Hollywood and a two-bear day! 5/29/2026

Once we saw our first grizzly bear of the year, we were anxious to return to Gand Teton National Park. Leaving early, we stopped at our usual fast-food place, bought breakfast, and then drove to Moran Junction. Once inside the Park, we headed towards Leeks Marina but no bear jams or bears. Next, we drove toward Moose but didn’t see any wildlife. Returning, we drove by Signal Mountain and encountered a traffic jam, It was the resident elk nicknamed Hollywood, so named because he spends the summer feeding and posing for pictures alongside Teton Park Road. He uses the tourists to keep bears and wolves away while he feeds and grows his impressive antlers!

Even though he is somewhat benign in June he still poses a danger and everyone should stay at least twenty-five yards away. Toward August he will feel the approach of mating season, the rut, and become aggressive! As it was nearing lunch we went to one of our favorite picnic spots. I forgot our bear spray, so trail hiking was out for the day. I don’t keep it in the car as I am concerned that it might get too hot and explode. If that ever happens, I will face Renita’s wrath. That’s something I do not want to endure (again).

After lunch we headed back to Colter Bay and there were cars parked alongside the road, it was a bear jam! Parking safely, you must be outside the painted white line. We walked down the hill but as we neared the crowd of people, they started to leave! The bear had sauntered into the woods. Waiting for a bit, people suddenly began to take pictures and so we headed further downhill. It was the grizzly bear Miracle who moved into an open space and was digging for tubers and worms. Watching, she eventually moved up and towards an area where seasonal workers lived. The show was over, so we headed back to the car. Later we learned that she had been captured and relocated to a place away from the workers and roads. Hopefully she won’t return as that usually ends in a bad outcome for the bear, (a fed bear is a dead bear, never feed the wildlife)!

Renita wanted to go shopping in Jackson and after a brief discussion we headed to the Moran exit. Just before we reached it we encountered another bear jam!

This time we were some of the first to arrive and we found a great parking spot. Getting our cameras out we walked down the road and there was a feeding bear! At first, I thought it was a grizzly but after spotting the triangle shaped ears and lack of a hump, we both agreed it was a cinnamon black bear. It wasn’t bothered by the people and simply kept grubbing.

We both realized we were too close to the bear and backtracked to the car. A park ranger arrived and using his loudspeaker cautioned everyone to get away from the bear. In other words, get in your car! We always keep others between us and any wildlife. After all at my age, I would be the slowest person in the crowd. Sitting in the car the bear moved into a clearing and Renita was able to get some pictures by sticking her camera out the window. That’s ok to do that as long as you don’t extend any part of your body outside, (imagine a fast-moving bear). This includes putting your body above the sunroof, which is never a good idea, (we once took a picture of a person doing just that as three grizzlies walked around their car. I took a picture and posted it on the blog only to discover that I had the license plate in the picture. It turned out to be a law enforcement person from Utah, the picture got lots of comments).

It was a great end to the day, two bears and Hollywood. It was a relief to see that he made it through last fall and winter’s hunting seasons, (humans, bears, and wolves). Clear skies Renita’s shopping was successful

Hyperphagia, It's bear watching time

The bears are now in hyperphagia. That’s the time when they eat constantly preparing for hibernation, (as much as 22 hours a day). So, it’s easy to find bears, just look for trees with berries. Knowing such a place Becky and Fred joined us as we headed to the Grand Teton National Park. Arriving we saw quite a few people taking pictures at our favorite pond. They were all taking pictures of moose. In the pond below a cow and a new calf were feeding. The cow was grazing while the calf was waiting patiently for it’s nursing. After taking quite a few pictures we headed down our favorite trail. After a short hike we came upon a lady who said there were two bears below us. She said they were in the thick berry laden bushes.

Stopping for a bit and we could see a bush shaking but we continued on. The brush this year is the highest we have ever seen and so the bears could easily hide in the shoulder high vegetation. Besides the berry laden hack thorn bushes white snow berries were also along the trail in shorter bushes. Snow berries are another bear favorite but are poisonous if people eat them. Unlike last year we did not see any Oregon grapes, service berries, (also called June berries in other places), or choke cherries all three are good bear food. We walked further and encountered two other people who also said they had seen black bears. Waiting, we didn’t see any ourselves, so we returned to where the first lady still waited patiently. We could see brush moving and Renita said she could hear brush breaking. The bears have to be close to hear them especially with my bad ears. Finally, I heard an especially loud crack, and we spotted the black bear at the bottom of the hill.

