Kathie Lynch has sent a report for June 17-23, 2007. It follows. Thanks Kathie!
There is not too much to report from Yellowstone right now as the wolf watching has been pretty quiet. We see the occasional Agate Creek adult traveling by in their traditional Antelope Creek den area. And, we have occasional Slough Creek wolf sightings in Lamar, but that’s about it. I did hear that the spotter plane finally saw Druid Peak and Slough pups, but I have not heard how many or where. We were all just glad to hear that both packs do actually have pups.
We have seen seven to eight Agate pups occasionally and at a very great distance. Sometimes they are chaperoned by good old 113M, who is looking very good! The pups are a joy to behold as they hop through the meadows and then disappear into the trees far, far away. We are hoping that the Agates will move closer for better viewing as they did last summer. We are very lucky to have them to watch since Slough and Druid viewing is so sporadic.
The bear watching has been unbelievable, however! People are often seeing more than 10 grizzlies a day–someone actually saw 17 grizzlies today! There seems to be every possible combination–sow with three cubs of the year, sow with two COY, sow with yearling cub, single boar…you name it. Most of them are seen up on Dunraven Pass; yesterday I saw a sow with two COY cross the road there and another sub-adult just lying stretched flat out right next to the road!
There has also been great bird viewing. Along the Tower/Dunraven Roads there are at least three active nests–peregrine falcon, osprey and redtail hawk. Today I saw the mother feeding chicks in each. There are also sandhill cranes on Floating Island Lake.
And, in the miscellaneous fauna category you can see an otter at Trout Lake (although one adult and perhaps two pups were killed, cause unknown), bighorn sheep near Yellowstone Picnic area, mountain goats on Barronette Peak, bison calves galore in Lamar Valley, moose in Floating Island Lake, a coyote den in Soda Butte Valley, and the usual assortment of black bears around Tower store and Tower Junction. But, best of all is the astounding spectacle of hundreds (thousands?) of spawning trout at Trout Lake. The seething mass is a sight guaranteed to astound anyone as they flash their fins and fight their way up the little rapids of the inlet creek. It is truly one of the miracles of nature!
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Comments
Kathie, thanks for all of the great news, in particular about the abundant trout. Good news is much needed! Makes me want to head for Yellowstone!
Kathie, your reports are the best…When we were chatting at Slough Creek last Thursday I forgot to mention that on Saturday the 16th five of us were hiking up Fredricks Peak when we came across 3 adult members (two black/one grey) of the Slough Creek Pack. They looked at us from a short distance before they headed away from us..It was a good & close sighting but it lasted at the most 10 seconds.
Kathie, I too enjoy your reports. We were in Yellowstone from June 13-21 and fortunately saw most of what you saw, except for the Agates. We got a great look at the white Hayden female on the morning of the 14th in the valley until she swam across the river and just a glimpse of a silver wolf near the Hellroaring area. But we did watch a lone black in the Lamar for a long time on the evening of the 21st near and in front of the Bench area. Anyone know who this might be? Seemed to act rather playfully and didn’t seem too serious about the buffalo nearby or anything else. Also, on the evening of the 20th. we spotted several grizzlies in the Lamar, a female with 3 cubs on the slope above the bench, two single bears just below her, and later behind us on the slope a mother with two cubs. The two mothers with cubs were visible at the same time. Quite a treat.
Kathie, I have missed your reporting. You are the only source for the wolf news around Yellowstone, so please keep it up. Its always a long drought till you get on the job. There’s been little news this season about where the different packs have denned and also pup sightings. Also, I’m always eager to hear about 113M and 302M. Thank you so much for your great work.
Douglass, NC
Hi Kathie
I just wondered if you had any info on Mollys Pack the last I heard 194 and 57 were Alphas. Are the present alphas their offspring?
Peter UK
I’ve just recently stumbled across this website and I have enjoyed reading these updates.
I will be spending a week in Yellowstone in approximately two weeks (mid-July 2007). Does anyone have any good suggestions about places we could drive/hike to increase our chances of seeing wolves?
Thanks!
Rebecca
…just returned from THE PARK. bears bears everywhere, saw 10 in one day on the 29th. 5 grizzly, 5 black, most close to the road. A sow with two cubs fed along the road on the north side of mount Washburn for well over an hour. She never came closer than about 60-70 yards, moving parallel with the road, and never seemed at all concerned with the 200+ people watching. She had those cubs behaving perfectly as even though they played and roughhoused they also never headed up the hill although they would both stand on their hind legs and look up at the road from time to time………then just down from there about a half mile Rosie the black bears two cubs were just off road. I guess she had just recently turned them out to fend for themselves. And finally about another half mile there was an ox-bow pack female, I believe 470, chasing two coyotes off a carcass and then she lay down and took a nap…….this was about 150 yd off the road. All in all a good afternoon at the park.
Any news on the Hayden pack’s new cubs?
(7/1) There is a young mother w/5 pups, just west of Trout Lake (maybe 1/2 mi.) Her den is only about 100yds north of the road.
Also, watched a couple youngsters chase eachother around the beach of Soda Butte Ck (right near Soda Butte). Enjoy!
Kathy,
My wife and I just got back after spending the 2nd half of June in the park. We saw members of the Hayden pack on three different days and saw three of the pups one day but we only got two of them on film; one black and one grey. They were with 540F at the Otter Creek den site. She came down to the river for a drink while they stayed up at the top of the hill at the woodline. We have been told that there are six pups total with only two of them belonging to 540F and the other four to the other adult female in the pack. The three times we saw the pack we only saw one of both Alpha’s.
In other animal news, I would concur with everyone else that the wolf watching was definitely “off” this year compared to last but was more than made up for with bears. We had the pleasure of getting to see the sow Grizzly with two COY on five different days, once as close as 50-yards from the hairpin tun on Mt. Washburn. As if that wasn’t enough, we ran smack dab into a nice Grizzly literally walking through downtown Silvergate on our way in from our cagin in Cooke City one morning at 0530. That was quite a suprise. We ended up following him from the road as he headed towards Cooke City on the north bank of Soda Butte Creek for about 1/2 mile.
We also dropped down to the Tetons for three days and got to see the sow Grizzly with three yearlings who roughed up that jogger a month or so ago. She was just West of the Oxbow bend right on the road for a good 30-45 minutes causing quite a fuss.
If anyone would like to see some pictures of the Hayden pups, 540F or the Grizzly bears….feel free to email me at jjames04@harris.com and I’ll be happy to send them to you.
Thanks to all who post reports on this page, my wife and I rely on them every summer as we prepare for our annual pilgrimage out West. Thanks again!
James,
Thank you for this report. It’s the first Yellowstone News I’ve heard for a while.
They Haydens have always produced a small number of pups per year, but their survival rate has been high. They are Park pack most likely to be seen close up by visitors — both a thrill and a problem.
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