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The most entertaining sighting of today actually occurred on the way home after leaving the Park. More on that later…
Today Mom and I traded places in the vans. I rode with Laura, the girls and Bridger in Laura’s van. We started off headed for Blacktail Lakes where there is a partially exposed bison carcass in the water that, to date, has been too frozen for the carrion eaters to break into, apparently. It has quite a bit of bird poo whitewash and the eye has been pecked out. Sooner or later there’s going to be some action there. Alas for us, today was not the day. However, the black bear at Floating Island Lake that had been the headline event of the preceding day was still hanging out at Floating Island Lake, napping on the far shore.
We drove east as far as Soda Butte Creek Picnic Area before turning around. On our way east, approaching the Buffalo Ranch, we ran into the other van. Stacy told us to go slowly and look to the north as we proceeded past the next speed limit sign to the west of the Ranch (which faces east) and be on the watch for a badger. We crawled past going both directions but were defeated in our attempts to spy the badger.
A winter kill bison at Swan Lake Flats that had been frequented by the Quadrant Pack Friday and Saturday was in the possession of a grizzly today. He was covering it with dirt, laying sprawled out on it (much like a bearskin rug) and jealously chasing off ravens.
Today we were treated to ever changing weather. Sun, snow, blow, calm…
We proceeded south then west out the Madison without much in the way of notable sightings but enjoyed the beautiful day nonetheless.
At Quake Lake we stopped to enjoy a herd of bighorn rams.
THEN, driving north on 287, south of Cameron, glancing at a herd of antelope, I spotted a brown carpet floating rapidly over the field to our right. I hit the breaks. “Laura, I think we get a badger today, too!” Get the binoculars out. Sure enough. It’s a badger. We watch it run further away. Stop. Run more. Stop again. Then we noticed that the herd of antelope was approaching the badger, slowly but every so surely. The badger froze. The herd of antelope come up on the right, examined the badger, walked slowly past, stopped, turned around, walked slowly back to the badger, past, stopped, turned around, walked slowly past, back and forth, back and forth. The badger was clearly badgered. Now and then one antelope or another would give the badger closer examination.
Of course, all of this happened against a magnificent backdrop.
Laura and I watched giggling like a couple school girls.
It’s Dad’s Birthday! What did Dad want for his birthday? Well, a trip to Yellowstone National Park with his family, of course. So, today Mom, my sister Stacy, my niece Retta, my aunt Laura, her girls Elisha and Reannan, my son Bridger and myself as well as hounds Winter and Zigi, humored him by accompanying him on a Parkadise trip. Rough duty.
The party was split into to minivans. Dad, Stacy, Retta and I left the motel in one van in advance of the rest of the party in the other van. We headed out under blue skies.
Dad and Stacy had seen wolves near Swan Lake yesterday evening, so we headed there first. Along the way up the Gardiner Canyon, Stacy spotted a coyote on a rock in the Gardner River. Dad and I missed it. We were not disappointed in our goal to find wolves at Swan Lake Flats. We saw 3 gray and 1 black wolf at the Bunsen Peak Trailhead at a distance of 100-300 yards away (closest to furthest wolf).
Leaving there, Dad was on a mission for bear so we headed for the bear corridor. We made a few stops along the way, glassing and searching. We saw a great many elk and bison and our first ‘lil red doggies’ of the year. We stopped and visited the sandhill cranes who were doing some remodeling and preening at Floating Island Lake.
We were to see another wolf before seeing our first bear — a single black wolf one pullout west of the Buffalo Ranch / Yellowstone Institute. We drove east as far as the Soda Butte Creek picnic area before turning back west again. We ran into the rest of our party in the other van at the Soda Butte cone. Up to this point their sightings included a moose near Pebble Creek, a pair of coyotes near the Ranch.
Of course, we saw some critters along the way.
Traveling west our next notable sighting was a grizzly bear in Little America. When we first arrived he was laying down with his rear end facing us. However, after just moments, he got up and found a puddle to take a bath in. Cute show! He sat down, rocked back on his rump, laid down on his back in the puddle, rolled around a bit, then stood and shook off his bath water.
Next, we headed over to Canyon for me to get my first dose of Canyon for the year. Ah! Wonderful!
Heading back north toward Mammoth we saw a light gray wolf at Grizzly Lake and a black bear north of there. We swung through the Upper Terrace Drive, seeing a couple mule deer bucks, just starting to grow new antlers as well as a couple of jackrabbits.
Meanwhile… in the other van… they saw a black bear swim out into Floating Island Lake, nab a duck and submerge the duck, presumably to drown it. Then the bear exhibited some surprise (body language). Laura describes a scene wherein he seemed to debate briefly if he wanted let go of the duck or not in light of a new discovery. He ate the duck THEN dived under the surface of the water and resurfaced with a small elk carcass which it towed to the floating island! He ate there for a while before towing it to the far side of the lake and dragging it up onto the rocks where he ate at more leisure. Laura says it was like he had duck for a snack and elk for dinner.v We got a phone call from them relating this tale and reporting that the black bear was back on the carcass on the rocks. So, we headed there to join them and enjoyed watching the bear on what little was left of the carcass.
