It’s getting late in the month again and I have a few posts to go to make my quota for the month. Luckily there is plenty of content waiting in the wings many of which came from our recent trip out to Yellowstone. I already posted the oddities collection from that adventure and now it is time to start the wildlife segment. I thought I would lead with something we do not see much of out here in Illinois.
If you look real close you will see today’s subjects. Surprisingly, we had just entered the park from the East side when there were a few cars parked on the side of the road and some people looking out over the valley. Figuring there was something of interest, we parked and grabbed the cameras. Sure enough, waaaaaay out in the distance were these two black bears. Keep in mind, I have a full Nikon 70-200 glass fully out and manually focusing this to get through all the trees. Although not tack sharp for sure, I am pretty pleased I even got them at all. Here is a zoomed version and it looks like they spotted me.
Just 5 minutes into the park and we already had our first bear sighting. Since I was not sure there was going to be anymore chances to see the elusive bears, I was snapping a ton of shots in the hopes one or two would come out decent enough I could prove we saw them. It should be noted that there is actually snow on the ground. It was the middle of June and we were definitely feeling the chill. Apparently the bears were quite comfortable in their winter fur. These two shots are a little better, but again, there were hard to see with the naked eye and having to manually focus was making it difficult to draw them in clear.
After awhile they grew bored with watching us and headed back into the woodlands. I caught this one taking a final look back probably thinking how tasty I would be for lunch.
The good news is we actually had 3 other bear sightings while we were out there. Take the jump to see some much better shot. Well, actually three better shots and one crappy one with a frustrating story.
Continue reading Yellowstone Trip – All About the Bears (Part 1 of Many)
Wildlife Intrigued 