First Photos in Yellowstone

 Now, this time of year is all about babies and rain.  It rains out of pure air for no reason, but the benefit is seeing tons of new babies.  The babies are small right now, but as the days and weeks pass, they will grow and make their way out.  One of our favorites is foxes.  I swear they learned to walk from the Wilhemina modeling school!  

See that one foot crossing the other - that's typical runway walking!

And this just looked downright playful.  You can see why these animals would be so attractive to humans.  We provide them with some leftovers, and they provide us with love and protection.  This little fellow just walked around a group of photogs like we were his long-lost friends.  No one, fortunately, in the group tried to get too close, cause we all realized that an animal that accepts food from humans has a short life span.  

Then there's the typical teenage horsing around.

Bison do not look that interested in humans, but then, just as you think everything's safe, they charge at you as if you had given them the evil eye.  So the wise person stays a reasonable distance away.  In this group, the golden babies are arriving every day.  Lamar Valley is called the Serengeti of North America, and when you travel through the valley, you can see why with herds of Bison wandering as if there's no care in the world, unless your teenage brother comes after you with his horns.  

This is the ladies' salon, where everyone knows their correct pronoun, and no males are allowed. Some just need a quiet rest while they wait for the hair dryer, and others need some work on their behinds. Good luck with that!

And this is one of our favorite places in the Tetons. That's the famous Snake River in front of the major part of the Teton Range, where the view is about as spectacular as you can imagine. The Snake River gets a little slough-like as it "snakes" around the Tetons, creating this beautiful area with a gorgeous view of the Tetons and the reflection an artist might create, only this is really no fussing, just a straight shot of the mountains.  

This time of year, when the new green shoots are just popping up, it's all about food, so that a Griz and her yearling are eating like crazy.  This mom looks fresh out of hibernation, almost emaciated, but her year-old cub looks in good shape.  The cub will soon wander off or be pushed off by a boar wanting to mate with this sow.  This is a particularly light-colored Grizzly whose coat will turn darker the older it gets.  

We will travel to a lot of our favorite past spots.  The wolves' den on Slough Creek seems active as the Golden Eagle's nest closes.  Both should be interesting, but it's all about getting them at that great time when they appear to be playing or having fun.  The nice thing about Yellowstone is that once you know where these animals hang out, most return to the same spot for future families.