2008 Photo of the Week Gallery
|
|
|
|
|
Week of January 6, 2008
Coyotes have been more common in the Upper Geyser Basin this winter. Unfortunately, one was even put down after a visitor left her backpack unattended and a coyote stole it. The person chased the coyote and the coyote responded by biting her. As a result, the coyote was killed. Food sources should never be left unattended and wild animals should never be approached.
Fortunately, this wasn't the coyote killed. This coyote has developed a fondness for the warm ground in the geyser basin. It can frequently be seen curled up on the same patch of ground. The ground here is so warm that the snow does not accumulate. The coyote is covered in frost due to the cold temperatures and thermal steam. The frost on its coat indicates the animal is healthy. It is not losing heat through it's fur, but rather is staying insulated, keeping the animal warm during the cold nights of a Yellowstone winter. |
|
Geyser Basin Coyote YWC0014 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of January 13, 2008
I made a trip to Lamar Valley on my days off this week. My goal was to photograph wolves, coyotes, and fox. I achieved two of the three. My last photos of the weekend involved this coyote. As I drove past Slough Creek Campground, then across the bridge over the Lamar River, I saw this coyote sleeping on a knoll on the side of the road. Ironically, when photographing the sleeping coyote, I saw the sagebrush more as a distraction, but when I saw the final images, the sagebrush really accentuates the scene.
The coyote would sleep for a few minutes then look around before sleeping for a few more minutes. It repeated this over and over. After a short while, I moved on. The coyote would spend the night out in the cold while I slept in a warm room. Yellowstone's wildlife must be hardy to survive the cold nights of winter. |
|
Sleeping YWC0015 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of January 20, 2008
During a recent trip to Lamar Valley, I had couple of opportunities to photograph wolves... a rare treat. On this particular day, a lone grey wolf, most likely a young dispersed male, was following the Druid Peak Pack around. Most of the wolves were fairly accepting of the newcomer, with the exception of 302M. The black male, 302M, seemed to delight in running off the younger male.
As breeding season approaches, young males disperse from their packs in an attempt to join new packs or to find a solo female wolf and start a new pack. This can be a dangerous game for the young males as they can be killed by other wolves or may find it difficult to find food without a pack to help hunt. This wolf has its tail lowered down near its legs, a sure sign of submission. It held its tail in this manner throughout the encounter with the Druid pack, hoping for acceptance and new home. |
|
Lone Wolf YWW0004 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of January 27, 2008
Sometimes storms can produce nice lighting at sunrise and sunset. Or sometimes they can just produce dull grey light. On this particular morning, the sun broke through to illuminate the overhead clouds with a beautiful array of colors. All I needed was something in the foreground to give the image some interest. Then I found these elk.
The elk were grazing on top of a ridge. Ridge tops tend to be windswept, so the snow isn't as deep as in places where the wind may not be as severe. These windswept ridge tops make foraging easier for ungulates as they don't have to dig through the snow as deep to find grasses.
The elk on the ridge made a nice complement to the sunrise colors. |
|
Elk Sunrise YWE0017 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of February 3, 2008
Solitude is easy to find in the Upper Geyser Basin when it's 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, as it was on the morning this image was made. Few people had ventured outside at all. But the morning fog along with the clear skies was too tempting to pass up, so I bundled up and headed out. Being prepared for the cold, I stayed warm, though my eye lashes would constantly freeze up.
The fog thickened as the morning moved along, so finding areas where the sun came through the fog became difficult. As I made my along the boardwalk between Sawmill Geyser and Lion Geyser, I came across this scene. The small hot spring and differing trees has drawn me to it before, but on this morning, the diffused backlighting added a really nice element, as did the "ghost trees" in the lower right corner. |
|
Morning Solitude WL0013 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of February 10, 2008
I once again found myself out in Lamar Valley, where this image was made. As I drove through the valley, I noticed this lone cow elk making its way through the deep snow. A winter snow had recently dumped over a foot of new snow over the entire park, including the northern range.
The elk, alone in the sea of snow, drew me to it, so I slowed down. Once I did, I noticed the trail it had left behind. I quickly found a safe place to stop and began photographing the elk and its trail through the deep snow.
While she appears alone in the image, and no sound but the wind could be heard, she was actually making her way towards a mixed herd of elk and bison. Eventually, she made it there and began foraging in the deep snow with the other animals. |
|
Morning Light YWE0024 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of February 17, 2008
While in the northern part of Yellowstone recently, I decided to stop at Subway in Gardiner for lunch. After eating my sandwich, I decided to try something different and drive the old gravel road behind the Heritage Center and search for pronghorns.
It didn't take long before I found a herd of about 30 or so. Some were grazing in the shallow snow while others were napping under the warm sun. This buck was grazing just off to the left of Devil's Slide, which is in the background. As he grazed, I kept my eye on him, waiting for him to move in front of Devil's Slide.
