The Deskbound Birder: Texas and Yellowstone National Park - Yellowstone National Park Area 17th December (Day 8)

Tuesday, 17 December 2019

Texas and Yellowstone National Park - Yellowstone National Park Area 17th December (Day 8)

We were up at 07:00 and excited about our first day in Yellowstone National Park. As the sun rose the view from our accommodation at Sage Lodge to the snow covered grasslands and mountains was phenomenal. Tobias wanted to play in the snow before breakfast and so we stepped outside to a blasting cold wind and ground that was frozen hard. A few minutes play and we were back inside and enjoying breakfast beside a roaring fire. Our guide, Steve Hoffman of Merlin Birding and Nature Tours, collected us at 08:15 and we set off towards the Lamar Valley which has one of the few roads in the park open in the winter and one that provides excellent wildlife watching opportunities. Leaving the lodge, we headed south on Highway 89 and at Corwin Springs we crossed the Yellowstone River where there were three Bald Eagle, three Goosander two Common Goldeneye, 15 Canada Goose and 20 Mallard. Joining the Old Yellowstone Trail (or Cinnabar Road as it is signposted) we quickly encountered our first mammals with close range views of Mule Deer, Bighorn Sheep, Elk and the beautiful Pronghorn Antelope. At a stand of Juniper, a large flock of 250 American Robin and 150 Cedar Waxwing fed on the berries but were unfortunately too flighty for any decent photographs.

Bighorn Sheep - Cinnabar Road, Gardiner

Mule Deer - Cinnabar Road, Gardiner

Pronghorn Antelope - Cinnabar Road, Gardiner

American Robin - Cinnabar Road, Gardiner

Electric Peak from Cinnabar Road, Gardiner

Reaching Gardiner we faffed around getting supplies and visiting the Yellowstone Forever shop, I birded outside for a while but saw relatively little. As we got back to the car I spotted a Coyote close to the road and so we drove to it and soon after reaching it the animal sprung into the air and landed squarely on an unsuspecting Vole. The crunchy snack was soon consumed.

Coyote - Cinnabar Road, Gardiner

We then headed into the snowbound Yellowstone National Park through the Roosevelt Arch. As we climbed through the park the first bird of note that I spotted was a Townsend's Solitaire followed by a Golden Eagle. We then stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs where Steve went into the visitor centre to get some up to date gen on the location of Wolves. I birded outside but saw very little but for a couple of Mountain Chickadee and further Townsend's Solitaire. We continued on the Grand Loop Road and as the landscape opened out into extensive forests, snow covered plains and rugged mountain's we soon encountered our first American Bison adjacent to the road. We watched as these impressive beasts shovelled, bulldozer like, into the snow to reach tasty morsel's of dried grass buried beneath. While looking for Northern Pygmy-owl in a wooded valley we encountered more Mountain Chickadee and Townsend's Solitaire but at this time of year the forests were relatively devoid of birdlife.

American Bison - Grand Loop Road, Yellowstone National Park

Golden Eagle - Grand Loop Road, Yellowstone National Park

Mountain Chickadee - Grand Loop Road, Yellowstone National Park

As we approached Yancey's Creek just before the Tower Junction a large number of cars parked in lay-bys (or pull-outs as they are called in the US) alerted us to the presence of a Wolf pack lounging in the sun on a very distant hillside, scanning we could make out 13 animals at least seven of which were black phase animals, the remainder classic Grey Wolf, stunning animals but a little distant and lethargic. At the Tower Junction we turned eastwards into the Lamar Valley following the North-east Entrance Road. The Lamar Valley is a wide plain in which the Lamar River flows, at this time of year the valley was a sea of snow, but this is one of the hotspots in the park and spending a couple of hours here we had further views of Bison, Elk, numerous Coyote, an American Badger, American Dipper, Bald Eagle and Rough-legged Buzzard.

Wolf pack with a total of 13 animals in this image - Grand Loop Road, Yellowstone National Park

Grand Loop Road, Yellowstone National Park

Coyote - Grand Loop Road, Yellowstone National Park

American Dipper - Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park

Bald Eagle - Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park

At around 15:00 Steve suggested we should head back to the Wolf pack as they tended to become more active in the later afternoon. We pulled into the lay-by at Yancey's Creek and it was soon apparent that most of the pack were still on the same ridge as earlier. However, some of the animals had dispersed and were now in the nearby woodland. Several photographers had focused on an Elk which had apparently been chased and attacked by the pack but the animal stood firm and there was no sign of the Wolves any where near it. Near to the road, there was a carcass of an Elk that the pack had brought down yesterday and it was not long before three magnificent Grey Wolf showed on this fairly close to the road. We watched for an hour or so as these three animals came and went from the carcass giving good views. Happy with what we had seen we headed east back through the Lamar Valley to Silver Town/Cooke City where we had dinner Soda Butte Lodge before heading to our Super 8 hotel across the road.

My eBird checklists for the afternoon can be viewed here and here.

Wolf -Yancey's Creek, Grand Loop Road, Yellowstone National Park

Video of Wolf at Yancey's Creek, am still a bit shaky on the video! And there is no sound as there always seems to be constant inane chatter whenever I am recording, seems to be the way of humans watching wildlife