We got to sleep in on Sunday, which was a nice change after all of the driving and training. Our boss invited us to spend the night at the Lamar Buffalo Ranch, where she lives and works for the Yellowstone Institute.
The Buffalo Ranch was established in the early 1900s in an effort to increase the bison herd in the park. Buffalo ranching continued at the ranch until the 1950s. Currently, the Yellowstone Association's Yellowstone Institute holds courses and field seminars that use the ranch as a base, both for classes and lodging (they have several cabins on-site).
The ranch is located in the remote north eastern corner of the park known as the Lamar Valley, often called the "Serengeti of North America;" it's also our favorite part of the park. Driving to Tower we ran into this big bull on the side of the road
In an area of the park known as Little America we saw a coyote on the side of the road. When we pulled over we noticed that he was just 1 of 3 coyotes, and we were able to watch them for a while. I know wolves are much more popular, but I personally love observing coyotes and the way they watch you while at the same time try to pretend that they're paying you no mind. This one ran up on the road and right past our car, all the while pretending to not to be too interested in us
The other two took off in the snow and we watched them mousing for a bit
I'm not good enough with my camera yet to catch him in mid-air as he pounces (yes dad, I will read the manual), just after when he's digging up his dinner
We arrived at the buffalo ranch and checked into our cozy cabin.
We were able to borrow a field scope and we headed out to watch the Druid wolf pack. If you've never been to Yellowstone before, the best way to spot wolves in the park is to look for a line of scopes; where the scopes are the wolves are. We set up our scope among the others and immediately saw several Druid's. Before we left we'd counted 7 wolves, and we were told the pack currently is at 11 members. Sadly all of the Druids have mange, save for one new wolf that recently joined the pack, and they're hoping they'll be able to survive the cold winter.
Someone watching the wolves told us that a red fox had been spotted just up the road, so off we went to find him
We decided to turn around and head back east, all the way out towards the north east entrance. It had been sunny and clear in the valley, but once we hit Pebble Creek the sky darkened and there was a mini-blizzard happening. This bison decided to just sit out the storm, snow and all
On our way back to the ranch Steve spotted this coyote mousing in the reeds
and then just past Trout Lake we saw this one running up the hill towards the treeline
Today's count: 7 wolves and 6 coyotes.
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