Yellowstone NP Wild | a 7 Image Story

Sep 20, 2020 | 7 Image Stories, AF 80-400mm f4.5-5.6D ED VR, AF-S 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED, AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 ED VR II, AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR, AF-S PC-E 24mm f/3.5D ED, Bison, Coyote, Elk, Nature, Nikon 1 V1, Nikon D200, Nikon D300, Nikon D3x, Places, Raven, Yellowstone, Yellowstone NP Wild

Yellowstone NP Wild | a 7 Image Story  Wild describes the essence of Yellowstone.  It’s a vast wild place providing habitat where Bison, Wolf, Elk, Coyote, Pronghorn, and Bighorn Sheep as well as Bald Eagle and Raven call home.  Life’s survival in wild Yellowstone is always challenging with winter being the hardest.  Yellowstone is a land of fire and ice while beautiful and harshly wild.  Yellowstone’s habitat is also beautiful scenery no matter what time of year.  It contains contains 45 named waterfalls and hundreds of unnamed waterfalls.  It’s not known for its rock formations, but it does have a few nice ones.  Yellowstone’s thermal features keep the rivers from freezing in the winter and provide unique beauty year around.

American Bison   This Bison image comes from Lamar Valley on a cold February afternoon.  Notice his heavy winter coat to protect him from Yellowstone’s hard, long winter.  Bison are year round grazers requiring water every day.  They eat primarily grasses, but will also eat flowering plants, lichens, and woody plant leaves.  In the winter, they sweep their heads from side to side to clear the snow.  Bison lose so much weight from fall to spring just trying to survive the Yellowstone Winter, over nine percent of adult bison die during the winter.

The American Bison, also call Bison Bison, is our National Mammal and symbolic of the Great Plains.  It’s largest land animal in North America.  At one time millions roamed in herds across the grasslands of The Great American Prairie.  A mature Bison stands 5-6 feet tall weighing 1,800 to 2,400 pounds. They can reach speeds of 30 miles per hour.  Just like much of the Great American Prairie has gone the way of the plow; so most of the Bison have gone. Today, small herds are live in Canada and the USA; mostly in state and national parks like Wind Cave NP, Custer State Park, and Yellowstone NP.   With about 5,000 Bison, Yellowstone NP has North America’s largest population of wild Bison and is the only place in the United States where bison have lived continuously since the prehistoric times of the last ice age.  Also, see American Bison | a 7 Image Story for more information and images of the American Bison.

Yellowstone River   Yellowstone’s first snow of the year in mid November made for a great day to capture images along the Yellowstone River.  A snowstorm had fallen the night before, covering everything in sparkling fresh snow.  Actually, we only had a few minutes to capture this image between snow showers.  Although it was midday, the sun was shining through a thin cloud layer softening the light.  Blowing snow and the calming sound of water ripples from the river completed the experience.  The Yellowstone River, flowing north out of the park, was not frozen due to the thermal features of the park. It does not look like much of a river in this image, but it becomes a nice size river as it travels further north.   There’s nothing like Yellowstone in the winter.  Yellowstone always provides perspective and introspection.  Every time I go to Yellowstone, the experience changes with new vistas, wildlife, challenges, and accomplishments.

Coyote   This coyote is taking a break from hunting voles during the first snow of the year in Yellowstone.  Coyotes are very good at finding the voles. They can hear them in their underground burrows.  Winter in Yellowstone can be harsh.  The coyotes seem to be well suited Yellowstone’s 20+ below zero cold.  For more information on coyotes, see Coyote | a 7 Image Story.

Yellowstone Rainbow   A few rain showers in the distance yielded several rainbows.  This rainbow ends near Mammoth Hot Springs and Mt. Everts on the north part of Yellowstone NP.  It’s difficult to show the vastness of Yellowstone.  Although Yellowstone is not necessarily known for its mountains, the rocks help put the rainbow in perspective.

Raven Portrait   Ravens tend to hang around the parking areas in Yellowstone.  Ravens are among the smartest of all birds and have accompanied people around the Northern Hemisphere for centuries by following their wagons, sleds, sleighs, and cars looking for a quick meal.  Ravens are really quite amazing birds.  They can fly over 20,000 feet.  They adapt to a very wide variety of habitats including the harsh climate in Yellowstone.  They adapt to living around humans quite well.  They’ll eat a wide variety of foods.  They even befriend wolves while still sharing in the wolves bounty.  Yes, amazing birds!

Mammoth Hot Springs   This Mammoth Hot Springs image was captured during a rain shower.  Mammoth Hot Springs, in the northwestern part of Yellowstone NP, is a large complex of hot springs on a mound of travertine, a form of limestone, created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate.  The spring’s energy  comes from the same magmatic system that fuels other Yellowstone geothermal areas.  The hot water that feeds Mammoth comes from Norris Geyser Basin after traveling underground via a fault line.  The water temperature at the spring hovers at about 170 °F (80 °C).  Algae living in the warm pools have tinted the travertine shades of brown, orange, red, and green.

Elk Cow & Calf   Yellowstone is all about its wildlife.  It’s hard to miss the affection this mom Elk has for her baby; well her bigger baby now.  Yellowstone has thousands of wildlife stories every day.  It’s a real privilege to witness just one of those stores.

Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Yellowstone NP Wild.

Click any image below for a slide show.