Yellowstone Wildlife

While we were not fortunate to see any bear or wolf in Yellowstone, we were graced with seeing other wildlife in the park.

Sometimes we were prepared for what we might see; specifically the bison who caused daily traffic jams, or rather bison jams, in all directions. Those mammoth, ancient creatures delighted us each and every time we had to stop the RV for them, pulled over to get out and observe them in a field or had to hush as we tip toed by them on a trail. They might have appeared to be too huge to run fast but we knew that was far from the truth. Bison could do some serious damage, in a quick amount of time. We kept that in mind each time we were in close proximity.

Water is abundant in Yellowstone which allowed us to see many varieties of winged ones. We saw several species of duck, some crane, giant ravens and even some eagle. Amara, whose medicine is the eagle, got to get as close to an eagles nest as possible. She was just plain tickled about that. She was so excited that she made sure Luvey and Ellie got to peak at them in their next too.

Some of us sighted things that others missed; Don saw a coyote and, not surprisingly, a fox. Amara spotted an otter or beaver in the river and I saw some elk in the trees one evening. The next night, driving back to camp after dusk, we pulled over (when there are cars pulled over on the side of the road in Yellowstone, it is a sure sign of some animal nearby) and were lucky to gaze on a huge herd of Elk enjoying their evening meal of grass next to a river. That particular type of elk did not have horns. I had hoped for the girls to see a buck but they were elusive. That is until our last day, when we were just a few miles from exiting the park, when right there in the river, was a huge male, drinking water, acting as if the dozen or so human bystanders were not staring and clicking away with their cameras. Once again, wildlife is not to be taken as dumb; that grand elk looked up, directly at me, and started to make his way out of the water. A nearby ranger told us that he was making signs of aggression. We all scrambled back to our respective vehicles at a lightening pace.

During our drives we also got to see deer (larger than any species of deer I had ever seen before) and antelope. It was all magical and I gave silent and verbal thanks that we were able to see our non-human kin in their home. I want my girls to grown up respecting, honoring, and protecting (when possible). It is my hope that trips like this, being out in nature, will plant life long seeds of appreciation and love for the nature world and especially wildlife.