Cranky Bear Updates, 2012

KLK and I made our annual journey to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in mid-June this summer, and as we have come to learn from our many, many (but never enough!) visits to the area, no two visits are alike. Each brings at least one, and usually multiple, unique experiences, sights, sensations, and adventures. You can read about our 2011 experiences that were special to that year, for example. 

Among other things, 2012 stood out, alas, as Not the Year of Bears. Bears are high on the list of favorite wildlife-watching subjects, and I have been lucky many times to get in some fantastic observation with photographic documentation; I blogged about the thrills of being in bear country about a year ago. In 2012, there was plenty of bear activity, it's just that, due to the luck of the draw, all of our sightings this year were of what we call "bear dots" - distant, or fleeting, or both. 

But one far-away sighting revealed bear behaviors that we had never before witnessed.  Last year, in Yellowstone's magnificent Hayden Valley, we enjoyed watching grizzly sow known as "Cranky Bear." I understand she got that moniker when she huffed at some photographers that were crowding her. Those photographers were lucky she didn't do anything more than that, as one of the other grizzly sows in the same vicinity killed one and ate part of another person before being captured and euthanized last year. 

Here's a photo of Cranky Bear and her two nice looking Cubs-of-the-Year (COYs) from June of 2011 (click to enlarge and see what magnificent animals they are:

One day on this trip, as we entered Hayden Valley from the south, we could see that a pullout-parking area on a high overlook was full of people with spotting scopes and binoculars aimed at the slopes across the Yellowstone River. Hayden is one of the world's richest areas for watching grizzly bears, bison, and wolves, among many other interesting animals, pawed, clawed or hoofed, furred or feathered. So we too stopped to scan the far high treeline, maybe a half mile distant, where there was a herd of elk cows, doubtless with their new spring calves bedded down invisibly in the sage. Many of the elk had their heads up, ears and eyes on alert, while, as usual, others calmly grazed. I said to KLK, "oh, it's just a bunch of elk, doesn't look like much else is going on" thinking we should get back in the car and move along in case we were missing something big happening elsewhere. 

But then, very suddenly, a big sow grizzly bear, with two kids in a line behind her charged out of the trees and into the midst of the elk, scattering the poor animals in all directions. We were gasping in anticipation (and my heart was pounding) that she would within seconds nail a helpless elk calf right before our (binocular-ed) eyes. As it turned out, she wasn't serious as she didn't bother to pursue the easy prey.  Apparently satisfied with her lesson to her cubs on how to terrify elk, she led her big babies gradually down the hill, nibbling at vegetation and grubbing for insects and small rodents as they made their way down to the river edge while the distraught elk retreated into the safety of the thick trees at the top of the ridge.
When the bears reached bottom, I could see that Mama Bear wanted to come across the river in our direction. She disappeared into low ground for a few minutes, only to reappear in the middle of the river, her big head floating above water, turned backwards to keep an eye on the cubs about 50 feet behind her, two basketball-like brown heads bobbing northwards in the current. Mama picked a safe spot to get out of the water on our side; I couldn't quite see them get out of the river, I would have loved to watch them shake off, like enormous dogs. But they soon re-appeared in the sage, making their way southward. If you click to enlarge the images you will recognize Cranky Bear and her now 2-year old cubs, back in the same territory they reigned over a year ago.

They continued moving steadily to our right, while also gradually coming closer to the assembled audience. 

As they neared, it all at once dawned on the people standing out on the edge of the rise that it would take the bears only a few seconds to get up that ridge should they decide to do so. Everyone started en masse back to the relative safety of the paved overlook, except for the couple of people who apparently thought discretion was the better part of valor and ran for their cars. As all this unfolded, with the bears paying absolutely no attention what-so-ever, a pale-coated coyote wandered along. KLK, whose angle of view was different from mine, said that the coyote's attention was instantly drawn to the runners. It stopped and stared, as if considering whether a tourist might be fun to chase, or perhaps even be worth a serious attempt at hunting down.

Coyotes are a wise dogs though, and it quickly determined it would be better to return to whatever its original agenda was and move on. The fleeing bear-watchers never noticed the coyote.

Returning our attention to bear-watching, we guessed the grizzlies, now out of our sight, would come out closer to a nearby geothermal area known as Mud Volcano (rather than coming up the ridge at the crowd), so we hopped in the car and headed that way. Bingo! 

These closer bear dot photos were taken from the car under terrible photography conditions, as by the time we got into a position to shoot there were massive numbers of cars stopped all over the road, doors flung and left hanging open, pedestrians all over the place with cameras glued to their eyes in an attempt to snap the photo of a lifetime. Fortunately, Cranky Bear was a model of a calm, fully focused on bulking up on the nice grass (though grizzlies are omnivores and need plenty of animal protein and fat from elk calves, for example, their most easily acquired calories are from plant matter), with her kids following suit. It was one of those terribly dangerous, classic Yellowstone situations where neither drivers nor pedestrians were paying any attention to anything other than the mother and baby bears by the road. 

