Thursday, 2/20/20: A Really Cold but Really Great Day in Yellowstone

We started at Y.E.S. pullout at 7:00 AM and found two of the unknowns feeding on their elk carcass. They headed up the hill and we lost them in the trees. Despite heated boots, my feet got cold to the point of pain, so I retreated to the car. Our thermostat said -21 degrees F.

A fog bank begins to form above the Lamar River, eventually obscuring any wolf watching.

When John had also had enough, we drove to Tower Junction to get gas, and then to Nature Trail on the western side of the park. We photographed a coyote and an elk cow along the way. We drank hot chocolate in the car while parked in the sun at Nature Trail, waiting for it to warm up a bit outside.

Nature Trail

We encountered Kathy at West Lamar, so we stopped to scope the Junction Butte pack with her. There, we also met Laurie, the author of the Yellowstone Wolf Reports we follow year-long. All 17 Junctions (one black had been missing for a while) were visible earlier, but we only saw seven next to the Marge Simpson Tree (the tree is shaped like her hairdo). The adults reunited with the pups and yearlings. It is not uncommon for them to separate during breeding season,

We thought it had warmed up to -3 by then, but Kathy said that we were getting heat from our car. That's when we learned that the Forester's thermostat only goes to -22 F, as Kathy drives an older model Forester like ours and knew its limit. It was actually -25 F at the time, which was around noon! Even with the sun out, we're not sure if it ever got above 0 later that afternoon. The car was 34 degrees inside without heat even with sunshine.

Since the Junctions were bedded down for the afternoon, we headed back to Y.E.S. to look for the five unknowns again. We took turns scoping and warming up in the car in 30 to 45-minute bouts. I was ready to go back to West Lamar when John spotted them returning to the carcass to feed at 1:55, one by one. We watched for three hours as they fed, rested, and fed again, mostly taking turns.

All five wolves are visible in this photo. The easiest two to see are the black ones on the left. The gray is at the base of the trees in the middle, and a little to her right and just inside the trees are the other two (one black, one gray) feeding on the carcass.

This is a great vacation. Really! Just think of all the calories I am burning.

Having had her fill for a while, a gray female reposes at the tree line. The other gray female and two blacks are on the carcass on the far left.

The black wolf runs back to chase ravens off the carcass.

When spotting with Kathy earlier, we learned a lot about the five unknowns. There is just one adult wolf, the black with the light muzzle and blaze on its chest. The other four are puppies; the two blacks are male and the two grays female. The black pups have been seen leaning forward while urinating, which males do. There is no adult female. If the adult male doesn't find a mate soon, he won't have one for at least the next year since it is breeding season now. They won't name the group if they don't den, so they will continue to be the unknown five (unless someone figures out where they came from). Kathy also indicated that their chance of survival is bleak, as there are only five of them and they could easily be killed by the nearby 17-member Junction Butte pack or at the very least chased out. We also learned that Jeremy (wolf project researcher) contacted the Wyoming Department of Wildlife who collars and tracks wolves outside of the park, and the five do not match any description of their wolves. We feel lucky to have seen them.

As the last black pup (the one with the white blaze) left the carcass, allowing a pair of foxes, a bald eagle, and a vulture (perhaps...hard to see) to eat, we gave up for the day and got home in the daylight at 6:00 PM. It was almost a 12-hour day.

Tomorrow morning, we'll sleep in a little (as opposed to getting up at 5:15), pack the car, and head out, stopping to do a little wolf watching and retrieving our trail cam along the way. We start our two-day drive home.