Heading ‘home’ for our hotel room in Gardiner we had to stop to watch a bull bison using a red fire hydrant as a scratching post. Most entertaining!
Bird list for the day:
- Canada goose
- Mtn bluebird
- Common raven
- Sandhill crane
- Tree swallow
- American robin
- Common goldeneye
- Mallard
- American coot
- Bufflehead
- Killdeer
- Cinnamon teal
- Bald eagle
- Northern flicker
- Dark eyed junco
- Black-capped chickadee
- Red-tailed hawk
- Brown-headed cowbird
- Osprey
- Black-billed magpie
- Green-winged teal
- Barrows goldeneye
- Common merganser
- Rough-winged swallow
- Clark’s Nutcracker
- American dipper
- American kestral
The blossoms on my apricot tree — with an aroma as lovely as their appearance…
The first blooms in my yard — the blossoms on the choke cherry bushes…
Buds on my lilac bushes promise beauty in the weeks to come…
The Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge is one of those places where I frequently seek refuge — some time to relax, enjoy watching and listening to wildlife, and just take it easy. On Saturday, my sister, her infant daughter, and I enjoyed doing just that.
We saw a few firsts-of-the-year for me, including a pair of sandhill cranes, a pair of wood ducks (actually in a pond near the Florence Bridge, not at the Refuge itself), a Swainson’s hawk (I chatted with another birder who saw two but I just saw one) and a Eurasian wigeon. A few of the birds we saw, such as the wood ducks, the Eurasian wigeon and canvasback, were lifers for my sister, too. The surprise of the day, though, was a Northern Shrike along the slough road/trail. I’ve never seen one that late in the spring before. Still on the search for my first-of-year osprey.
Perhaps most entertaining, though, was watching the great blue herons do their afternoon fishing. At one time we could watch 5 at one time right in front of us. The tree top nests are well populated. It’s getting to be that time…
Here’s the modest bird list for East Side Highway and the Lee Metcalf NWR:
- Black-billed magpie
- Wood duck
- Hooded merganser
- Killdeer
- European starling
- American wigeon
- Mallard
- Canada goose
- Canvasback
- Green-winged teal
- Northern pintail
- Sandhill crane
- American coot
- Common goldeneye
- Red-winged black bird
- Great blue heron
- Northern harrier
- Red-tailed hawk
- Northern flicker
- Swainson’s hawk
- Blacked-capped chickadee
- Northern shike
- Eurasian wigeon
- Ring-necked pheasant
- American kestrel
Yesterday evening I learned from my son, as he was telling me what he and his friends did with their free afternoon following an 11:30 dismissal from school to start Spring Break, that a pair of older boys in the neighborhood (perhaps middle school age) described and demonstrated the technique to play the “pass-out game” via hypocapnia by forced hyperventilation. I was appalled to hear that the kids in my neighborhood are playing this very dangerous “game.” I fear that if they don’t achieve the desired result using hypocapnia, they’ll “graduate” to strangulation techniques. I learned later that they are using chest compression administered by a friend, too.
I have discussed the dangers of brain damage and even death with my son and have called the parents of the other boys this morning. I hate to think of them playing this game over Spring Break.
I also sent a letter via email to the administrators of Lolo School. In looking for a resource for education materials that they could use to warn children and their parents about how dangerous this activity is, I landed on a few websites that are great resources for parents and educators.
http://www.stop-the-choking-game.com
http://chokinggame.net (this group has a Facebook fan page, too).
A 2008 Centre for Addiction and Mental Health study found that at least 79,000 students in the Canadian province of Ontario participated in this act.[2] The 2006 Youth Health Risk Behavioral Survey in Williams County, Ohio found that 11% of youths aged 12–18 years and 19% of youths aged 17–18 reported ever having practiced it.
My son will be 9 next month. It’s never too early to pay attention and make sure your child isn’t learning to engage in risky thrill-seeking activities!
Updates: I sent my email to Lolo School Administrators the Saturday preceding the week of Spring Break. I received a response from them on Monday thanking me for taking action, for communicating with the other parents, etc. I was told that when classes resumed after Spring Break, the administrators would meet with the counselors to develop a strategy for addressing the issue most effectively. That week the K-5 Principal discussed the issue with my son — a fact gathering discussion from the sounds of it. Shortly thereafter I received another message from the Superintendent thanking me, once again, and giving me an update. The school counselors will be having small group discussions with students as they have found that approach more effective than large assemblies for getting messages across. They have also involved Sheriff McMeekin in their discussions. I am grateful to live in a school district and county with caring and responsive school administrators and local sheriff. Having had recent discussions with other parents in other districts who have similarly requested that educators use their position to teach kids how dangerous this is and had their requests fall on deaf ears, I know just how fortunate we are to have school administrators that will be proactive in dealing with this issue and who are making a genuine best effort to make their teachings effective. Thanks Mike Magone, Dave Hansen and Alice Kupilik as well as the Lolo School Counselors!
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