Wapiti

Wapiti is a Native American name for elk. It was derived from the Shawnee and Cree word waapiti which means white rump. When the Europeans came to North America there was an estimated population of over ten million wapiti. Even though there were relatives of the wapiti in Europe called red deer, the settlers called them elk, which is a common name for moose in Europe, because of their large size. As with many other large ungulates hunting and habitat loss created a large decline in their population. Wapiti were eliminated from the Eastern half of the continent, the eastern subspecies was declared extinct in 1880. The Merriam's subspecies, which live in the southwestern United States, was declared extinct in 1906. Fortunately with new hunting laws, the reintroduction of Rocky Mountain elk into areas that were the wapiti had been extirpated, and the creation of National Parks and other wildlife areas, the over all elk population in the U.S. is estimated at over one million today.
The Wapiti is one of the largest members of the deer family, only the moose is larger in North America. It is believed that wapiti originated in an area called Beringia that once connected North America and Asia. These ancestral elk migrated down into North America and Asia. There descendants spread across Asia and North America and became one of the primary food sources for many of the larger predators, including grizzly bear, wolves and Native Americans. During most of the year males travel in small groups and are typically found at higher elevations. Females usually form larger herds which help protect and care for the young. In the fall, during the mating season which is called the rut, male wapiti split from their bachelors groups and begin to gather a group of females. The bulls are very protective of their harem and will let make an eerie sound called a bugle to warn away other males. If another male does not head the warning it will often lead to a battle. The female wapiti have a very short estrus cycle. She is in the mood for only a day or two so the male has to take advantage when the opportunity presents itself. Males will mate with as many willing females in the harem as possible. The gestation period of the elk is about 8 to 9 months. Typically wapiti in Yellowstone, where the photos above were taken, begin to start calving around Memorial Day. The female will leave the herd and try to find and isolated spot to have the calf. Calves are able to stand on the day that they are born however it takes about two weeks before they are strong enough to be able to run from a predator at which time mother and calf will rejoin the herd. Until the it is strong enough the calf will curl up and hide in vegetation if any danger is near while mother tries to lure the predator away. This calf was born in Mammoth Springs in Yellowstone National Park, which is a good place to avoid predators.

Yellowstone Part 3

We started out Wednesday by heading back over to the Yellowstone Lake area by the Fishing Bridge. As we got to the lake, much of which was still frozen, we saw two small dark shapes out on the ice. We stopped to take a closer look and found that they were a pair of river otters. One otter, pictured above, seemed to be resting near the edge of the ice while the other was running around.
After the otters finally disappeared under the ice we headed out towards the east entrance. The road was still closed off due to danger of avalanche but we did find a couple of grizzly to photograph, one at Mary's Bay and another at Sedge Bay. Unfortunately we still were not able to find the grizzly sow and cub.
Since the sky was beginning to clear up we decided to head back around the southern end of the park so that we could get some pictures of Old Faithful erupting. We had tried a couple of days earlier but the weather that day made it difficult to get good shots. With nice blue skies the pics turned out much better.
After Old Faithful we headed up to Mammoth and the north entrance to the park. We had hoped to get some more shots of the new born big horn lamb that we had seen a couple of days earlier but as we came around the corner we could not see the sheep on the cliff face where we had seen them earlier. We did see some cars pulled off a little way down the road so we headed that way to check it out. There on the hill not far from the road was the big horn ewe and lamb. Since they were much closer we were able to get a lot of good pics. It was amazing to see this little lamb scurry around on the rocks and cliffs at the ripe old age of two days.
It was getting late so we decided to head back to our hotel in West Yellowstone. On the way we spotted two black bears in different areas. The first black bear was indeed black, above, but the second was a cinnamon black bear. Black bear is a species and can come in a variety of colors, although black is the most common.

Thursday was our last day in the park. We were already quite happy with all of the great wildlife that we had seen and the photo opportunities that we had. So we decided for the finally day we would go all the way around the park, except the road between Tower and Canyon which was still closed due to snow, and just see whatever we would find. On the south loop near the Lake Area turn off a large bird flew across the road and perched in a tree close by. It turned out to be a Swanson's hawk that was cooperative and let us stop to take some pictures.

