Grand Teton National Park April 2026

Last year was an exceptional year for photographing bears. We arrived on April 9th and on our first day in the park spotted bear 610 and her three two-year-old sub adults. They were feeding on a carcass of an elk near the Moran Entrance station. Two days late we drove up to Flag Ranch and Bruno, the dominant male Grizzly bear, was walking alongside the road. As he passed our car, we could see his eye looking at us, but he really didn’t care as he was heading south to Grand Teton National Park. This year we were staying in Jackson, and so it was only a short drive back to Moran. Entering the park, we stopped at all the places we saw grizzly bears, but they were not wanting their photos taken. Day one turned into day two through day nine and we never spotted any bears, (we did see grizzly bear tracks in snow near Coulter Bay. Luckily, there were other things to see. The elk were migrating early, due to the warm weather, so we changed our target from bears to birds. It was a good choice as we added two new birds for our life list.

The first was a very common bird, a song sparrow. It sang and perched in a short tree giving us a great opportunity for a picture. The next was a Red Breasted Nuthatch, identified by merlin’s sound recording, (a bird heard is a bird counted. We spotted numerous Bald Eagles, Ospreys, and took our best picture ever of a male and female Barrows Goldeneye.

They were exhibiting courtship behavior and were oblivious to our presence, (we were walking on the trail at Schwabacher Landing).

On another day we took a picture of a Belted Kingfisher.

As usual Kingfishers are hard to photograph, and this one flew every time I tried to get him in focus. He made the mistake of landing on top of a pine tree about one hundred yards away. I had our 600 mm zoom lens on and I took his picture.

We also saw American White Pelicans, Cormorants, and Great Blue Herons.

I did get a pretty good shot of a Mountain Blue Bird! We also saw a Red-Tailed Hawk in flight, and a Northern Harrier.

One of the birds, common but rarely seen, was a Great Horned Owl,(I have misplaced the picture). We hoped it was a Great Grey but you can clearly see the feathery ears, diagnostic of a Great Horned Owl.

We had to leave the Park to get maintenance done on our car. Now that it has been taken care of we are going to visit a museum in Idaho Falls and then return to Grand Teton National Park. This time it will be for ten more days of bear watching. The migrating elk cows have moved onto their calving places, so the bears can’t be too far behind. Till they calve, the bears will turn into cows and munch on grass and clover. They have over two hundred items on their diet. If you ever see a bear do not feed it! A Fed Bear is a Dead Bear. Once they get a taste of human food they will be captured and relocated. A second offense will result in the bear being euthanized.

Finally, we had to pass through a herd of Buffalo as they crossed the highway. Thats never a pleasant event. Clear skies Ps our friends Gordon and Babs were in New Mexico and a Black bear smelled the M and M’s in their BMW. It then broke into the car and destroyed it.

A Flock of Ten Whooping Cranes, November 28th, 2025

We had heard that the Whooping Cranes had arrived in Lamar. They usual are here by mid to late October but we had only had reports of three present in the field alongside St Charles Bay. Nearing Eighth Street we saw stopped cars and as we turned south we spotted a group of ten! It’s unusual to see so many in one spot, this flock was composed of eight adults and two colts, (young of the year with brown and white plumage). The colts are given that name as they prance around after leaving the nest. By the time they are here in Texas we usually see them with their heads down feeding voraciously after the long flight from northern Canada.

The adults were calling to each other, with their necks stretched out straight up into the sky. There were numerous calls, or warnings, and it was a vocal fight of ownership of the field.

Pairs and then a single bird decided to look elsewhere for their own territory, (each family will claim an area of about one and a half miles. Two took off and flew south to a feeder located in a field edged with cattails.

The single flew in circles, and another pair took off, heading towards the back bay. We often see a pair when we kayak St Charles Bay and travel by motorboat to Dunham’s Bay. The latter bay borders the Intracoastal. The intracoastal is filled with barges which the Whooping Cranes ignore. It’s an area called the Blackjack Peninsula. The Aransas Wildlife Refuge owns most of the area and frequently sets controlled burns. The whoopers follow the fires and feed on exposed snakes, (The snakes are a safely killed by the cranes and are then swallowed whole). At one point two families Males, approached each other. They then raised their necks and squared off as if to fight. However, one of the pairs backed off and leapt into the air looking for a more welcome place.

