This Yellowstone Tour had an amazing start! Everyone that comes to Yellowstone in the winter wants to see and photograph wolves. It is very difficult to get close enough to wolves to photograph, and most years I might have 1 brief opportunity to photograph a wolf. However, this year was much different and on our first day we found a large pack of 23 wolves on a frozen river, and they were traveling on it not too far away! As soon as we saw them, we got out and started shooting, and everyone was really excited! However, it was also extremely cold, at least -35 degrees, so we had to be aware and not get frost bite. I have gotten frost bite before on all 10 of my fingers when photographing wolves in the winter.
It truly was an amazing experience being close enough to photograph a pack of 23 wolves! Different wolves would come and go, and at one point they came to the road and we had to get in the snowcoach because they were now within 100 yards and coming closer. Some came on the road and howled, and others stayed a little further back. It was amazing watching this all happen! One black wolf then went on a ridge near us and also begun to howl, and what an amazing photo it was! The whole group got amazing photos, but we also had to take turns not shooting to warm our hands.
The wolves then went further back, and we watched them to see what would happen next. Slowly they regrouped, and then they started heading down the river again. This time, the curve of the river came right to us, and a number of the wolves walked right in our direction! The snow was pristine and untouched, and made for great photos as they walked the frozen river! We got to photograph the wolves for a few hours, and I had very happy clients!
The next day we went back to the same area to look for the wolves, and at first, we couldn’t find them. After searching for an hour, I spotted one a good way down the valley, and we headed that way. When we got there, we saw that a number of wolves in the pack had surrounded a bison herd. This was exciting, as we had a chance to see them maybe chase after the bison. Not long after we got there, the action started and the wolves started chasing the bison. I’ve been in Yellowstone every winter since 2010, and I had never seen anything close to a wolf chase on bison anywhere near close enough to photograph. So, when the wolves started chasing the bison, I knew we were in for a rare sighting!
The wolves would chase the bison, and then some bison would turn and chase them. Seeing this interaction from an overlook view was incredible, because we got to see everything play out and weren’t blocked at all. I’m not sure how long the back and forth went, but it was neat to see it happen. In the end, the wolves did get one of the bison. The group was now not sure how we would top these first couple of days, but no one cared as we had 2 insanely great days to start the trip!
On our last day in the interior of the park, we went to a different area and looked for frosty bison. It was around -25 that morning, so still very cold, and found a few large frosty bison not far from the road. They were really frosty and fun to photograph. When we left the bison, I had us go to a spot where I had seen a bobcat in the past, and we patrolled that area and looked. We then stopped and waited and searched around. While there, all of a sudden, I noticed something that looked different than the base of a tree, and sure enough it was a bobcat! I quickly pointed out to the group where it was, and everyone was super excited! It didn’t stay long, but we all got photos and it was awesome. It’s amazing that it moved to that spot while we were there and none of us saw it happen. They really are ghosts of the forest.
After an incredible few days in the interior of Yellowstone on a private snowcoach, we headed to the northern range to photograph the animals up there. We had some really good red fox encounters, and also really good pygmy owl encounters! I had only ever seen one pygmy owl in Yellowstone before this year, but this year people were seeing them more frequent than normal. The first one we saw was far, and close enough to get good shots of. Pygmy owls are only 6 inches tall, so you need to be pretty close to them to get good photos.
One evening while scanning and looking for a pygmy, we found one! It was not far from a pullout on the road, and we were all able to get nice shots of the owl! It flew around and landed on different trees, but rarely moved too far away. It was a great way to end that day! We ended up finding the same pygmy in the same area later, and again it was very cooperative and stayed in a close area that we could get photos of it!
Each year is different in terms of what we see in Yellowstone, but this year we had some great, extended, shoots on a number of animals! The wolf encounters were special, and the pygmy owls were great too! We were able to photograph many different species on this trip, and I already look forward to what next year will bring!