As we watched, for nearly two hours, the bear fed nonstop.

We couldn’t get any good pictures as it was in such thick brush, but every so often we did catch a quick glimpse of black and the unmistakable black bear ears, The bear finally moved out from the trees and crossed thorough high grass. It never did look directly at us as it was completely consumed with hyperphagia.

It finally disappeared into the pine forest, and we headed back to our cars. Just before we reached the parking lot we saw another moose, this time a cow leading its smaller calf to the pond. As we watched a red squirrel ran up to Renita hoping for a handout, but we never give people food to wild animals!

Before we reached the parking lot, we spotted a thirteen lined chipmunk sunning itself in a bush.

It must have thought we wouldn’t se it and it remained on the branch it had selected for a siesta. A little further and a raven fed on a dead merganser.

Renita and I decided to drive to the LSR Preserve. There is a hike we love there but the parking lot was filled with cars. We decided to instead return to where Fred and Becky were waiting. We never did see any other animals, but it had been a great day with fou moose and a bear. Even if we don’t see any wild animals, it’s always a joy to see the beauty of Grand Teton National Park. Today we had seen four moose and a large black bear! Clear skies

Two Days at Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge, Along the Bitteroot River

It was such a relief to finally reach Jen and Erics home in Hamilton, Montana. After the hugs and kisses we set down to plan our week. Jen told us that they had hikes already planned and by the time we finally left we had walked over fifty thousand steps, and some steep ones at that! Two of the days were hikes at one of our favorite places, Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge. It’s a short drive from their place in Hamilton and we were able to self-guide these days as we had been at the refuge last year, (and they were at work).

On the first day, we stopped to visit with another birder who told us we had to see the Great Horned owls. A pair often nests in a trees cavity which had formed when a large branch had broken off. Telling us exactly how to get there, we looked for the owls without any luck. Our problem was solved when another birder pointed one of them out to us, The male was in the pine tree almost over our heads. It acted owl acted aloof and stared away from us. It was almost impossible to get a picture of its face, but it finally decided to look our way. We also took pictures of the nest, but the female was not around, apparently they had not laid any eggs.

Taking another trail we heard woodpeckers, but we couldn’t get any pics. A pair of northern flickers chased each other and posed on a dead tree, occasionally stopping to feed. It was hard to get a good pic as they seemed enamored with each other and chased each other around the forest.

There are natural springs in the woods, it’s along the Bitterroot River, and we flushed mallards and a female barrows goldeneye and caught her as she flushed from a spring filled tributary.

Black capped chickadees, and mountain bluebirds were everywhere but both were hard to photograph as they were flitting through the woods. We also took some distant pictures of a red-tailed hawk and bald and golden eagles, both of which are common here in Western Montana. Leaving we spotted a flock of snow geese which had landed that morning, after starting their migration from Northern California.

On another day we returned to the refuge and after visiting the great horned owl we took a different path. A pair of northern flickers fed on the ground, and we were able to get their pictures. Walking further a hairy woodpecker landed in the tree next to us and perched.

It’s similar to a downy woodpecker but smaller in size with slightly different markings.Black Billed Magpies are in their breeding colors and the blue really stands out!

Noticing ground movement, a pair of California Quails posed for their picture to be taken.

They seldom fly and instead quickly flee on their short legs. It’s funny to watch them scurry away. Retruning to our car we then drove to the refuge Headquarters. The visitor center is small but filled with mounted birds, skulls of local mammals, and reptiles.

The staffer asked if we had seen the newborn goslings and as we watched the parents proudly swam near us , as if they were showing off the new ones. There are northern pikes on the stream here and we hoped we wouldn’t witness a large swirl as the pikes do feed on the small birds.

As we drove down the refuge road a red-tailed hawk perched and fed on what looked like a snake and if as it flew over us carrying its meal. It’s not the first time we have seen birds eat snakes but this time we could see the snake’s head. Not finished with the birding, a mountain blue bird perched on a split rail fence and a flock of wild turkeys gobbled to each other.

It was a perfect ending to our second trip to to Lee Metcalf.

Clear skies

From Star Valley to South Texas

 

We left Star Valley in early October and headed south to our friend, Val’s ranch. It is a hay ranch, but this year’s drought was so bad that she only got twenty-three bales, (she normally gets four hundred). This of course presents a huge problem, as she has two rescue donkeys, two rescue horses, her horse and deer.

