My grandson Braeden and I were in the Yellowstone Park this weekend for our traditional last trip of the year. Some years we don't see a lot of wildlife and spend the time doing the normal "tourist" activities in the geyser basins that we haven't seen in years. This year however, was a bonanza for wildlife sightings! Final count: 8 mountain goats in an area where we've never seen them, 3 grizzlies, 4 or 5 coyotes, a burrowing owl, 2 otters playing and swimming in the Yellowstone River (a sighting that has been on our bucket list for years), hundreds of elk including one large herd with a bugling bull, 7 wolves from the Wapiti pack, and the most exciting sighting.....3 wolves from the Canyon pack.
Seeing the Canyon pack is like winning the lottery as they are rarely seen these days. The alpha male and female are like royalty in the park and are the oldest known mating pair in the park at 11 years of age. We have never seen them before so when they crossed the road Sunday morning right at the power station between the Norris Junction and the Virginia Cascades turnout we were beyond thrilled. We were able to see the white alpha female a couple of times along with the alpha male 712M, and their grey yearling. They had 3 pups this year but we didn't see any of them. Braeden has some great pics of 712M and one really awesome pic of the alpha female.
The only reason I took a video was to get the audio of the pack howling. I apologize for the quality of the video. I was hand-holding my little point and shoot into the sun so was having a hard time even seeing if I had the yearling in sight. Right before the video all 3 wolves had crossed the road to the north side and were milling around the strip where the power lines run into the forest. The alpha female and yearling went into the woods but 712M stayed back. The alpha and yearling crossed the road about 100 feet up from us and then about a minute later the yearling crossed back over to the north of the road where she is standing in the video and howling erupted. Pretty amazing experience. Click on HD for better viewing and turn up the volume.
https://goo.gl/photos/1ShRSwkGYFw9GAjU8
Some pictures that Braeden got.
Alpha Female
712M Alpha Male
Deb