Then we headed up top the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone to take some scenery shots. This shot was taken from Artist Point and the falls in the distance are the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. We do not spend much time in this area because I am afraid of heights. Since places like this bother me we just took the shot and got going as quick as possible.
Next stop was Mammoth where we were surprised and pleased to find that one of the local elk females had calved the day before. A small heard of elk live in Mammoth and the surrounding area. Since the main predators of elk are wolves and grizzly it is smart to stay in a place that has a lot of people to keep the predators away. However the elk themselves can be dangerous to people in Mammoth that get too close. The ranger, who was keeping spectators from getting to close to the elk and calf, told us that she had chased a park employee who unknowingly had gotten too close to the calf.
Bull elk usually are found alone or in small groups at this time of the year. A healthy buck like this does not have too much to fear from the predators so they usually wonder about more in the highland areas on the north side of the park. During the fall each bull will be surrounded by a harem of females in hopes that he will find one that is receptive to mating. Shortly after we took this picture it began to snow again. It was not bad on the north end but as we passed Mammoth and headed towards Norris the snow on the roads began to get deeper and driving more treacherous. I am used to driving in the snow but roads here in Minnesota get plowed and sanded. They are also wider and do not have steep drop offs or rivers on the side. We were worried that we might have to park and sleep in the car. Fortunately things got better after Norris and we were able to make it out to West Yellowstone.

An Elk is Born in Yellowstone

Most people who visit Yellowstone do not get the pleasure of seeing elk calves at the time that we typically visit. We have been very fortunate and have seen calves 3 out of the 4 times that we have visited in the springtime. The reason why we don't expect to see elk calves is because of the time and way in which they are born.
Elk usually begin to calve at the end of May or beginning of June. When they calve the female will go off on her own to have the calf. The new born calf is able to stand and walk, although wobbly, shortly after it is born but it takes time before they are able to run.
The newborn calves are very susceptible to predators like wolves, coyotes and bears at this point, so the mother and calf stay secluded until the calf is strong enough to flea from any predators that may attack. This seclusion usually lasts around week. While they are secluded the calf spends most of its time eating, sleeping and strengthening its legs.
Every time that we have seen elk calves it has been on the Friday before Memorial day, which is the last full day that we spend in the park. This year I did not think that we would get to see one. It was late on Friday and we were starting on our way back to our hotel from out at the Lamar Valley. It had been a great day, we had spotted the prairie falcon and wolverine that day, and a great trip so I was not too disappointed that we had not seen an elk calf. As we drove on to the Blacktail Deer Plateau we saw a small group of photographers on the side of the road. We could not see what they were looking at so we continued down the road to a large turn out that was filled with cars. We asked someone there what everyone was looking at and found that an elk had recently calved under the trees back where the photographers where. I grabbed my equipment and headed down the road. The elk and calf where a pretty good distance away but were close enough to get these shots. In the past years I have been fortunate to be closer to elk calves but there is no way that I was going to get any closer and possibly stress out the mom or baby. In talking to the other photographers there I found out that the calf had been born between 30 to 60 minutes before we arrived. These pictures are of some of its first steps.

Yellowstone Elk

I have finally made it to the point where I can begin the Yellowstone posts. After birding at Bowdoin NWR for the first part of the day Saturday we spent the rest of the day driving to Livingston, MT. Michelle had some issue with one of her eyes watering, I think that it was due to the dryer climate, so I drove most of the 6 hours or so while she slept. In Livingston we had some problems because the hotel changed franchises between the time I made the booking and the day we arrived. We spent about 20 minutes looking for a hotel that turned out to be right in front of us. We woke up early Sunday, grabbed some breakfast and then headed into the park. we decided to head out to Tower Junction and Lamar Valley first. When we visit Yellowstone in springtime, which we think is the best time to visit, we spend most of our time on the northern portion of the park, especially Tower Junction and Lamar Valley.

The first significant sighting that we had were these two bull elk out on Black Tail Deer Plateau. Male elk shed their antlers each year, typically in February or March. While they do not have horns, or while their new ones are growing in males will often travel together in groups which affords them some extra protection while they are more vulnerable. Later in the year, when the antlers have grown out, the males become more competitive and tend to travel alone until they gather a harem together in the fall during the rutting season.
While the antlers are growing they are covered with a thin layer of skin that is called velvet. The velvet is filled with capillaries that bring blood to the antlers which help them to grow. At the end of the summer the the antlers harden and become solid bone. Since the velvet is no longer needed it begins to peel off, often with the help of a small bush or tree.
We did see a lot more cow elk then we did bulls, other then yearling males, or spikes as they are called, traveling with the cow herds. The cows seem to be more weary of people then the bulls or the bison are, or maybe they just don't like to have their picture taken like the one above who we photographed near the Madison River on our way out of the park on Wednesday evening.