Here is a bit of a blurry crop of one of Cranky Bear's beautiful children. I hope next year I can post more and better bear photos, especially if next year's photos can also illustrate  exciting wildlife behaviors!

Where I've been

Yes, this is really where I was not too many days ago. It is the iconic Mount Moran reflected in the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park. Back in those willows there are moose, doubtless, and that pristine mirror of a river (the exact location is Oxbow Bend) will be rippled every so often by beavers or river otters. And keep an eye overhead as well, so as not to miss the bald eagles, osprey, blue herons and sandhill cranes. If we're lucky, a coyote will trot by, sticking to its busy agenda. In the distance, cow elk are grazing, their young calves completely still, bedded down invisible, hard for a grizzly to find. And right in front of us are the sunny little yellow warblers, too close to focus my lens on.

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

I spend too much time...

Far too many hours of my life are spent staring at Web cams. Some day, when I'm retired (psst! Economy! Pick up fast, will you please?!?), I can spend my time in situ, off my behind in front of my computer and on my feet in front of the land- and wildlife-scapes I love so much. I've mentioned several of my favorite Greater Yellowstone area Web cams before: the Henry's Fork cam with its periodic moose and bird sightings; the Corwin Springs cam pointed from outside Yellowstone National Park at Electric Peak that is within its borders; and the camera in the fire lookout on top of Mt. Washburn in Yellowstone (out of commission at the moment, until the snows melt and technicians can get up up to fix it). Others I keep a sharp eye on include many in the Grand Teton area. The scenery, often dramatic with mountain weather and light, is heart-lifting; the geology-in-the-making around Yellowstone's Old Faithful (the Upper Geyser Basin) is amazing. But the opportunity to observe wildlife, sitting here in Chicago glued to my chair, is the best thrill of all, at least until I can be there in body as well as spirit. The live streaming Old Faithful-Upper Geyser Basin cam, when unattended, is pointed at (drum roll) the Old Faithful geyser scinter cone, ever ready to catch an eruption. Happily, it is occasionally attended by alert operators in Yellowstone and elsewhere in the country, who can zoom, pan and tilt it. Once in a while we get lucky, and wildlife happens by when the cam is attended; David M recently posted a few minutes of a coyote's visit. In the last few days, friends who work at the UGB report a grizzly bear hanging out. Yesterday numbers of people saw it on the live streaming cam (while I was out doing errands, drat!) and one got this still capture.

These are the quiet weeks in Yellowstone. The gates have been closed to oversnow vehicles, and deep in the interior, park and concessionaire staff are readying for opening day, when the roads (at least those at lower elevations) open to auto traffic again. My friends who live in the area are champing at the bit for the day when they can again visit the heart of their favorite place on earth, April 17 this year. I, however, love the peace of the in-between season as viewed through the cams. Humans rarely come into view once snow mobile season has ended. So what is the bear doing in this normally heavily touristed site? When grizzlies awaken from their winter snooze, they've very, very hungry. The easiest source of quick high quality nutrition is winter kill, mostly ungulates that didn't make it through the deprivations of the season, perfectly-preserved bear food thanks to persistent subfreezing temperatures. Because of the warmth of the ground and air, and thus the thin snow cover, ungulates such as bison and elk do well to spend the winters in there. In spite of the less harsh conditions in the thermal areas, though, come the end of winter there is still an attractive concentration of carrion. Some creatures just collapse from undernnutrition and exposure, and others slide into a boiling hot spring and cook to death.

Counting the days (51) until I can be there again to see for myself.

Thanks to the National Park Service for this wonderful reference photo (for the still cam).

That's a Good Question!

Regarding the post below about Celebrity Grizzly 399 and her family, reader merinz posted the following questions:  Does the mother have identifying marks? How can you be sure it is her? Well, personally, I usually have to rely on the park rangers, who always show up seemingly immediately when a bear appears near people (which brings up another question, for another blog -- once I figure out the answer: how do they get there so fast?). But of course, there are park wildlife managers in charge of identifying and tracking specific animals, particularly those like bears and wolves that are most likely to attract the attention of people. The parks are also hosts to researchers who collaborate with park staff and whose resources (grants) help offset the costs of  the technology and labor to do so.

The first year I saw her, 399 was sporting a big heavy tracking collar, and in some photos taken at this same sighting, it is apparent that her right front leg had been shaved, most likely to enable blood to be drawn. I would guess that the blood was analyzed for DNA, among other things such as indicators of health. To accomplish collaring and blood sampling (as well as physical measurements including weight, examination of teeth to estimate age, sex determination, and so on) the animal has to be darted and sedated, a dangerous proposition for animal and researchers alike. However, once a particular animal's DNA is on record, subsequently hair rubbed off on the side of a tree (or telephone pole, see Discouraged, But Not Hopeless) or scat can be used to verify whether it is the same individual or another animal.

