Another WILD Yellowstone report from Wolf Conservation Center’s (WCC) Alex Spitzer.

It’s always easier being ready to leave by 5am the second day.  This time we headed out toward Hayden Valley.  Our first spotting of the day was before dawn.  A small red fox darted across the road seemingly in pursuit of something.  A bit further down the road, we stopped at Swan Flats.  In the past we have had pretty good sightings here, but today, we only spotted a few Sandhill cranes.  A bit further down the road at Roaring Mountain, we spotted a mother grizzly bear with her three cubs.  We watched as she taught them to forage. We stayed until they disappeared from sight before traveling to Canyon Village where we discovered two very large bull elk casually hanging out on the side of the road.  Our final major wildlife sightings for the day were a group of greater mergansers floating down the river in Hayden Valley right below a majestic bald eagle that stood perched up on a dead tree.  We got the chance to go for a small hike around some more thermal features and around the upper and lower falls of Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon.

At night we were joined by Scott Frazier of Project Indigenous, who gave us an introduction about the work he has done teaching scientists how to respect Indigenous cultures throughout the world to hopefully better integrate traditional ecological knowledge with modern scientific methods.  Scott will join us in the park tomorrow and we can’t wait.