I was photographing a young doe and almost missed my chance. As I glanced back at him, he was moving left to right, with Devil's Slide lined up behind him. I quickly changed my composition and fired off a few frames before he moved right by. |
|
The Buck and the Devil YWP0015 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of February 24, 2008
Another trip out to Lamar Valley yield more wildlife sightings, this time 18 wolves and 20 coyotes in a single day! That might not be typical, but the Northern Range of Yellowstone National Park can yield some wonderful wildlife sightings in the winter.
This image is a result of the great wildlife viewing. January and February is the breeding season for coyotes. This coyote was paired up with another, and they were both enjoying a leisurely morning in the warm sun after a chilly start to the day. The coyotes stayed alert, though you can't tell from this yawn, due to a lone wolf that could be heard howling in the distance on Specimen Ridge. The ridge was in shadow and produced the blue background in this image.
In this image, it looks like the coyote is trying to roar. But no sound came out and instead it ended up just being a really long yawn. |
|
I Am Coyote Hear Me Roar YWC0050 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of March 2, 2008
I drove out to Lamar Valley the morning after the lunar eclipse, not even thinking there was a full moon. As I came up through the Blacktail Creek area, I saw the large yellow disc of the full moon low in the western sky. Suddenly it became a race to get to a vantage point out on the ridge near the Children's Fire Trail, so I could position the moon behind Electric Peak. I finally stopped to make a few images before I lost the moon behind the ridge.
The dawn sky was pink to the west, the sun had not yet risen. The moon was a dramatic yellow. The challenge was to find a position where the moon was near Electric Peak. Fortunately, the ridge around the Children's Fire Trail receives strong winds, and this keeps the snow shallow, if there is any at all. This made it easier to find a spot that put the moon close enough to Electric to make an interesting image. |
|
Moon Set Behind Electric Peak WL0027 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of March 9, 2008
Another winter season is ending in Yellowstone with the roads closing tonight at 9 pm to over-snow travel. This image was taken at the end of the day a few days ago. I went out into the geyser basin after work despite the snow squalls that were coming through. My goal was to see and photograph Grand Geyser. Sure enough, the sun peaked out from the clouds near sunset as Grand Geyser began its eruption.
Not to be out done, Castle Geyser soon began to erupt as well. As I headed past Castle, the light was too nice to pass up, so I began shooting there too. As I came around the other side, I noticed this beautiful rainbow in the spray of the geyser. What more could I ask for... nice light, a rainbow, and Castle Geyser in eruption.
The perfect ending to a great winter season at Old Faithful. |
|
Castle at the End of the Rainbow YTF0030 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of March 16, 2008
One of my goals for the winter season was to photograph a red fox. Last winter, I had several opportunities to do so, but this season, I never had the chance, until my last day off. I was able to take a snowmobile trip to Canyon on my final day off of the season. I had been hearing coach drivers and guides mention seeing fox regularly in Hayden Valley the last few weeks. So that's where I wanted to go.
Shortly after entering the valley, I found the fox. It was a way off, but slowly made its way to the road. Once at the road, it sat and listened for rodents for a while, distracted occasionally by the passing snowmobile or snow coach, as in this image. Eventually, it bored of listening for dinner and lay down to relax before resuming the hunt on the other side of the road, finally moving off and out of sight. |
|
Sly as a Fox YWF0017 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of March 23, 2008
This photo was taken on March 12, so it's not as current as some of the others at the time they are selected as photo of the week.
I took one more trip towards Lamar Valley before I headed to Florida for a few weeks. As I passed Wraith Falls, I saw a canid moving a rise to the north of the road, about 100 yards out. I turned around and headed back to get a better view. The wolf moved towards the road and eventually crossed immediately where I was parked. It crossed the road and continued near it, headed down towards Undine Falls. It eventually dropped off the road towards Lava Creek, where I learned there were a couple of carcasses.
This shot was taken as the wolf came down from the rise towards the road. |
|
Wolf Tracks YWW0020 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of March 30, 2008
It isn't too often I have a bird as a photo of the week. But it isn't too often that I am in Florida where there is some of the best birding in the world. For the past two weeks, I've been in Florida visiting family and photographing some natural areas, including Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National Park.
Merritt Island has a few resident Roseate Spoonbills and I hoped to photograph them. Two immature birds were seen every day sleeping in Mangroves near the parking lot and trail head to the observation tower. Immature spoonbills have white feathers on their head where as mature birds have naked heads with no feathers.
One of my goals for this trip was to get a photo of a spoonbill in flight, preferably with a background of blue, either water or sky. I saw this bird out at a great distance so decided to sit and wait to see if it would come near. As I waited, I saw it take flight, coming in my direction. The late afternoon made for nice lighting and a fast shutter speed, and I came away having achieved one of my goals for this Florida trip.