Behavior is another, less invasive clue; bears are strongly territorial and a sow like 399 is highly likely to return to an area in which she has felt secure raising her young and can find plenty of food and shelter. Probably the only happenstance in which a new sow with cubs would show up in the same vicinity is if 399 were to die and one of her daughters were to take up housekeeping in the area in which she had been raised.

I don't know if 399's collar eventually fell off of its own accord (some are designed to deteriorate), or was intentionally removed, but she definitely didn't have it when I again saw her in 2011. It is possible that by then she had an ear-tag, which, if subtly colored in low light would have been difficult to see. Although as far as I know the tags do not contain a chip that can be read remotely, I wouldn't be surprised if the color were coded for the bear's identity, and the tag itself imprinted with identifying information that could be read close-up should the bear be captured, sedated, or, found deceased.

 

Tags are common everywhere people and animals interact, such as on this Churchill, Manitoba polar bear, with one in each ear matched to its fur color. 

This black bear in Yellowstone National Park is sporting one big red earring. While by no means every Yellowstone bear is tagged, it's not a rare sight. Drives photographers nuts!

 Tagged and collared Yellowstone coyote.

 

Bull moose with radio collar, Grand Tetons.

The elk cow in the right rear has a big collar, Grand Tetons.

Bighorn ewe with extremely large numbered collar, Whiskey Mountain above Dubois, Wyoming.

As is evident in the photos, especially the older tracking collars have big battery-electronics packs. Most are tracked from the ground by graduate students with a device on a belt pack wired to an antenna at the end of an arm slowly turning in the air to pick up the telemetry signals unique to each tracked animal.

Wildlife -- usually in groups like bison herds -- is also visually tracked from the air. If the individuals within the group are known, as wolves are to researchers and other observers, aerial tracking is an effective way of following the movements of individuals of interest.

Tracking plane, Grand Teton National Park. No, it didn't crash into the mountain side,  but the view must have been thrilling.

Other methods of tracking wildlife (in addition to a student slowly twirling an antenna overhead) include satellite and GPS tracking, and individual markers like bird bands that require visual contact and a good spotting scope to be read. The Migratory Connectivity Project has good, succinct descriptions of these and other methodologies for tracking mammals, birds, and fish as they cover great distances across the globe. The US Geological Survey (USGS) has a page listing the projects of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study that gives examples of the various aims of tracking bears. Here's an outline of the Greater Glacier (National Park, north of Yellowstone) Bear DNA Project, in which  methods of identifying individual grizzly bears and black bears is described.  And for a more comprehensive discussion of radio-tagging (mammals, birds, fish) see the excellent and thoughtful Mech, David L. and Shannon M. Barber, A Critique of Wildlife Radio-Tracking and its Use inNational Parks: A Report to the U.S. National Park Service. February 6, 2002.

Winter Coyote

I've often mentioned how much enjoyment I get from watching various Web cams pointed at the Grand Tetons and different landmarks in and around Yellowstone National Park (turn on sound if you're interested in the narrative) sitting far away at my computer in Chicago. I may have neglected to mention that there is also a live real-time cam overlooking the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone, where the still cam points at Old Faithful geyser. The nice thing about the live streaming cam is that it is occasionally attended by folks who are fascinated by the multitudinous activities taking place there. They can pan and zoom, and for my thermal feature-addicted friends, focus in on whatever geyser or hot spring within view (Old Faithful, Beehive, Lion, many others) happens to be doing something hydrothermally interesting at any given moment. Besides being enormous draws for two-legged animals, lots of wildlife spends the cold, snowy winter months in the thermal basins to benefit from the warmth and resulting thin snow cover; bison and elk often appear; on very, very rare occasions during the shoulder seasons when there are few people around, a grizzly will sashay past the camera. More often, we see coyotes. My thanks to David M for following and recording this guy, in his gorgeous winter pelt, a couple of days ago.

Web-cam mania returns

It' been a while since I posted Web cam captures from my favorite place on earth, the greater Yellowstone area. But this is "shoulder season" again, after the interior roads close to traffic, snowmobile and snow-coach season haven't yet started, and the village at Old Faithful is inhabited only by a small maintenance crew, the crowds of summer and winter not in evidence.

In this morning's pretty frosty light we had a few bison come by to nibble where the hot ground around Old Faithful geyser is laid bare by the heat just under the surface.

 In this Thanksgiving's fading light, a little coyote trotted in front of the Web cam.

I myself will be in Yellowstone again in just exactly two months from now. I won't be going to Old Faithful, which can only be accessed by snow-mobile or snow-coach, though I will take a trip to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone by snow-coach, a new winter experience for me.  There will be lots of wildlife to see--bison, elk, snow shoe hares, foxes, eagles, swans, bighorn sheep, and the extraordinary scenery transformed by winter. I can hardly wait!