05-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 14
(Photo note: Pronghorn antelope add to the wildlife adventure of Yellowstone.)
03-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 15
(Photo note: White pelicans are commonly seen throughout the park.)
03-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 16
Everyone was quick to share their scopes and knowledge. We began our education on the wolves of Yellowstone. We watched as the four adult wolves gorged themselves from the kill. While I was watching through a scope that had a nice close up of the carcass, a female entered the chest cavity and came out holding what must have been a 20 pound liver that glistened in the sun.
05-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 18
(Photo note: Not only were the elk moving to lower elevations, the fall rut was beginning. Alpha males would soon begin gathering as many females as could be found. Here are three females waiting for their dashing alpha male to arrive.)
03-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 19
Within three minutes, she had disappeared from sight. A biologist explained that the wolf would take the delicacy directly to waiting pups in the den located on the hill behind us. And with that information, she pointed out the four wolves that sat on the hill watching us and the wolves on the kill.
03-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 21
The watchers would take their turn eating when the first group had their fill. Kills close to the road are extremely rare. Biologists still referred to that kill on this visit. We were very lucky to witness it. What a thrill.
03-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 23
(Photo note: Here's a young male with velvet still on its antlers. In a week or two, the velvet will begin to pull away from the bony antlers.)
03-SEP-2008
Yellowstone Tour 24
We’ve seen wolves on each subsequent visit. And on this visit, the lead biologist declared that seeing wolves had become like Old Faithful – predictable. We saw wolves on each of our three days in the valley. We had three different sightings on the first day, two on the second and one on the third day.