned to the car and drove back through Lamar. This time, we spotted two pronghorns that were chasing a coyote. This particular coyote was slightly more aggressive than the one we saw being chased by a deer earlier. It would occasionally wheel about and attack the antelope, which would run off a short ways before returning and stalking the coyote again.

We made it to the Slough Creek pullout, which had been virtually empty the entire week. I figured we may as well drive up the road toward the campground a ways, just in case there was anything interesting to spot along the way. In one of the larger marshy areas below the road, I did spot some yellow-headed blackbirds flapping about. The males' reedy calls and golden plumage were enough cause for me to pull over.

I set up shop in a sitting position along the hillside overlooking the marsh... and we were promptly attacked by ants. No more sitting! We watched the blackbirds for a half hour or so. There were four or five males in this small area, bouncing about among the reeds. When a female would fly by, the males would dart out and tackle it midflight. Not my idea of romance, but to each his own...

Next stop: Mammoth, which we had yet to explore on foot.

The rest of the day is kind of a blur. We hit Swan Lake Flats, which was naturally empty in the middle of the day. Lunch back at Mammoth and then a low-key afternoon. Near the end of the day, we drove back through the Tower Area (no Rosie/cubs sightings) and I pulled out at an overlook with a great view of an osprey nest. This is the same nest Willem and I viewed back in April when we hiked up the Tower Road. Back then, we had witnessed the ospreys mating... this time, there were three chicks in the nest! Only one of the parents was present, but we were lucky to spot the other parent approaching the nest, with food in "hand."

"Do ospreys have large talons?"