I'll post new photos from this trip some time in April, so check back. |
|
Spoonbill in Flight FLB0050 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of April 6, 2008
I spent the last week in Olympic National Park in Washington. While there, I had the opportunity to visit and photograph four different beaches, the Hoh Rain Forest, and several waterfalls.
One of the beaches I spent time on was Kalaloch Beach. This beach didn't have dramatic sea stacks of some of the other beaches, but it did have two very visible bald eagles. Actually, I saw bald eagles on every beach I went to, but usually at distance. However, this eagle had commandeered a sting ray corpse that had washed a shore. The other eagle in the area, a juvenile, flew overhead. This eagle responded by calling out to it, probably warning it off, and looking upward in its direction. That's when this image was made.
During this trip I experienced pretty much any kind of weather you could expect. It snowed, rained, was sunny, and that was just on the day I left. |
|
Bald Eagle on Kalaloch Beach OW0001 |
|
|
|
|
 |
Week of April 13, 2008
I'm back in Yellowstone but haven't had a chance to get out to photograph anything this week. So this photo is also from last week in Olympic National Park.
Second Beach is near LaPush, Washington in Olympic. Of the different beaches I spent time on, I found Second Beach to be the most photogenic. The sandy beach is lined with sea stacks, rocks, and several small streams, that all make great photo subjects. At low tide, tide pools reveal star fish, anemones, and other sea life, normally not seen.
Even the short hike to the beach is beautiful, leading through a forest filled with moss covered trees, ferns, and other abundant plant life in this lush, green environment.
This image was made shortly before sunset. The ripples in the sand made a nice foreground for the sea stacks in the back. The tide however was coming in, so I didn't know how long I'd have the ripples available. Shortly after I made this image, the sand was covered under the incoming tide. |
|
Sunset on Second Beach OL0001 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of April 20, 2008
Winter is slowly releasing its grip in Yellowstone. Snow still buries the landscape, in some places several feet deep. But in the lower elevations around Mammoth, new growth hints shades of green low on the ground. Bluebirds have returned, along with robins. Bears are emerging from their dens, Sandhill Cranes perform their mating dances, and baby bison are slowly becoming a more common sight again.
The harsh winter is leaving an ample supply of winter killed carcasses, a welcome food source for predators and scavengers. This red fox was found on a carcass near the road a few days ago in the Canyon area. The fox would tear off some meat and eat it, then climb the snow near the road and survey the landscape to ensure no coyotes or other threats were approaching. This went on for about half an hour before the fox had eaten its fill and moved into some trees and napped.
This image was taken out of my car window with a 500 mm lens, as the fox surveyed from the snow hill near the road. |
|
Red Fox Portrait YWF0031 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of April 27, 2008
Grizzlies and black bears are emerging from their dens from a long winter slumber. At Old Faithful, were the snow is still very deep, several bison carcasses, dead from a winter of starvation and cold, supply the grizzlies with much needed nutrition.
So far this spring, several hundred bison have perished due to the deep snow and cold temperatures of the winter, a natural event in the Yellowstone ecosystem. Meanwhile, as the bison tried to move to lower elevation grazing lands, over 1,600 were slaughtered by the National Park Service and Montana Department of Livestock, an unnatural and unnecessary event. This has reduced the bison herd from around 4,700 animals to most likely 2,500 or less, by the time enough green grass has emerged to allow the bison to start finding nutrients.
And so this image represents two forces of nature; the still lingering snow of a long winter, and a sign of spring, a grizzly emerging, in search of a bison carcass to supply necessary calories to begin gaining weight. |
|
Two Forces of Nature YWG0025 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Week of May 4, 2008
As mentioned last week, there are a lot of elk and bison that have perished due to the prolonged winter and deep snow. There has been snow on the ground over most of the park for about five months now and, while some very low elevations are slowly starting to green up, it will be several weeks before ungulates start gaining weight again. This abundance of winter killed carcasses provides plenty of food for ravens, bears, coyotes, eagles, fox, wolves, and other scavengers.
Near Blacktail Ponds, three carcasses have been pulled from the ice by a grizzly. The grizzly fed on the carcasses primarily at night, but during the day, an assortment of other wildlife could be seen feeding, most commonly bald eagles and coyotes. However, one morning, four wolves showed up on the carcass. According to the wolf biologists, the wolves were a break off from the Leopold Pack and consisted of a large collared gray, two other grays, and a large black wolf.
The black wolf, photographed here, was very playful. In this image, he is chasing ravens from the carcass, something he did several times while the wolves lay in the snow after feeding. |
|
Chasin' Ravens YWW0021 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
