02.13.09

Is that a wolf i hear?

Posted in photo, travel, vacation, yellowstone at 12:11 am by heidihoho7

So Wednesday was another day of trolling for animals in the northern part of the park. We started off with our usual routine of getting breakfast up at Mammoth and then once the skies start brightening we start our driving. As we started out we noticed there were absolutely no cars on the way. This seemed quite odd considering we always would see at least a few “wolfies” with scopes and at least some tourists so it made us wonder. We heard a bit of chatter on the researcher’s channel on the radio so we soon understood that there was some action!

We made our way just past Tower Junction where there were a lot of vehicles.  We pulled into a sideroad pull off where just a few people were camped out.  It was a bit exciting from the start, we saw 2 wolves run down the hillside while stopping to howl back and forth to each other. They spent a little time howling then ran off down the valley. Another wolf followed but then got scared back into the trees where we believe at least 1 or 2 more wolves were hanging out as well due to the constant howling.  I think there may have been 1 or 2 MORE wolves off on another hillside but its hard to tell for sure as they were a bit far away and a few of them stayed out of sight.  I took some video (low quality video here!!!!) of a female howling and some answering howls. It was truly an amazing experience. I think we listened to the howling (and searching for the wolves) for quite some time but it never got old – so i can ALMOST understand why the wolfies hang out like they do Course i’d rather get pics haha!

We heard about a fresh carcass not far off the road and in plain sight if you hiked just a foot or two off the road. So we decided to wait to see if the wolves would come back to finish off their dinner. We waited for a bit by watching the ravens, magpies, and the occasional eagle fly around. Not long after a coyote decided to risk it and come in to steal some dinner.  We enjoyed watching him for a few minutes before he became too nervous and ran off.

Oddly watching the coyote tear at the carcass didn’t affect our appetites and it seemed quiet so we decided to go to town for lunch as well with the plan to return in the early afternoon in the hopes to catch some more action on the carcass. Bela decided to stay back to work on his book so i went out with the rest of the group for the afternoon.

We got to the hillside with the carcass after a small hike up the road from the “prime” pullout. Us midwesterners felt the altitude a bit and were a bit behind the others and not 2 seconds after we got to the hill someone whispers “wolf!” so I run up the hill to quickly set up my tripod and “big mama”. And there comes the Alpha Female, a beautiful white with black and gray, from the Agate Pack along with her new Alpha Male a cool black with awesome orangy eyes. The black decided to watch or guard her possibly, while she came in to have some dinner. They seemed a bit nervous, and i don’t blame them. When we first got there there only 2 other people and within a few minutes the hillside became peppered with more and more people.  A bus passed and we could see the pointing and excited faces. They all piled out of the bus and came down to view the wolves. They of course weren’t overly quiet and the wolves were scared off. We were very happy to have arrived when we did!  I also have some video of that as well – click here to see it – PG of course!

The rest of the late afternoon and evening were spent wolf watching at the carcass. We heard rumors of another wolf that had been chasing some elk just over the hilltop so we wandered over that way and saw the wolf and the elk cow that he’d been chasing. No cool action but wow he was a pretty wolf!

It was a crazy day and one that i’ll remember for some time – it was just amazing and i was so happy as i was secretly hoping for the exact situation – see wolves, hear howls and ultimately take photos! done, done and done!

On a random site note i wanted to mention the gear… we’ve had a few days now to figure out what we like and what we actually use. Right now I am loving my new D90 – having fun with the video as you will see when i finally get them uploaded. We’re also really enjoying the 80-400 VR lens i got recently. It is very handy to have in quick “grabshot” scenarios! So with that lens, my 18-200 that i’ve loved from the start (wide to med tele – awesome!!) and the 500mm rental we’re really able to capture all the park has to offer. So if you ever want to visit keep those lenses in mind as they are what i’d sugges.  (so Dear Santa, can i get a 500??!)

I need to get off to bed, i’m a day behind in blogging but i can’t wait to show you all the photos from today’s adventure to the interior once again – Canyon and Hayden valley this time with the Ultimate day of photography!!!!  Check back tomorrow for those pics !

Permalink