She also has many bird feeders which bring in flocks of doves, scrub jays, and red wing blackbirds. The scrub jays land and empty her feeder onto the ground which brings in wild turkeys, and others. She even has a skunk that comes in but luckily, we never saw it, (did I mention she loses cats to an annoying mountain lion)?

You never know what you are going to see, and when you walk around after dark you want to take along a bright flashlight!

From Val’s, we headed further south and west and went to Surprise, Arizona. We stayed there for two hours, which was long enough for us to select and order a park model for our place in Wyoming, (The manufacturer is so far behind that out delivery date is in the spring of 2023). Jumping back in the car we next headed to Tucson, across New Mexico and into Texas. As we crossed the Hopi and Navaho Reservations, we did see Monument Valley in the distance and were lucky enough to get involved with a snowstorm, (we bought snow tires this year, so it was not a problem).

We ended up driving over twenty-three hundred miles in five days, which is way too much for us. Hopefully never again. Clear skies

So now we are in south Texas where the temperature is in the upper eighties with a high humidity. I miss the mountains already. We went birding to Lamar and did spot a red tailed hawk hiding it's kill. Clear skies

 

 

Back to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, January 26, 2021

 

Once you get a new camera lens you just have to use it a lot, and so we made another trip to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge for another day of birding. Before we arrived at the park Renita took over the driving and I attached the 150-600 mm telephoto lens to the camera.

I cradled it in my lap and almost as soon as we entered the refuge, we spotted an American Kestrel. Renita stopped the car in the middle of the road, and I jumped out with the camera, (well I did not really jump). The Kestrel landed on top of a large brush and I shot away hoping for a good image. The image is one of the best bird images I have ever taken as both the resolution and color are spot on.

                                                kestral photo before being cropped, see above
As we neared the Heron Flats Trail a red shouldered hawk landed in a tree and I took quite a few images. From there we drove on till we reached Jones Lake. The lake had filled since the last time we were there, and other than a snowy egret, a sandpiper, and several far away ducks was pretty much a disappointment.

Our next stop was at the Towers and the Big Tree Trail. There another kestrel was hunting above an open field and I did manage to get a shot of it in the air. We walked into the trees on the Big Tree Trail but decided to return to the Towers, hoping to find a clapper rail, (no luck there).

The lower tower was devoid of anything, so we trudged up the high tower. Along the way a greenish warbler made a few tantalizing appearances, but it did not stop in one place long enough for me to take an image. All I ended up photographing was oak tree leaves.

The view from the top of the tower is nice but the whooping crane pair that claims the territory below is usually really far away. This time we spotted two wade fisherman and a boat next to the open field and marsh and it took awhile before Renita spotted the pair of whoopers in a place; we had never seen them before. I took a couple of images and then decided to take some images of the turkey vultures in the area.

Renita brought my attention back to the whoopers and they were moving to the edge of the bay. As we watched they leapt into the air and flew low across the bay.

They reached the shore, and they flew near the boat and one of the wading fishermen. Landing they were as close as we have ever seen them from the tall tower.

Our next goal was to check out the eagle’s nest along the eleven-mile road. If you do not know where it is, you can easily drive by it as it is a way off the road. It is about 5.6 miles from the start of the road and parking, we walked to a spot where we could see the aerie. It was still empty, and we wondered if the eagles had abandoned it or even returned to the area.

Finishing the one-way road, we returned to Herons Flat, parked the car and walked down the trail. The red shouldered hawk had taken a place in a large brush and I had to take the camera off autofocus.

Switching to manual I was able to refocus on the bird and not the branches and got a great shot of the hawk.

Walking further along the trail allowed us to see the two whooping cranes in the distance but they were along ways away.

There were some rosettes, a reddish egret, a great blue heron, a great egret, and a pair of pied billed grebes but the sun was wrong, and I could not get a good image. We did not see any alligators, unusual for the trail, as the trail is crisscrossed with alligator drags.

It was time to drive back home but before leaving the refuge we stopped in front of the refuge build to see if the resident alligator was at its usual spot. It was an appeared o be sleeping but it occasional opened its eye to see if we were close enough for it to get a birder.

Just as we drove out of the park, Renita spotted a flash of red and stopped the car. There we realized the small bird on top of the tree was a vermillion flycatcher. It was a great way to end the day and we hurried back home to upload the images into our photo program. It was a good day, and the results are the images used in this blog. 

Clear skies