Yellowstone day 6: Leaving Yellowstone

On the morning of our last day I had hoped to get to Mammoth early so that I could try to get some more pictures of the great horned owls there in the early sunlight. The sun was shining when we checked out of our hotel and headed back into the park for the last time this year. Unfortunately we ran into a bison jam in the pass between Madison and Norris and what would normally have been 30 minutes became 2 hours. After we were finally able to pass the bison herd we saw this male elk grazing on the side of the road and so we took a picture from the car.
By the time we made it to Mammoth the sky had clouded up. I took a couple pictures of the adult great horned owls, which I will include in my next post, and then we decided to take a quick trip out to Tower. We did not see a lot on the way to Tower, prolly because we did not have a lot of time before we had to be on the road back home, but while we sat eating our lunch in the Tower parking lot we noticed a group of people looking at the hill to the east. I grabbed the camera and scoured the hill and soon found Rosie and the cubs working their way towards the falls.
It was kind of a fitting farewell since we have seen Rosie every time that we have stayed at Yellowstone.
And then it was time to get back on the road back to real life. 8(

Yellowstone day 5: More dog days of Yellowstone.

Thursday morning we decided to head off to the coyote den right away in the morning. On the way there we saw this bull elk resting at the side of a creek. I guess sometimes even the elk find it hard to get up and get going in the morning. Prolly did not get his morning coffee yet.

When we got to the coyote den we found that there was an adult with the pups. One of the people who had been watching the den for days told us that this was a female from a previous litter who was still living with the parents. This was a behavior that I had never seen before. I am sure that it was difficult for the parents having another mouth to feed as well as all the puppies but it did give them a built in babysitter. Sometimes though it is not so much fun taking care of the kids when you are a teenager.

But a little puppy love makes things all better.
Mom did come back while we watched with some breakfast.
A bit of protein does a puppy body good.
I can't believe I ate the whole thing! I think that I m going into food coma.

After a few hours, and another 8gb worth of used CF card, the adults left to hunt some more and the puppies settled down to sleep. It was getting around lunch time so we headed to Tower to eat our lunch. After eating we headed out to Lamar Valley. In Lamar we photographed a male pronghorn resting as well as an active osprey nest. On our way out of Lamar we spotted a big horned ram on a hill over looking the road. This is likely the same ram that we had photographed earlier in the week.
We made a stop back in tower where we saw a couple of mule dear.
Then we decided that we would go back to the coyote den and photograph some more puppies. On the way back we spotted a yellow bellied marmot, sometimes called a woodchuck, on the side of the road.
When we got back to the interpretive trail where the den was we saw that the parking lot was almost empty. I went back to the back of the boardwalk to set up but their were no coyotes visible. One of the other visitors there told me that someone had tried to get too close and the coyotes had moved the den. I have done a lot of crazy things to get a good shot, but forcing an animal to move it's home and family to get a picture is just plain wrong.

Day 1: We arrive in Yellowstone.

While this is a mostly birding website I enjoy all nature and wildlife and you can not go to Yellowstone and only take pictures of birds. So here are some of the mammals that we were able to photograph on our trip.

We left for Yellowstone on Saturday morning. That day we drove across Minnesota and North Dakota and stopped for the night in Glendive, MT. Sunday morning we continued on and arrived at Yellowstone around 2pm. We immediately set out across the upper loop to the Tower and Lamar Valley area. We decided to check out the Tower area first and as we passed the Roosevelt Junction we came across a red fox in a small meadow. We had seen a fox in the same area last year and we guessed that this was the same one. After a pit stop at the tower visitor center we headed out to Lamar Valley. As we crossed the Yellowstone River we saw a lot of cars stopped at the side of the road. Since we had seen big horn sheep in this area in past years we stopped to see what everyone was looking at. We were not disappointed. In the field next to the road was a large ram and his harem.

We got some good shots as they came close and then crossed the road. Lamar was pretty quiet so we headed back to Tower and got our first bear sighting of the trip.
By this time it was getting pretty late, my blood sugar was getting low and the hotel was still a couple hours away so we headed back across the park to West Yellowstone. On the way back we came across a large elk grazing and stopped for a couple of pictures. It is cool to see them when the antlers are covered in velvet. He still even had some of his winter coat.

Even though it was a good first day we were still a little disappointed. The past 2 times that we had come in the spring we had been fortunate and had spotted grizzly bears on the first day. This year we did not and unfortunately it was a portent that this year we would not be as extremely lucky as we had been in the past.