There were numerous Whooping Cranes flying around us, before disappearing over the trees. Three sandhill cranes stood by and watched the departures, (they are smaller, shorter, than the Whoopers), and will push their luck before backing off when challenged.

The adult Whoopers are a fearsome opponent, a little over five feet tall, and have been documented as killing a feral hog which approached their young. The adult had hit the pig in the head and had killed it instantly. That’s how strong their beaks are! We decided to drive to 12th street hoping for a closer view, but we couldn’t find one. Several Rosette Spoonbills perched in a tree, and an American Kestrel preened itself near Big Tree.

Having had a great morning birding, it was time to head back to our fifth wheel to upload the pictures and rest up for the nights card game of Joker and Pegs. Clear skies. Ps If you want to see Whooping Cranes up close. Go to the small town of Lamar and drive along St Charles Bay. They are a lot closer than you will usually find them at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Hiking to Grand View Point, 2025

Earlier this summer, our Daughter Jen joined us for a hike to Taggert Lake. The next hike on our list, and the most strenuous, was our yearly hike to Grand View Point. It’s listed as an easy hike but at seventy-three, there really isn’t any such thing. Arriving at the parking lot we put on our hiking boots. Starting up, I asked Renita where we headed and she promptly answered, “To the Top”, (thanks to Steve Gardiner for telling the story in one of his books of hiking with his daughter up Snow king).

The first part of the trail had mud puddles, and we realized it had rained shortly before our arrival. We didn’t see any bear prints, always a good sign. Some years we have seen grizzly prints on the trail, so we were carrying bear spray. As we entered the forest canopy the trail was covered with debris from the rain and the rocks were slippery. Stepping carefully, we avoided any slips and falls, perhaps due to our trek poles. The trek poles give us extra balance as at our age balance is a problem…At one point Renita spotted a flock of Dusky Grouse.

Stopping frequently to catch our breath, we didn’t notice dead trees form beetle kill. Most of the trees looked to have survived the year. The only berries we noticed were snow berries, a white berry that humans can’t eat but one of the foods for hungry bears. About two thirds of the way up we were passed by a younger retired couple from Pennsylvania as we visited another retired couple stopped on their way down. They were from Virginia. It was like a mini happy hour on the mountain. We wished everyone safe travels and headed for the top.

The forest opened as we approached the top and we stopped for views of Two Ocean and Emma Matilda Lakes. At one of the openings there is an excellent view of the Tetons, almost as good as the false summit.

On the summit we met a family with five kids who ranged from ages ten to two years old. They must have carried the two-year-old girl. The parents had their hands full! They were also on a yearly hike to Grand View Point and like us from Wyoming. On top, three young women from Texas were taking pictures.

The real summit has a sign on it and after some pictures we headed down to the best view of the Tetons and our favorite lunch spot. Some clouds were forming, and I became concerned about the possibility of lighting. It has happened to me before and it’s not fun to huddle in an exposed position as lighting flashes and thunder booms all around you. (I have been caught three times on mountain tops, twice on Devils Tower and once while on the summit of Darton Peak in the Bighorns. Hurrying our lunch we headed down. The pace going down was so much easier but we had to stop and rest. It was taking more effort than usual as the rocks under the canopy were still wet. My legs were feeling like jelly, so we found a tree stump and took a brief respite. The storms moved away from us, and we continued to the car. We had reached the top! Clear skies

Hummingbird Wars August 2025

The Aztecs God of war was a hummingbird or sometimes depicted as an eagle. His name was Huitzilopochtli.

If you ever have had a hummingbird feeder, you may have seen a hummingbird war.

It happens when a dominant hummingbird, like a male rufous guards its nectar source. The male perches in our white lilac bush and attacks any other hummingbird that dares to try and feed.

Each hummingbird needs to eat half its body weight per day just to fuel its rapid flights, (a hummingbird weights about the same as a penny). It’s no wonder our feeders are emptied in about three days…..

One year we even found a dead hummingbird, after the fight had moved to a ground feeder. The nectar source is so important as the hummingbirds are in a state of hyperphagia, which the bears are also entering now, and they need to put on fat for their southern migration. Clear skies

More Grizzly Bears in Grand Teton National Park

Leaving Jen and Eric’s house we headed to our place in Star Valley. A day before we arrived we received an email from Josh who told us or place was all set up, (in other words he had dewinterized hooked up the water, etc). The next two days involved unpacking, cleaning, and checking our rock collections, (they all survived the winter). Deciding we needed a break we decided to visit Grand Teton National Park, hoping to find a bear or two. Soon after entering the park, we drove past the Oxbow Bend and found a huge bear jam.

