YELLOWSTONE AND GRAND TETONS ADVENTURE
REPORT
June 30 to July 12, 2003
TOUR LEADERS:
PRIMARY LEADER: Brian Vernachio, Plainsboro Preserve
Sanctuary Director
SECOND LEADER: Don Freiday, Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife
Sanctuary Director.
(To download a PDF version of this report that includes
the complete listing of all sightings,
click
here.)
A Naturalist’s Paradise is the only way to describe
these two famous National Parks and the fabulous wild lands
surrounding them. The Greater Yellowstone ecosystem is the only
remaining ecosystem in the lower 48 that has retained its
complete complement of large mammals, and we enjoyed most of
these along with excellent birding, butterflying and
botanizing. This all was in the context of spectacular scenery
and impressive hydrothermal features such as geysers and paint
pots.
TOUR REPORT
The tour met in Bozeman, Montana and started by
exploring several local areas around Bozeman. The US Fish
Cultural Development Center yielded the first Lazuli Bunting and
Calliope Hummingbird of the trip, as well as an aggressive
Cooper’s Hawk diving on a Red-tailed Hawk, actually sending
feathers flying into the clear blue Montana sky. We then
ventured to the higher ground at Battle Creek Campground north
of Bozeman, where the bird highlights included great views of
Evening Grosbeaks. Butterflying was also excellent, with most
of our 23 species this day coming from this location. Later on
the first full day, we drove east and south up the Yellowstone
Valley to Gardiner, at the north side of Yellowstone, arriving
in mid-afternoon. Our first trek into the park was to the
Wraith Falls trail, where we saw Pronghorn and 3 bedded bull
Elk.
The tour’s second day, our first full day in the
nation’s first National Park, featured a morning trip from
Gardiner to Tower Junction. Along the way a stop at Undine
falls yielded Townsend’s Solitaire, Western Tanager, and
Steller’s Jay, while the Blacktail Ponds held Lesser Scaup,
Ruddy Duck, and Yellow-headed Blackbirds. The Blacktail
Plateau Drive featured a Williamson’s Sapsucker feeding young in
a nest hole. We dined at Roosevelt Lodge, then spent the
afternoon sight-seeing at Tower Falls (where we glimpsed a
Bighorn ewe and her lamb) and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone at
Artist’s Point. On the way to the Grand Canyon of the
Yellowstone, we encountered a “moose jam” as traffic accumulated
around a mother moose and her yearling, and saw numerous Bison.
An American Dipper foraged at Chittenden Bridge, and we spotted
two Sandhill Cranes in Gardner’s Hole as we drove back towards
Mammoth.
We spent four full days in Yellowstone. On tour day
three (our second in the park), we started at Mammoth Hot
Springs, where we observed mineral deposits and some flowing
springs, though Mammoth was quite dry this year. A pair of
Mountain Bluebirds posed stunningly against a chalk-white
mineral deposit. We toured the visitor center at Mammoth for an
hour, then moved to the Norris Geyser Basins, where Steamboat
Geyser surged several times and we were nearly overwhelmed by
the unique scents of the underground world. We traveled to our
elegant quarters at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel via the Hayden
Valley, en route enjoying numerous Bison, White Pelican, and 6
Barrow’s Goldeneye in the Yellowstone River. Some of us dined
at the Lake Inn at the close of day, with a string quartet
providing background music as the lake reflected the jagged
Absaroka Range.
Our first stop on Day 4 was the LeHardy Rapids along
the Yellowstone River, where we glimpsed a male Harlequin Duck
and watched a Swainson’s Hawk catching stoneflies (or
salmonflies as they are known in the west) and eating them on
the wing. We explored the Hayden Valley, observing bison, a
variety of ducks, and some interesting wildflowers and
butterflies including an impressive collection of Boisduval’s
Blues. We had lunch and explored the visitor center in Canyon
Village, which featured the popular “Bison Attack” video. From
Canyon, we worked our way towards West Yellowstone and a
Trumpeter Swan along the Madison River, then south towards Old
Faithful along the Firehole. On the way, a wonderful young
Grizzly Bear entertained us and hundreds of other visitors as it
foraged just across the river. Hairy Woodpeckers fed young
along the trail at the Fountain Paint Pot, where we took in
geothermal features, and by 6:00 we were at Old Faithful, which
erupted on schedule at 6:41 and 8:15, allowing us time to dine
in between. Our evening game drive yielded many Elk, Bison, a
glimpse at a Mule Deer, and spectacular views.
On Day 5, we ventured first to Fishing Bridge and its
spectacular concentration of spawning-run Cutthroat Trout, not
to mention myriad mayflies and caddisflies. White Pelicans
fished in the Yellowstone River there, where it flows out of
Yellowstone Lake, and many ducks were present, including a drake
Harlequin. We briefly toured the visitor center at Fishing
Bridge, which featured Yellowstone bird life and also a Jutta
Arctic butterfly. After walking the cool pine forest at Pelican
Creek, we departed for Grant Village to have lunch and tour the
visitor center there, which examines the role of fire in the
Yellowstone ecosystem. We explored the paint pots and geysers
of the West Thumb Geyser Basin, where deep blue pools and
colorful formations next to the lake made it a favorite
hydrothermal feature for many.
