Animals we saw in Yellowstone

It would be rare to make a visit to Yellowstone and not see any animals. The most common animals one sees driving inside the park are bison. Any animal will cause a traffic problem as visitors pull over to take photos but a sighting of a rarely seen species, such as a bear, will definitely cause a traffic problem. Somehow the rangers get word of this and soon show up on the scene blowing their horn and waving tourists away. As you drive along you instantly know an animal has been spotted up ahead by all the cars pulled over. Just like in the geothermal areas, there are always those that disregard the warnings and get too close to the animals. Almost yearly people are either killed or harmed by animals they approach too close. Look at the first two photos here and you will see what I mean. The first one is a favorite of mine but I had to zoom in to get the people out of the shot.

Bison at a small butte

Look how close the two are walking from the bison

I know everyone has seen a chipmunk but I could not resist taking a photo of this little feller.

We saw many bison and some of them were in large herds. We read that the older bulls remain solitary unless it is the rut season and that is why you often see them by themselves. On the other hand the females and claves will stay in groups.

Bison herd

The herd was about three times as large as what you see in the photo but my software could not handle the extreme number of pixels in the full size photo.

This big boy caused a traffic jam and considered the road his.

Elk and her calve

Young male Elk

I apologize for the poor quality of the next two photos. They are of two white pelicans that were about 300 yards away. Even with my 500mm lens on a tripod I could not get a good shot.

White Pelicans

White Pelicans

Bear