A Day Filled with Wildlife

Prairie dogs
Elk 
Buffalo (hundreds)
Antelope 
Coyote
Osprey
Big horn sheep
Red-tailed hawk
Golden Eagle
Bald eagle (2)

What a great day we had driving through Lamar Valley.  The highlight was seeing a bald eagle and watching him for almost an hour.  We spotted him sitting in a dead tree and pulled over to watch.  Down in the river below were seven antelope and a buffalo.  Soon after we spotted him he flew about 500 yards to another tree.  We jumped into the truck and drove down to get a closer look.  Walking down to the riverbank we got about 50 yards from the beautiful bird.  It felt like such  a privilege to see this creature in its habitat and to watch it from so close by.  An osprey came along and prompted the eagle to take flight leaving this spot to return to its original tree.  So we jumped in the truck again and drove back to sit and watch for a while longer.  While watching the bald eagle, a golden eagle flew through and circled its way around over the winding river.  We watched this stunning bird for quite a while also.  Being in the park early gives you more opportunity to see the wildlife before the hot sun and then the strong winds kick in.  We certainly got a good show today.

We watched the bald eagle from this vantage point for a while.  Can you spot him?

He sat in this tree for the longest time and even let me get as close as 50 yards away.

Standing on the bank of the river got me so close!  So beautiful!

Here is our coyote friend.

And Mr. Antelope

Big Horn Sheep hang out near Gardiner.

This picture does not capture the hundreds of buffalo that were in this area but the winding river in the background was just too gorgeous and I had to include it.

The buffalo are pairing up for mating season.  You can see them hanging out two by two.  We watched them roll in the dust.