Ramblings

Yesterday it was confirmed that a grizzly unnecessarily killed by a hunter in September was, in fact, one of Bear 399′s cubs. Writer Todd Wilkinson does a much better job of telling the story than I could ever hope to:

Controversial Grizzly Bear Death A Family Tragedy

Confirmed: Shot Bear 615 Was Cub Of Famed Grizzly

The above image was taken May 1, 2008.

More images of 399 and her cubs can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

I took this yesterday while floating/fishing the Snake River with a friend.

This was taken today while walking along the Gros Ventre River.

The Black Bear sow and her two cubs that I had been looking for most of the week were out today. They were feeding on the river hawthorn berries, which I had incorrectly called serviceberry in a previous post.

I went looking for bears tonight, but unfortunately could not find any. There was a moose cow and calf out though.

There seems to be a good berry crop this year, which is attracting the bears. I had heard of a black bear sow and her two cubs that were out in the park. I rambled up after work to find them, but I didn’t make it that far. I came across this yearling and its mother first. They were feeding in thick brush for the majority of the time, so it was difficult to get a clear view. The only decent shot I was able to get was when the cub climbed to the top of a serviceberry.

A storm moved through the area last night and today dropping several inches of snow in the valley and even more in the mountains. So today after work, I went to the park to photograph some fall color in the fresh snow.

I came across this coyote on the move amid the snow-covered sagebrush.

A couple more from yesterday. This first one is from Oxbow Bend just as the sun hit the Cathedral Group.

This one was taken in the Snake River Canyon. The trees with the yellow leaves are quaking aspen, while the smaller trees with red leaves are bigtooth maple.

The bigtooth maples in the Snake River Canyon are unfortunately passed their prime, though there are still some that are quite colorful.