Beartooth Pass, Yellowstone NP ,Tom Miner, Livingston & Dailey Lake

 

Pika at the summit of Beartooth Pass (10,947 ft)

We had visitor's from Green Bay come and we were happy to give them a wildlife tour.

Kim, who works at the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary and her friend Nonnie came to do the full Yellowstone National Park adventures.

Mountains show why they named this Beartooth Pass.

Several Red-tailed Hawks were hunting the heights keeping the Yellow-bellied Marmots in hiding.

Birds were just hanging in the strong winds without flapping or moving.

Surprise!  White-rumped Sandpiper lands at a small puddle on the summit!  

You can see for miles from up here, Looking southwest is Yellowstone National Park.

Above treeline are many alpine flowers like this Alpine Gentian

Clark's Nutcracker at the high trail above Red Lodge.

Steller's Jay

Steller's Jay hopes people will drop snacks for him.

As we were coming through the park early our first encounter was a Bull Elk.

Much sought after Moose sighting. 

Pronghorns doing a little jousting.

We also saw a Black Wolf but too far away for a photo.

Plus hundreds of Bison roaming Lamar Valley.

Since we couldn't find any bears at Yellowstone, we asked our friends if they wanted to go up to the Tom Miner Basin where we had seen Grizzly bears the week before.  The bears didn't dissappoint us.  We saw a total of nine Grizzly Bears including this curious sow and her two cubs.

A drive four miles east of Livingston we found two families of Wild Turkeys.

This young one is older than the ones below.

Mom calling her chicks to come along quickly

White-tailed deer crossing backwater of the Yellowstone River.

Deer walking up the Shield's River

Eastern Kingbird displays it's seldom seen red crest.

Juvenile Golden Eagles near the river 

Three Golden Eagles, one on left is eating a rodent.

Huge Golden Eagle nest high on the cliff ledge.

Mist rises over the Yellowstone in the morning sunrise.

Hen Common Merganser completing her preening exercise.

Rock Wren 

We heard and started counting Pinyon Jays (105 flew over us)

We followed them to a resident feeding station.

One day later a few stopped at our backyard feeder.

About 40-50 also came into a neighbor's feeder

Pinyon Jays always seem to be on the move - we hope they come back.

Our Sunflower garden is doing well.

Attracting birds and bees - male American Goldfinch loves the seeds.

A few dark red sunflowers mixed in.

At sunrise the Canada Geese head out to the Barley fields

Another jaunt to Dailey Lake to check the Western Grebes, young are growing fast following close behind Mom hoping for fish from her.

Young Pied-billed Grebe

Great to see blue skies over the blue water of Dailey Lake,  For days we had smoke haze making the sky gray and not being able to see the mountains at all.

Thankful to be able to see God's creation all around us!

❤️ Love & Prayers 🙏🏽

Ty & Ida Baumann

Road Trips for Wildlife

 

This bird was not even on our target list, we haven't seen the

 Long-eared Owl for years.

Sitting at the edge of Divide Creek Road with it's wings spread 

to try to appear larger.  We wondered if it was injured?

We knew it was a juvenile because of the downy head feathers .  We purposely flushed the bird three times making sure it could fly well.  Then encouraged it to fly into the thick evergreens to be safe from the fast traffic along this gravel road.

A covey of Gray Partridge scurry through the grass.

Male Mountain Bluebird with some moulting.

Fledged juvenile Mountain Bluebird still food begging along with it's siblings

Mill Creek is the perfect habitat for the American Dipper that blends in very well with the rocks.

We observed at least two families of Dippers

Three juveniles begging parent for food found under the water.

They dive and walk underwater to find invertebrates.

This one is calling for more food, not ready to do it on it's own.

A family of Mink were playing along the creek.

So fast it was hard to get a clear shot.

These two practically ran over Ty's feet.

Yellow-rumped (Audubon's) Warbler

Not many species of warblers nest here or even migrate through.

Dusky Grouse hen, but she's not alone

Chicks were following close behind.

A trip northeast to Martinsdale Reservior produced a new bird for the year for us.

Marbled Godwit

American White Pelicans joined by many Franklin's Gulls and one Cloifornia Gull.

Mule Deer doe and her twins

Black-necked Stilts and American Avocets at Cottenwood Reservior

Juvenile Bald Eagle returns to it's nest tree

Bullock's Oriole near it's bulky nest to the right.

She made many trips to feed the young

Flock of Wild Turkeys make daily visit to resident's feeding station on Convict Grade Road.

Male Belted Kingfisher over Shield's River

MacGillvray's Warbler with insect

Pair of Hairy Woodpeckers, a rare treat

Sunrise over the Yellowstone River along Sheep Mountain Ridge

The high rock cliffs are very porous and loose stones roll down continuously

Violet-green Swallows nest here and hundreds of swallows gathered here before migrating south.

Violet-green Swallow actively feeding on insects over the river

These holes provide great nesting areas for a variety of birds and animals.

Ida saw a Bobcat climb up the cliff face.

Golden Eagles and Bald Eagles were flying along the cliffs 

Golden Eagle

American Kestrel escorting Red-tailed Hawk out of it's territory

A series of close dive bombing accelerated it's exit

Female Broad-tailed Hummingbird responded to pishing

Smoke moved in from Washington's and British Columbia's fires turned the sunrise red.

Five foot high Teasel  starting to bloom

New backyard visitor to our feeder - Downy Woodpecker..

White-tailed Buck also visits our backyard

A trip south to Tom Miner Basin to look for Grizzly Bears was successful.

This bear was the closest chowing down on wheat grass tubers.

One of the eleven bears we saw.  Looking to check us out.

Least Chipmunk at the Tom Miner Campground

Mountain Chickadee

White-crowned Sparrow

Brown Creepers were feeding close to the road.

They start at the bottom of the tree and work their way up checking bark fissures for insects.

Rainbow touches Livingston Peak.

So many different areas nearby that we can see God's creation all around.

Thankful to live here!

❤️ Love & Prayers  🙏🏽

Ty & Ida Baumann