Web cam updates

Click on photo to enlarge for detail

I'm an addict of web cams, at least those pointed at various wonderful subjects in the greater Yellowstone area, which I check multiple times every day. It's been a few months since I posted favorite or interesting cam captures - one reason is that just a month ago KLK and I returned from another great adventure in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, with a 36-hour side trip to Cody, Wyoming, so stay tuned for upcoming posts about that wonderful trip. 

Meanwhile, here's a picture taken from one of the two cams atop Mount Washburn where they are housed in the lookout and used to survey their respective domains for signs of wild fire. In the lower left corner is a good-sized herd of bighorn sheep, all, as far as  I can tell, ewes with lambs. On close inspection, it seems the big-curl rams are spending the summer in bachelor parties elsewhere. There are also a couple of hikers along the trail.

We have hiked to the top of Washburn several times, but it wasn't an option early this June. I took the photo below along the road from which both the northern and southern trails to the summit depart. Hikers are now (mid-July) to be seen on the web cam every day. 

More posts soon from Yellowstone at ground level!

Charismatic Megafauna

Pronghorn antelope (two bucks, one doe, Little America, Yellowstone)

Five mule deer along the Chief Joseph Highway

A cow moose at Cattleman's Bridge, Grand Tetons

A bull moose, Cooke City, MT (just outside of Yellowstone)

A restful elk (a young bull, I believe), Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone

A radiocollared and tagged coyote, Elk Creek, Yellowstone

A bison mother and calf, Lamar Valley, Yellowstone

Like the old days, a herd of bison cows and calves, Lamar Valley, Yellowstone

A bighorn sheep ram, Yellowstone River Picnic pullout, Yellowstone

A bighorn ewe and new lamb, near Calcite Springs Overlook, Yellowstone

All taken between May 27 and June 6, 2009

Winter, winter, winter

I returned from six beautiful days in Yellowstone on Monday night, my travel sandwiched between a winter snow storm in Montana and a winter snow storm in Chicago. The Park can certainly use the snow and in fact should be colder than it has been as well so the normal variation of seasons will be maintained. However, the warmer temperatures - the lowest my rental car thermometer ever registered was +14 degrees Fahrenheit - made outdoor activity an easy pleasure. Wildlife sightings included many, many bison that are doing well in the mild winter, somewhat fewer elk than usual (apparently also because of the weather they have not come down into valleys like Lamar in large numbers), mule deer in Gardiner and points north, golden and bald eagles, one trumpeter swan, numbers of dippers (water ouzels), goldeneyes, many mallards and Canada geese, red squirrels, a gorgeous silver fox, coyotes as always, bighorn rams at the confluence of the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek, and a wonderful long tailed weasel in winter white (aka ermine). The Druid Peak wolf pack was very active and visible on the days I was out looking. As I process my photos over the next few days I will post specific reports here.