Grand Teton National Park, June 5, 2025...Update

 Greetings from Wyoming, where the temperature ranges from the low 30's at night to the mid 70's at mid-afternoon...even in June. Pack accordingly.

One of the first critters we spotted was a coyote in a large hay field...

One of our favorite places to visit is the Murrie Ranch on the scenic Moose-Wilson Road...

The long lane leading to the ranch house offers many wildlife viewing opportunities. Among the often-seen wildlife are moose...

This one was chilling under an evergreen tree...

There were also some mule deer visible...

Another side-road adventure is the Uhl Hill Road...

We have seen a variety of wildlife in this area including badgers, pronghorns, bison, coyotes, wolves, raptors including golden eagles and ravens...

This one had found a morsel, and he wasn't letting it go...

We also found a killdeer probing for food...

Uhl Hill Road leads to what used to be a working ranch. The National Park Service uses several of the original buildings for storage. Some they have let fall into disrepair...

The first grizzly bear we encountered was south of Jenny Lake. Because of the speculation that a male grizzly had just killed two cubs belonging to Bear 1063, I quickly assumed that this was the culprit...

With no evidence to support my theory I have to admit that the bear known as grizzly bear 679, aka Bruno, most likely is to blame. As mentioned in my earlier post, male bears will kill cubs to force the female into heat again.

The southern part of GTNP has lots of landscape to take in. Cheryl took all of the landscape photos while we roamed around searching for wildlife...

 On what is called the inner-park road we had a few distant critter sightings...

This is a cinnamon phase black bear...

A pair of sandhill cranes...

A pack of five coyotes on the hunt...

I wasn't able to get all five in a single photo, but I did manage to isolate a couple...

The rough road to Spaulding Bay...

Provided an encounter with a red fox...

On Togwotee Pass we encountered grizzly bear 863, called Felicia by locals and tourists alike...

This year she is trying to raise her cubs by the side of the road to avoid the boars...

A drive to the top of signal mountain resulted in the sighting of a female dusky grouse...

Another visit to the Murrie Ranch resulted in another moose sighting of possibly the same young bull...

Thanks for visiting, be well, and come back soon.

Grand Teton National, Arrival May 5, 2025

 We arrived at Grand Teton N.P. on May 15. For several weeks there has been a lot of buzz on social media about bear 1063 and her cubs. For those who are not familiar with bear 1063, she is a daughter of bear 793, also known as "Blondie" by bear watchers.

As Cheryl posted on Face Book..."Bear 1063, aka Bonita, had triplets last year. They all made it through the winter and were doing very well and been seen a lot. Since last week Bonita was always seen without her yearling cubs. (Grizzlies always keep their cubs until they're at least 2 1/2). Rangers were able to find the bodies of 2, and it appears they were killed by a boar (male) grizzly. They are known to do that to bring the females back into heat so they can breed them. Everyone has been heartbroken and assumed the third cub was gone also. Well, today she found her third cub!!!!"

You can imagine our delight to have arrived in the park on the very day that 1063 was spotted, and not only did we get to see them, but we also had a chance to take a few photos...

Three days later we found 1063 and her cub in the same general area. She was often looking over her shoulder. Cheryl felt that she was likely watching for the boar that killed her other cubs. I opined that she might be looking for the missing cubs. We will never know what she was thinking...

Four days later we spotted them again. This time the photo opportunities were not so good. All in a day's work trying to photograph grizzlies...

We have time to photograph 1063 and the other bears that live in Grand Teton N.P. before heading up to Yellowstone.

Thanks for visiting, be well, and come back soon.