Not without regrets, we departed the Lake Hotel the
next day and headed for Grand Teton National Park, reaching
Jackson Lake and its magnificent views, and our first grebe of
the trip, a Western. We stopped in briefly at the Colter Bay
Visitor Center and several other pullouts to admire the view,
then checked the Willow Flats, where we found Yellow-headed
Blackbirds in the parking lot, Brewer’s and Lincoln’s Sparrows,
and a beautiful Weidemeyer’s Admiral. We lunched at Two Ocean
Lake, where a Red-naped Sapsucker entertained us and we found
the rare Gillette’s Checkerspot. In the afternoon we explored
Jenny Lake, studying the conifers including Subalpine Fir and
stopping in at the Jenny Lake Visitor Center. Our last stop of
the day was the Menor’s Ferry Visitor Center, where Mountain
Bluebirds perched on the Chapel of the Transfiguration with the
magnificent Tetons in the background. We arrived in Jackson
Hole at 6:30 p.m., passing the elk-antler-ringed entrances to
the town square on our way to the hotel.
We began the seventh day of the tour searching
sagebrush flats near the Jackson airport for Sage Grouse. We
found no grouse, but did enjoy Brewer’s and Vesper Sparrows and
magnificent views of the Tetons. After a brief stop at the
Moose Visitor Center, we hiked for a mile or so at Lupine
Meadows where Cassin’s Finch and Western Tanager gave us scope
views and we found another Gillette’s Checkerspot. In the
afternoon, the exhibits at the National Museum of Wildlife Art
were rivaled by Prairie Falcons feeding fledged young on the
cliffs behind the museum. We finished the day at the National
Elk Refuge, where we added Wilson’s Phalarope and Redhead to our
growing bird list, and enjoyed seeing a fledgling Trumpeter
Swan. Many participants explored the town of Jackson in the
evening.
We began our eighth day’s adventures at the Blacktail
Ponds overlook, where we were treated to sightings of a Mule
Deer doe, numerous Bison, a hen Barrow’s Goldeneye and chicks,
and other birds including Willow Flycatcher and a male
Black-headed Grosbeak. Antelope Flats were aptly named, since
we enjoyed watching a large male Pronghorn herd his harem of 6
females, with a large number of bison providing the backdrop.
Two young bull Moose grazed in the sagebrush flats as well. We
worked our way up Moose-Wilson Road to the Death Canyon
trailhead, on the way, we found Green-tailed Towhees and many
Mountain Bluebirds, and heard Sora. We explored the beautiful
montane/subalpine zone of the Tetons along the trail to Taggart
Lake during the heat of the day, and found numerous Western
Tanagers, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Wyoming Paintbrush, and another
Jutta Alpine. Teton Village treated us to ice cream and views
of three hummingbird species: Calliope, Rufous, and
Broad-tailed, all adult males.
The next day we bade farewell to the Tetons as we
trekked towards Red Lodge, Montana. We glimpsed a cinnamon
Black Bear and a Golden Eagle on the way to Roosevelt Lodge,
then traveled up the Lamar Valley, stopping several times to
observe Bison and Pronghorn and look for (unsuccessfully) Gray
Wolf. We found a number of interesting flowers at Chief Joseph
Campground, including our first orchid, White Mountain
Rein-orchid. Finally, we crossed over the magnificent Beartooth
Pass, finding Alpine Forget-me-not, 3 Mountain Goats, and
perhaps the best scenery of the trip.
We spent the entire morning of day 10 on the Alpine
Tundra of the Beartooth Pass. The wildflowers were terrific,
featuring Alpine Forget-me-not and Moss Campion, among many
others. We had close-range looks at Black Rosy-finch
(finally!). Our 47th butterfly species of the trip came this
day, a Zerene Fritillary. Other butterflies today included the
rare and local Grizzled Skipper and White-veined Arctic. After
lunch at the Island Lake Campground, we traveled the incredibly
scenic Chief Joseph Highway, where views were punctuated by
White-throated Swifts and Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels.
On our last day, we headed back towards Bozeman,
stopping first at Pictograph Cave State Park, where various
early native Americans painted their dreams into the rock. We
also saw Rock Wren, Spotted Towhee, and Yellow-breasted Chat.
Butterflies number 48 through 51 came here as well, including
Two-tailed Swallowtail and Common Sootywing. From Pictograph it
was on to the bird-filled prairies, where Eastern Kingbirds fed
young and Loggerhead Shirkes called from the roadside. We saw
several Golden Eagles, Burrowing Owl, hundreds of Lark Buntings,
Horned Larks and Chestnut-collared Longspurs. A family of Gray
Partridge made a brief appearance. An amazing swarm of
grasshoppers peppered our trip back to Bozeman, and our
windshield. We gathered for our wrap-up dinner, then spent the
night in Bozeman in preparation for our flights home the next
day.
All told, we observed:
- 139 bird species (121 seen well by all)
- 25 mammal species (18 seen well by all)
- 50 butterfly species
- Many (>100) wildflowers and other plants
- Spectacular geothermal features
- Some of the best scenery in the world
(To download a PDF version of this report that includes
the complete listing of all sightings,
click
here.)
For tour itineraries, to register, or for more
information contact:
NJAS Eco-Travel at: (908)-204-8998
9 Hardscrabble Road
Bernardsville, NJ 07924
or email
travel@njaudubon.org.
If you are not a member and would like to become one, consider Joining New Jersey Audubon Society.
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