Sept 21, Mon - day 46
West Yellowstone, Montana
Weather - low 26 (-3C) to high 60s (19C) clear and sunny



The day started at 4:00am, I made a sandwich, and off I went (by myself) to wait till sunrise and see if any wolves or bear have visited the bison carcass. Racine decided to sleep in, stay warm and work on photos. It was the coldest morning yet.



It was dark and I only saw a cow elk and her calf on the way to the upper Firehole. There was only one other vehicle there when I arrived, so I got a good viewing spot. As I opened the window (still predawn and quite dark) I could hear the bugling of elk. Excited, I started scanning the area (meadows and hillsides) with our binoculars. It wasn’t too long before I spotted an elk on the distant hillside, a long way from the bison carcass and further up the valley.



It was getting light fast and before long the whole hillside had elk on it. Now the tripod came out, binoculars were set aside, and the camera, tripod, and I headed across the road to see what could be captured.



Constant resetting of the camera was required since the light was constantly changing. BINGO…. there were two bulls, lots of cows and calves, and one bull was driven up the hill by another. Not much conflict there….wait….what’s this? Another bull approached and a discussion of presiding authority commenced. Dang… the sun isn’t up, the bulls are more than a quarter of a mile away. Then I could defiantly hear the clashing of antlers and saw the dust fly as they went head to head, battling for breeding rights. What a sight….it lasted less than five minutes and I was carefully working with the camera settings all the time. Once again, the dominate first round bull stayed on sight as the other one moved at a steady but not running pace up the hill. WHAT? Another bull approached, there was an exchange of bugling, and this latest bull decided now was not the time to challenge the winner of the previous battle. In the mean time the cows and calves were running, yes running all over the hillside. Wow!!! What a sight…I was just hoping some of the shots would be bright enough to show up. The sun finally sent its early morning rays into the area, and with nothing in sight around the bison carcass and the elk had dissolved into the trees, I headed for home.



As I turned to take Firehole Lake Drive, I saw a large bison coming across the meadow, when I stopped it just kept coming at me. Good light, nice bison, lots of shots….it got a bit too close for comfort and wasn’t slowing down, it was time for me to move on.



The temperature was well below freezing, the thermals were putting on a frosty morning display and I stopped to shoot some of the frosty scene before moving on. I left the Firehole Lake area, and turned the Red Rocket for home happy with a great morning of opportunities.



No sooner had I pulled on the main road, rounded the top of a hill and the view of the Fountain Flats revealed a few dozen bison and several dozen onlookers. Once again you could see bison on the left, bison on the right, bison on the road, bison crossing the road and people and cars everywhere. It took a little while to work my way through the car/bison jam and down the river I went.



The morning light was great and I made one more stop to get a shot of the Firehole River. Oh nice….what’s that just down stream? It’s the young osprey we’ve been watching the past few days. I Pulled up to a convenient spot, stopped the car, and behind the cover of some pines, eased closer to the osprey. I watched for several minutes and there wasn’t any action…then it just took off and flew upstream a few yards. The light was still good, with some intermittent shadows coming from some of the taller pines on my side of the river. I picked out a portion of the river that looked like a likely spot for the osprey to hit from a dive for fish and I focused a on that spot. After several minutes the osprey dove, I shot, and KAZAM….I snapped several photos that are the best I’ve ever shot of an osprey fishing. The young one has defiantly improved its fishing techniques, it once again snagged a good sized fish.



As the osprey flew downstream the tripod and camera get put back into the car and I too depart, headed for home….with the inevitable one more stop to see the young eagle and its parents. gosh, it’s only 9:30am. What a morning.



Then it was time for some domestic chores that took us to a late evening shopping trip and we left the cameras in Gus. Yes…. you guessed it, the absolute most beautiful sunset since we arrived in West Yellowstone and we didn’t get it…..but we really enjoyed the sight. The adventure continues…



To see more of 'The Great Adventure 2009' images click HERE