Our cameras were ready and so Renita dropped me off, found a parking spot and walked back to meet me. The bears were still visible. They were on the other side of a copse of trees and Renita started taking pictures, using the manual focus. Whenever the object is in or behind trees the automatic focus is worthless as it puts the trees in focus and the subject is blurry, (the first pictures were all Renitas).

The bears teased us, as two of the cubs were sleeping. Bear 1063, (nicknamed Bonita), was grubbing. Grizzly bears are diggers. If you look closely, you can see the hump which is not present on Black Bears. The hump is a mass of muscle and bone which provides support for their digging. Finally, the other two cubs woke up and joined Mom and the largest cub digging for grubs and plants.

It always amazes us that grizzly bears graze like a herd of cows. That is until the cow elk calves are born at which time the bears, wolves, and coyotes all hunt the newborn calves.

Several times the sow, Bonita, herded her cubs towards the road, attempting to cross. The members of the Wildlife management team blocked the road, and one drove his vehicle in front of the bears hazing them using his horn, siren, and flashing lights to prevent them from crossing. In past years they were allowed to cross, and we wondered why this has changed, (perhaps because 399 and another of her offspring were hit and killed by cars). Do not speed!.

Bonita was blocked and so she tried to walk around a tree and cross at another place. Again, she and the cubs were hazed and again we wondered why. In the past, bear 399 and her cubs were allowed to cross. One of the team spoke to us and said that they didn’t want them at Colter Bay as there were too many workers getting ready for the summer season.a S

wainsons hawk soared overhead an I managed to get a decent photograph, We decided we had enough pictures, about four hundred, and so we had a picnic lunch at the Jackson Lake overlook.

Calling it a day we drove back home, stopping at Jackson to buy necessities. It had been another great day as we spotted four grizzly bears, numerous elk, and even a yellow rumped warbler. We did use the app Merlin, to record the singing birds, but it was just the usual red crowned kinglets. Clear skies

Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge May 2, 2025

Jen and Eric were working so we decided to go birding at one of our favorite places. Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge. It’s a short drive from their house in Hamilton and we usually see an occupied great horned owl nest.

The nest was empty so the owls must have flown, if they used it this year). So we continued on our walk. Hearing several different birds, Renita used her Merlin app to record their sound and to identify them. One of the birds it identified was a new bird for us, a Vaux’s Swift. They are migrating and they do nest in the area so we got one for our life list. Other birds we spotted and photographed were a cinnamon teal,

a Northern Shoveler

,

A Red Tailed Hawk, (with a vole in its claws), and a wild turkey.

As we watched the birds a muskrat swam by and a prairie dog/ground squirrel stood tall.

Nothing unusual but any day we get a new life bird is a great day. Clear skies

National Elk Refuge

After the bear encounter, we returned two days later and found out the road had been closed, (due to bear activity). After a day of laundry, we decided to head over to the National Elk Refuge, just outside Jackson. It was the earliest we have ever been there and the Bighorn Sheep still had on their winter coats, (later in May they will be shedding and will look mangy. As the Bighorn Rams descended the steep mountainside, two of the rams decided to butt heads.

Two more cars with photographers showed up and started to point out things we were missing. There were five coyotes, an elk that had been killed the night before by wolves, and lots of ravens. Renita had heard howling the night before,

We never saw the wolves, they had already left, and the coyotes moved in ate their full and were followed by a flock of ravens.

Soon after the ravens began feeding, three bald eagles decided it was their turn, and they claimed the carcass for the rest of the day.

One fed while the other two watched and waited for their turn.

One of the other photographers pointed out a coyote on the hillside.

It stood up and snuck down the mountain, spotting three resting bighorns. The wind shifted and the sheep detected the danger.

The larger sheep stood up, facing the coyote, which promptly decided the bighorns horns were too dangerous and wandered away. Finding a lone bighorn on a rock face the coyote moved towards it until the sheep ran down the hill and joined a large group of other rams.

Things finally settled down and so we took a short walk, our first exercise since we left the Texas Coastal Bend. It had been a great day, and we headed into Jackson for a bit of grocery shopping. Clear skies